To the editor:

In the April 5 election, I will be voting in favor of Proposition 1 and for the re-election of Crestwood Mayor Tom Fagan.

Proposition 1, which is now on the ballot with a not-to-exceed $6 million amount and a 30-cent-per-$100 tax rate “sunseted” after 10 years, has been estimated now by Crestwood officials to be $4.72 million with a 24-cent tax increase.

For my home currently appraised at $124,400, this will cost me less than $58 per year. This is less than the cost of taking my family out to dinner at local restaurants one time per year.

I do not want basic city services, which have in the past two years been cut to the bone, to be further reduced and that is why I was the first resident to call for stopping the cutting and for a reasonable tax increase at a Board of Aldermen work session. The use of bonds will allow problems to be immediately fixed. A candidate for mayor, who says he is now neutral on the tax increase after initially opposing it, would not pledge to not raise taxes until April 2006 if Proposition 1 fails. I believe that Prop-osition 1 is essential and fundamental to the fixing of Crestwood’s financial problems.

Two candidates at the GOP candidate forum offered their vision for Crestwood’s future. One of them said in response to a question about the need for new computer software for the city’s financial accounting which was strongly endorsed by Brown, Smith and Wallace, the forensic auditors, that he would hire two clerks with pencils to do the city’s accounting instead of the purchase of computer software. Is this the wave of the future for Crestwood city government and Crestwood? Not for me it isn’t.

Tom Fagan can and has served Crest-wood well, first as an alderman and now as mayor. He understands Crestwood’s problems and has been working hard with a majority of the Board of Aldermen toward resolving them with considerable progress and success thus far. He has shown leadership, dedication, knowledge, maturity and capability.

He spoke exceptionally well extemporaneously on a wide variety of issues at the two candidate forums, while his opponent required the frequent use of pre-written scripted answers that he read poorly at the one forum he attended. Tom Fagan has been and will continue to deal effectively with businessmen and other government officials. We will be proud of his continued performance in this role as Crest-wood’s representative. I share Tom Fagan’s vision for the future of our fine city.

For these and many other reasons too numerous to mention here, I will be voting proudly on election day to re-elect Mayor Tom Fagan as well as for Proposition 1. I respectfully invite all of the residents of Crestwood to join me.

David M. Brophy

Crestwood