THOSE ON FRINGES TOO EASILY FORGOTTEN

In the article "Judges plead for more cash: Civil court logjam near crisis,
one jurist says" (Jan. 22), The News-Journal lays out, again, low-cash-flow
problems impacting local social services. Not much value is placed on
social services as evidenced by the lack of secure funding for drug court
programs and mental health programs. Establishing a stable funding source,
such as a local tax increase on alcohol sales, has been taboo for two decades.

Volusia County is far from the forefront of living-wage salaries. Too many
folks work too hard for too little, and social service programs are often
pre-emptive efforts to save thousands per hundreds spent. Too bad the
notion of future savings is a budgetary intangible, as is helping the needy.

Local charity is truly phenomenal in this area, yet cutting any county and
state support will so dilute nonprofit programs that poor service delivery
is clear to predict.

Narrow-based, targeted taxation has never caught on, because those who have
the money carry more political voice than those on the fringes. How easy it
is to jettison social programs in the name of fiduciary responsibility and
ignore future cost increases because a politician does not understand the
intangible of trenchant thought.

SAM DARCY, New Smyrna Beach

Editor's note: Darcy is the coordinator of residential services for
Community Outreach Services in DeLand.