Kevin Gaughan’s continued crusade to reduce the size of town boards, Grand Island in particular, is off the mark.

While one might applaud him for trying to reduce the size of government, simply reducing the number of people who decide how our tax dollars are spent flies in the face of democracy and our representative republic form of government.

Why on earth would we want fewer people in control of the purse strings? Unless the town’s $7 million annual budget is going to substantially decrease, give me more representation, more eyes watching government spending, not less.

I cannot fathom how reducing the number of elected representatives without reducing the size of government budgets and programs makes any sense at all. Having only three elected representatives watching our pocket book is a formula for disaster. Under Gaughan’s plan, only two people would constitute a majority with the ability to decide to raise our taxes and how to spend our money. Right now at least three people have to be convinced of the legitimacy of a tax hike or spending money on a project.

Every social organization I belong to, with budgets of thousands of dollars, not millions, has a least five board members who vote on spending matters. How three people are adequate for managing a budget in the millions is even a consideration defies any degree of common sense.

Grand Island