Zoning cost underestimated

Dear Editor:

On August 25, you printed a letter that suggested the proposed zoning law will only cost $50,000. Actually, $50,000 seems like a lot to me. This is money that could be used for so many other things, including the police department or the fire department.

But even this $50,000 is not a correct number. We could possibly get by for $50,000 if we only hire one person in the zoning department and it is never necessary for the county to file a lawsuit against a property owner. This is extremely unlikely. Many zoning squabbles will end up in court.

What is likely is that in a few years, the number of employees in the zoning department will rise to between two and five. This will run the costs up way over the $50,000 the pro-zoning people are talking about. A more likely number, including the probable lawsuits, would be somewhere between $100,000 and $400,000 per year.

The amount of money being spent on zoning will either cause the county to raise taxes or be forced to give less money to organizations in the county. Either of these things is not good. I don’t want my taxes to go up, and I also don’t want the county to give less money to the police department, fire department or any other deserving group.

We didn’t need zoning 20 years ago, or 10 years ago, or two years ago and we don’t need it now. I say just vote no.

Virgil Porter
Berkeley Springs