The Gadfly is a series of letters offering commentary on local issues and published in the Warrensburg Gazette.

Dear Editor

I have a Christmas wish list for Warrensburg and Johnson County. I’m sending it to you since they’re a bit beyond what Santa can do – but not beyond what your readers can achieve.

Let’s start by wishing for some Ambulance Board members who are interested in what’s best for the county and the taxpayers rather than building a fiefdom with taxpayer dollars. The southern and western parts of the county can start when they elect new board members in February.

Then, let’s wish for some real analysis of the needs and expenditures of the Sheltered Workshop, under the auspices of the Johnson County Board of Services. Surely there must be a rational way to assist the developmentally disabled in a fiscally sound manner.

Let’s wish for a voluntary recycling plan that relies on market forces rather than government fiat – and that doesn’t close down independent trash hauling businesses to meet a politically correct goal.

Let’s wish for some creative tourism promotions using the tourism room tax. Resurrecting the Old Drum Days festival would be a good start.

Another wish would be for Warrensburg Main Street, inc., to be revitalized, assuming its board chooses the right person for the right time as director and opens up its governance to the people it wanted to tax.

We can wish that the Warrensburg R-VI school district can figure out how to use all that extra tax money they’re getting so more than ¼ of our high school students will test at or above the “proficient” level, as reported on the state website. That might justify the fact that the average administrator salary is more than double the average teacher salary.

I’ll ask Santa for a business upturn to help employment and to make it easier for people to be generous throughout the year. And for their generosity to help complete Blind Boone Park and other memorial projects in town.

Finally, I’ll wish on everyone’s behalf that we allay the ghost of taxes yet to come.