Smart phones a dubious expense

Do you wonder or have concerns whether your tax dollars are being used wisely and not squandered? Consider this:

The director of the Snohomish County road maintenance is intent on providing smart phones to all employees in the department! That’s 160 phones handed out and paid for on your dime! The costs will be in the tens of thousands every year.

Some of the staff already have them and probably “need” them, but I do not believe that should exceed 25 percent of all employees. Even if I concede to one-third of employees needing them, approximately 106 would have phones with dubious benefit to the taxpayers. I have worked in road maintenance for 31 years and I do not need a smart phone to do my job in a productive, efficient manner.

Snohomish County Council Chairman Dave Somers said, “We are at an all-time low in our reserves. The economy is doing well; county finances are not. We have a responsibility as a county to look at the entire budget.”

Perhaps, if the budget is indeed in trouble as Somers claims, it is due to insane spending.

Jan D. Blair

Monroe

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