To the Editor:

There was a ritual beginning at my house.

It began with a trip to my paper box where I would retrieve my copy of The Tidewater News. My head would shake. I said things in my head that cannot be said out loud.

Finally, I throw my hands up in disgust. Why, you may ask? I’ve seen another article about the supervisors of Southampton County and the budget.

I remember the last letter to the editor I wrote. It was a congratulatory letter to the winners in November. I was thrilled the citizens of Southampton made a clean sweep. People I believed when they told us they would not raise our taxes. Although to be fair, they did not raise our taxes; they made up a new fee.

I attended the budget meeting at the high school. I came upon one of the new supervisors. I said, “I’m glad I’m not in your shoes.” He replied, “There’s not much we can do.”

That should have been my clue as to how the meeting was going to go, but I still had faith.

I attended that meeting hoping to convince the supervisors the $200 garbage tax was too much. I sat in the auditorium along with about 300 others, listening to almost the same arguments we always listen to at these meetings with the supervisors up on the stage.

I opened up my Tidewater News two days later, and there is a headline “S’hampton budget set.” Really? I thought the supervisors had until May 29 to work on the budget.

Did the supervisors decide they did not need those extra 10 days? Why did we sit in that auditorium for three-plus hours? Why did we waste our time? I would bet most, if not all of us, had somewhere else we would have rather been.

So to the supervisors, please do me a favor. The next time your minds are made up, before you hear from the citizens, have the courtesy to tell us before we waste our time.

You supervisors had 10 more days to work on the budget and you failed. You took the easy way. I don’t know why I’m surprised. There was not much we could do.

Can you see me throwing my hands up in disgust?

Yvonne Kostelnik
Courtland