Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I am writing in response to Katie Thompson’s letter to the editor (“Gloucester budget an insult to citizens,” April 23 Readers Write) regarding the reduction of the boat tax. Ms. Thompson alleges that the board took its action “without any study at all of the advantages or consequences of such an action.”

Ms. Thompson apparently was not at the March 17 board meeting when a full PowerPoint presentation was made, copies having been previously provided to each supervisor approximately one week before, in their customary materials package. The minutes of the meeting were recorded. The hearing was televised. The minutes were available to Ms. Thompson well prior to her statement quoted earlier, as were the research compilations.

The presentation was based upon three studies conducted by Dr. Tom Murray of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. In each of those studies, Dr. Murray gathered significant evidence to both jobs and busine...