Keeping officials accountable

I attended the Sept. 16 meeting of the Cape Girardeau County Commission. This doubled as a public hearing on setting Cape County's tax rates for its general revenue budget. The county sought an increase from $0.038 to $0.0447 per $100 assessed valuation due to flat sales-tax revenue. This was the second year the property tax was levied since 1982 (2012 was the first), and commissioners voted "yes" to increasing the rate for 2013. No mention was made of cutting expenditures.

I was the only citizen attending this public hearing. Besides the Southeast Missourian reporter, every seat was empty. A public hearing at 9 a.m. Monday is certainly inconvenient for working people. Government entities routinely erect roadblocks to citizen engagement in the governing process, but that must not become an excuse. I monitor the performance of our county elected officials, including the Cape County commissioners and Jackson School Board members and was disappointed to see the lack of public interest in this issue.

As citizens of this republic it is incumbent upon us to exercise our civic authority. We elect our officials, but more importantly it's our responsibility to hold them to a high standard after the election. Please educate yourselves! I am learning how to keep our elected officials accountable with training I've received through the Center for Self Governance (www.tncsg.org). Nobody else is looking out for our interests. If we abdicate our duty to keep tabs on our elected officials, we should not be surprised by what is happening.

ESTHER BOHNERT, Jackson