TRANSIT: Taxpayers should be on alert

I read with interest the article on putting a transit board proposal on the ballot. I wonder if the good citizens know what a public transportation authority will do to fund itself? I moved here to Hayden eight years ago, in part because the State of Washington began to tax and raise vehicle registration fees to fund their community transit programs and the now famous Rapid Transit Authority. They have raised BILLIONS of dollars, and anyone who has driven in western Washington lately, or who still lives there, must wonder where all of the BILLIONS in taxes and fees went ? 

All the community transit programs are subsidized by the taxpayer. If they charged what it really cost to ride the bus or train over there, trust me, no one would ride them; everyone would go out and buy a new SUV and drive it; that would be less expensive. The good taxpayers in Kootenai County should really look at our neighbors and see what it cost to have a subsidized transit system, and what it will cost them in registration and vehicle fees, not even counting the taxes on gasoline that will be required to fund such a program. 

This is the first step, and it will not be the last, and all future steps will just cost more and more tax dollars.

JOE BELINC

Hayden