Lewiston is working really hard to raise money by inflicting different taxes (fees) onto the taxpayers. Officials say they are not raising taxes, they are charging fees.

About one year ago, the city started charging landlords for trash removal. Now that that is in place, officials decided to just about double the fees in one year for trash pickup. They also require the payment to be made a year in advance.

The fact that we are paying sky-high oil prices doesn’t seem to concern those officials. In a couple of years, every homeowner will pay for trash removal, just wait and see.

Now they are talking about charging all property owners a “rain tax,” I mean a sewer runoff fee. Homeowners will only have to pay $30 a year. Once the fee is in place, how much do you think we will have to pay next year?

Wal-Mart’s distribution center brings good-paying jobs to the city and now, to thank the company, the city wants to charge it $93,000 for a storm sewer fee. Talk about business friendly!

Through all this, officials tell us that property taxes are stable. Wait until next year when new property values are phased in.

I wish city officials would work harder at trying to save us money instead of ways to raise money.

Why don’t we see more progress about combining the Twin Cities?

Perhaps the people involved in the decision making are worried about their jobs being eliminated.

Coreen Robert, Auburn