In “Cities question charities’ breaks,” published Aug. 24, citizens learned the City Council has set in motion a discussion that, should it come to fruition, would cease real estate tax exemptions for certain charitable organizations throughout the city.

We wonder whether ideas such as this are truly beneficial to the future economic stability of our city or if they are merely shortsighted stopgaps, symptomatic of larger budgetary shortfalls.

A downturn in the economy is no excuse for shortsightedness. City Council expects all of us to cut our spending while they squander. Taxes go up, city salaries go up, city spending goes up across the board and, for some unlucky charitable organizations, so too go their “contributions” to our city’s reckless tax-and-spend habits.

The most troublesome thing behind this proposal is that it may be indicative of a far greater problem within our city’s management.

Month after month, our leaders seem to be scrounging for the next dollar they need to spend. This is worrisome. We need foresight in this city.

Perhaps most important, the article stated that Councilman Jeff Gardy and Councilman Charles Parr sought to vote on a moratorium on new nonprofit exemptions prior to council considering a request by Lake Prince Woods to be granted such an exemption.

It is an odd democracy that our local officials have established here in Suffolk, one lacking clarity and transparency. In our opinion any decision worth millions of dollars should be brought to a public forum.

Fortunately the laws in place force our politicians to do so, but it is simply shocking they often do not want this opportunity to interact.

“If the economy was booming, this wouldn’t be an issue,” Parr said of City Council’s proposal to stop the tax exemption for charitable organizations. It is odd, then, that City Council seems to have no problem increasing our spending, our annual taxes and our city management’s salaries in such a dismal economy.

Here’s a quick breakdown of just a few things our city spends our hard-earned tax dollars on in this fiscal year alone:

• $14,400 for City Council copier costs (a 262-percent increase from last year)
• $22,406 for City Council risk management (a 108-percent increase from last year)
• $85,061 for finance department information technology (a 34-percent increase from last year)
• $203, 393 for finance department salaries (a 17-percent increase from last year)

And let’s not forget there is a brand new municipal building going up on Market Street.

If the economy is too dismal to allow tax exemptions for charitable groups, then should it not have been too dismal to increase city salaries?

This council and this city management is taxing and spending its way into an economic instability that could remain for decades to come.

It’s time for change, for forethought and for discussion.

Jett and Jamie Johnson of Suffolk are students in the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. Email Jett Johnson at tjhnsn@gwu.edu.