POVERTY BY THE NUMBERS IN AFFLUENT LIVINGSTON COUNTY

What do numbers mean? What do dollars mean? In the recent election campaign, the Livingston Republicans put up billboards and ran TV ads boasting about how they kept taxes low and attained an AA bond rating by their one-party rule. But all is not well in Livingston County
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In the Press & Argus, Rich Perlberg: By the Numbers Your Help Is Needed, Nov. 16, 2008, the General Manager of the P&A gives numerous statistics that prove the existence of grueling, awful poverty in this affluent county.

This is not news to those of us who understand that poverty exists along with affluence. It can be seen by those who open their eyes. If those of us who ran for the State House didn’t know it, we heard about it when we attended the Livingston County Human Services Collaborative Body forum last September 24. That is, we heard about it if we bothered to attend. Bill Rogers was evidently too busy counting tax monies to make it.

Perlberg writes:

“Those are some of the harsh numbers. They put into perspective the personal stories most of you hear — the neighbor who got laid off, the co-worker whose home is in foreclosure, the family that moved because there was no work here.
“The agencies that produced this report stressed how they are working together by seeking efficiencies, leveraging efforts for state grants and publicizing services, especially for those who have never before found themselves needing financial help.
“But they need your help, your money and your time. Look at it this way. If 3,000 homes were in foreclosure, that means 50,000 or more were not. Now more than ever, those are the folks who need to look past the numbers and help their neighbors — even, and perhaps especially, those they have never met.”

So what Rich is saying is what we saved on taxes, we should give to charity to feed the hungry, care for children’s medical needs and shelter the homeless. We should even give a little bit more to cover for the people who don’t contribute. Then we can feel good about ourselves playing Lord and Lady Bountiful. Yes, we can be generous and compassionate. What we are not is fair and just. Justice demands that we share resources with others. If we follow justice, the County may even borrow some money to help citizens of Livingston County – I think borrowing is one of the uses of an AA bond rating. Or we may even go so far as to allow our taxes to be raised a mill or two so that we can provide health insurance for the impoverished as well as the County Commissioners.

A new day is coming, a new political climate is blowing in the wind but we still don’t get it in Livingston County. Values are changing. Good government and low taxes are not synonymous.

Wake up! Livingston!