I read with interest your Dec. 15 “Soundoff” by the honorable Barry Sehlin and was really pleased with his interest in living within the state real income.

I read also in the same paper issue that the county commissioners are facing the same problem as the state and noted that the prosecuting attorney is interested in not cutting core services such as the sheriff’s office but rather to look at other areas of expenditure which can be deferred without loss of essential services.

I suggest that the county commissioners and especially the state Legislature need to take this advice seriously and defer non essential expenditures rather then raise taxes in this declining financial time. The governor can be encouraged to really set forth in writing what the areas of core service are for the state and the county commissioners might do the same. These things could be published for all of us to read and use in our voting planning.

Thomas O. Havres lives in Greenbank.