To the editor:

Surprising Suffolk! It’s a good time to be in Suffolk! And now, “Let’s not unravel this budget.” This is only the latest motto of the change-nothing City Council.

The recent City Council budget hearing was filled with citizens who would like changes made to avoid the two large increases in taxes that will be imposed on all of us if the proposed budget goes forward unchanged. But the City Council does not seem to need public input, since members will not consider what the citizen taxpayers have to say.

The six cents to be added to real estate tax rates will cost all of us, and a new tax for garbage collection and recycling will cost each homeowner in Suffolk an additional $222 each year.

This is too much. The citizens have spoken: Cut spending and do not impose both new taxes on us in one year.

We do not need council members who just rubber-stamp any budget that staff puts in front of them.

William H. Harward

Suffolk