What’s wrong with the Breckenridge Town Council? After reading the Summit Daily News recap of the council’s defiant action to fund the wasteful day care giveaway program despite the recent public vote against it, I am coming to the conclusion that this mayor and council exist only to give away money earned by others. This year the council handed out around $500,000 to a very small group of people who apparently had children they claimed they could not possibly raise without public assistance. Now, following the public vote to phase out that program, the council votes to increase its budget to $820,000 for 2014, a 64 percent increase! Seems we taxpayers have no representation whatsoever with this council cast of clowns. What a shame. To add further insult, Dick Carleton steps up to the mic and promotes the notion that local taxpayers need to subsidize his restaurants’ employees day care expenses so he can boost profits. Seems beyond self-serving. I’ve got an idea for Dick: Let’s pass an ordinance that requires all Breckenridge businesses to provide day care benefits to their employees; and then let’s mandate a $15/hour minimum town “living” wage. We should also require employers with more than one employee to provide generous health benefits. Of course, all of that would go over like a you-know-what in a punch bowl. Instead, the Breckenridge version of corporate welfare is alive and well with employers ready and willing to dump their costs on taxpayers to fatten their own wallets. The council apparently wants to tax working people to death, then hand out cash and benefits to boost the profits of business owners and quell the complaints of those who can’t afford to raise children.

Mike Schroeder

Breckenridge