SLO County should pay off its old debts before raising taxes

The recent editorial (“SLO County voters should pay more for roads now — or suffer consequences later,” July 16) proposed raising taxes for needed road improvements.

However, our county employee retirement rights are severely underfunded and require tax increases to match our tax costs with the services we receive. We have to choose between what we want and paying the debts we already have incurred.

There is no justification for raising taxes for roads, or anything else, without first paying the bill for our past county employee services.

This story was originally published July 22, 2016 at 7:15 PM with the headline "SLO County should pay off its old debts before raising taxes."