You don't care whether or not your sewer rates go up. You don't care whether or not your water rates increase. You don't care whether the potholes on your street are filled. You don't care whether the clogged ditches near your home are cleared. You don't care what you pay for garbage pickup (the more the better). You really don't care whether a police officer, sheriff's deputy, firetruck or ambulance arrives quickly once you dial 911.
We guess that people don't care about these things because they don't get involved in the election process that puts people in office who can address those things. They don't care until their water bill doubles and their sewer bill triples and garbage pickup increases with less pickups per week.
Tuesday, residents in Jay and Century went to the polls to vote for council members who will be making such decisions in the future. Way less that half the registered voters in both towns showed up to vote.
We read a lot in the national media about the mess in Washington, but we say the rubber meets the road in municipal elections. That's where most of the decisions that affect your everyday life are made.
We're not picking on Jay and Century because the same results happen in Flomaton, East Brewton, Atmore, Brewton and all around.
We ask this question after just about every election. Why do people not care? They care when it hits their pocketbook, but at the same time they don't want to step up and have a say in who controls their pocketbook.
Would you turn all your finances over to a stranger to make the right decisions for you and tell you what you need to spend your money on? We doubt it.
That's exactly what you are doing when you don't get involved in the election process at the local level.
We can only assume that the majority of the people in most municipalities are satisfied with how their tax money is being spent and how much they pay for utilities.
If you don't vote, don't complain when the governing body that controls some of your money wants more.
