Editor, Gazette-Journal:

Spending in this county is out of control. And now our board of supervisors wants to raise our taxes unnecessarily. Some people in this county think some of us are just uninformed simpletons.

Before I retired last year, I managed the finances of an $8 billion ship construction program. I had a fiduciary responsibility to my shareholders and to my bottom line. I did the budgets. I did the cost reports. I did the operating plans. I did the profit and loss statements.

Every quarter I would direct each department to do what is called "zero-based budgeting." In other words, I made them start from zero and had them build their budget up. It was not simply a comparison of last year’s budget to the next, it was a budget starting from zero.

In Gloucester County, supervisors have the same responsibility with us. Simply comparing and rubberstamping a budget without asking some tough questions from each and every department head is nonsense. The supervisors...