As TribLive has reported, a plethora of local and county governments, along with school boards, have followed political status quo by increasing property taxes in order to pay for doing business. Gotta hand it to Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas, as he stated, “We need to rethink the way we are doing things. We can’t keep doing things the same way!” Finally a commonsense approach to financing, uttered by an elected politician.

You’re right Ted, but what is needed may never see the light of day … the utter reluctance to resolve our funding dilemma via cutting-edge measures, an alternate taxation to resolve the burden of property taxes that serve our county, municipalities and school districts. Tax relief through casino revenue isn’t the answer. A fair resolve will only be accomplished once a balanced and seemingly unnoticed sales tax plan is established by our state Legislature.

Rob Ferguson

Scottdale