Stop living only in the present
Recently the Arlington Heights village board came to the conclusion that it needed to raise its tax levy. But how could they raise the taxes? Well, the trustees had suggested cutting back on firefighters and giving up town luxuries. Such luxuries would be defined as the annual ChristkindlMarkt celebration and town beautifiers, like sculptures and pieces of art around Arlington Heights.
A statement was released by village Trustee Tom Hayes, who seemed none too happy about the sudden cutbacks on the festive contributions in the community: "Do you want to sit at home and just watch TV or do you want to go out and enjoy your community?" be said. In most situations I would agree with Mr. Hayes, but when it comes to how a town is spending its money, I have a bit of a different opinion.
If I had the choice of the annual ChristkindlMarkt celebration and making sure that our town's sewer system was working well, I think I would much rather spend the holidays with my family instead of the plumber. Sometimes, in life, the things that people want to do that are fun seem like the most important thing to do right at that moment. That's just the thing - people nowadays focus more on the here and the now, rather than what saving for this will bring in the future.
It's always instant gratification, but I think that the town of Arlington Heights is doing something that is going to be one day very beneficial to the community. No, it may not seem like a whole lot of fun right now, but with all the money saved up from the taxpayers and the festive cutbacks who knows what Arlington Heights could expect come next year?
Kate VenHorst
St. Charles