Tax Dollars at Work

Hefty property taxes here pay for an odd assortment of things. During the year each neighborhood has large trash day once a month. The city contracts "free" pick-up for your old mustard plaid, scratchy sofa and your lawn chairs that got used as sleds in the winter. It is a nice service and if you are motivated you will find treasures if you go around the scheduled neighborhoods. Consequently the city has less to pick up because the junk gets recycled into new homes.

Taxes also pay for leaf clean up in the fall. You rake all your leaves into the street and bulldozers come and scrape them up off the pavement. I've seen piles of leaves taller than men. It is "free" wholesome entertainment for the kids.

This week we discovered a new "free" activity. The library summer reading program. Before I say more, this library system has won the best library in the nation in years past. It is obvious why as the library boasts amazing facilities, an exhaustive audio-visual selection, a used bookstore, and you can even check out framed art to hang on your walls. That aside, all four kids have caught the Reading Bug. Yes, even Jane. She has the privilege of listening to books and winning prizes. Fritz already won a stuffed bug which he named Bluey. The girls are incredibly pleased to be included in the preschool program with lady bug stickers and buggy folders. Since my children when unoccupied metamorphose into pesty bugs I think the summer reading game was aptly titled. Now they are antsy for me to finish my post so they can claim their tax dollar prizes. Should I tell them Daddy and Mommy paid 15.99 for each of those stuffed mosquitoes? No, let them be stung by property taxes when they are older.