We are concerned about high unemployment, health of our fellow citizens and the quality of our schools. At the same time, we are concerned about the continued growth of local government. All of which demands a delicate balancing act.

We have investigated several local issues with more planned for the future:

1. Free Health Insurance. We believe that neither the Supervisors nor School Board members should receive a fringe benefit like free health insurance. They are not employees but trustees and stewards of the county resources. They serve as fiduciaries not for personal benefit.
2. We question the propriety of the city School Board spending in excess of $ 90,000 plus benefits, at taxpayer expense, to create a position only to eliminate it nine months later.
3. We will propose at the July 14 Henry County School Board meeting an innovative project which will save taxpayer funds.

The Taxpayer Association meets on the 2nd Thursday ( 7 pm ) in the County Administration Bldg. The preset agenda observes a maximum meeting time of 90 minutes. Our contact is TaxpayerMHC@aol.com. The next meeting is July 14 and then September 8. No meeting is scheduled for August.

We invite you to join us. While we believe in the substance of our issues, we know that our elected leaders measure the quality of an issue by the number of people who voice their opinion. Therefore, we need people like you who are not afraid to jump into the debate. We need people like you to call your County Supervisor and JUST SAY NO to free health insurance for elected officials.

As individual voters and taxpayers in Martinsville and Henry County, we have sacrificed our name and ventured out into the public arena to question local government spending. We are not elected and therefore, we take our responsibility to provide oversight very seriously. We have offered our good names to the cause. There is a risk in doing so. However, that risk pales compared to the sacrifice of young men and women who defend our freedom across the globe.

We are a retired banker, salesman, financial advisor, retired telephone manager, property manager, furniture retiree, retired home school mom, former high school principal, etc. We are people like you. We are Martinsville and Henry County and we are proud of it.
Sincerely,

Ural Harris
Rick Horton
Randy Scott
Executive Council, Taxpayer Association
of Martinsville and Henry County