GOVERNMENT: Must help at times

Post Falls Mayor Randy Westlund has discontinued a program providing utility-bill assistance to low-income residents, including elderly people. The program cost taxpayers approximately $20,000 annually — a modest investment helping vulnerable neighbors keep their lights and heat on.

Mayor Westlund called the program “welfare” and “wealth transfer,” arguing that government should not provide such assistance.

I believe he misunderstands what government is. Government is not some distant entity separate from us. We are the government.

How many Post Falls residents remember the 2023 fire in Q’emiln Park? We live upriver, just a block north of the river. Huge tanker planes flew overhead, helicopters scooped water from the river, and firefighters from scores of local districts responded.

Who paid for that response? We did. Our tax dollars funded the aircraft, firefighters, equipment, and emergency response. Collectively, we accomplished what no individual could have done alone. Individually, we could stand on our roofs with a garden hose. Collectively, we can fill the skies with firefighting planes.

That is the purpose of government: accomplishing together what we cannot accomplish alone.

The same principle applies to helping elderly residents and low-income families pay their utility bills. Collectively, we can each contribute $1.50 and create a program providing meaningful assistance to a neighbor struggling to afford heat or electricity. Individually, we can spend that $1.50 on duct tape.

The question is not whether government should help people — it already does so every day. The question is whether we believe it should also help ensure our most vulnerable neighbors can afford basic necessities.

I believe it should. Because government is us, working together to care for the community we share.

PAT LIPPERT

Post Falls