To the editor:

For most of our lives, we’ve been tricked. We’ve been tricked into believing that all of our problems can be fixed by throwing more money at them. We’ve been told that paying more will equal a better quality of life. But what if the problems we have aren’t about money at all? Did you know the U.S. Postal service routinely loses money? In fact, in 2019 they lost about $8.1 billion. Yet we continue to throw more money at it.

There are great postal employees but the leadership can’t find a way to break even? Why can’t we step back and ask ourselves if the problems weren’t about money at all? Isn’t it possible that the USPS is mismanaged or has a faulty business model?

The City of Great Bend will be discussing an increase in our water/sewer bills by 22-33% in 2021. After that, it could be a 3-4% permanent increase. They say we are experiencing a shortfall of more than $500,000 dollars so we need to pay more. But has anyone looked to see why the business model seems to be failing, or are we all fine to go along with just paying more?

There are some good and very smart people working for the city. But, that is not enough. If you ran a business that was losing half a million dollars, wouldn’t you stop and ask why instead of just using the rest of your savings to keep things going? There is something wrong with the city’s strategy if they are losing money for a service that is essentially mandated to have. Throwing more money at this will only lead to throwing more at it in the future because it doesn’t solve the underlying problem.

I would strongly encourage everyone to download the city budget and look over the numbers for yourself. See if it makes sense to you. If you think improvements that don’t include more money could be made then you should call your council-person. Don’t be mean or divisive, but do it in a way that is genuinely seeking solutions. There are solutions beyond more money and it is our duty to hold those in charge accountable if we want Great Bend to prosper and our young people to stay.

Josh Blankenship

Great Bend