Manatee taxpayers, ask what your money funds

Something in the management of this county stinks! Last week I had to run several errands in downtown Bradenton. I counted four buses: No. 1 had no passengers, No. 2 had three passengers, No. 3 had no passengers, and No. 4 had two passengers.

My question: Why do we operate large 20-passenger buses all over town empty? Could they be replaced with vans? Every time I drive anywhere in this county I see surveying crews. For 14 years I drove down State Road 70, and it was surveyed at least five times a year, that's 70 times -- do highways move?

Every time I see a county building inspector, he is driving a four-wheel drive, full-sized pickup truck with an eight-cylinder engine. I can't think of a circumstance in Manatee County that requires a four-wheel drive truck, am I wrong?

Why are county employees driving one person per truck around the county? Wouldn't it be more cost-effective to put them into economy front-wheel drive cars? When I lived in New Hampshire 18 years ago, I was elected to the school board and we had meetings in the high school library. We were paid $350 a year as travel expense, which all board members returned to the district. We had no offices; our secretary was one of the members. Nine of us administered the schools of seven townships consisting of nine schools and one high schools. We met twice a month in the evening. What do all those hundreds of school district employees in that huge one-block building downtown actually do? Our school district became the first in New Hampshire to be self-insured for health insurance; it saved us over $200,000 a year.

I have a lot more questions, but time and space are at a premium.

A. H. Krieg

Parrish

This story was originally published October 6, 2015 at 5:37 PM with the headline "Manatee taxpayers, ask what your money funds ."