To the editor:

My letter is about the Mehlville School District’s Proposition A request for a tax levy increase on the Feb. 7, 2006, ballot.

They say they need more money. Well, so do I. My husband and I live on a fixed in-come. The only thing that is increasing for us is the cost of our medicine and medical care, gasoline, all our utilities, and most of all, our real estate taxes. In the 20-plus years we have lived in Oakville, our real estate taxes have tripled.

It seems that in every direction, there is new construction, new businesses. All these new dwellings and businesses, plus the in-creased real estate taxes, has to have added up to a healthy increase in the Mehlville School District’s revenues. Why can’t they manage just like we have to?

We received the Mehlville Messenger Financial Times Report. I can’t find the total amount of money the district collected last year, and how much of an increase that amount is from the previous years.

Surely it was in the billions with all the new real estate developments. We are very interested in a comparison of the school district’s incomes for the last 10 or 20 years. I’m sure the voters would like to know as well. Will you publish those figures for all to see since the editor of the Mehlville Messenger neglected to print those figures in their financial report?

In our view, the school board has mismanaged Proposition P. Before they are entrusted with more money, they must demonstrate that they can be dependable and responsible. They need to live within their means just like we have to.

Sam and Marianne Mazzola

Oakville