Browns’ dome a symbol of Ohio’s shame

I am ashamed of the Representatives in the Ohio House and the authors of the proposed two-year budget for the state.

I pray the Ohio Senate will vote this budget proposal down and suggest edits that will better protect our freedoms, not micromanage citizens and cost us more to help millionaires build a new domed stadium.

Seriously, when did we lose the capacity to care for one another?

Supporting families and children with a tax on tobacco is much more proactive and fiscally smart than financing bonds to build yet another stadium in Cleveland.

I beg the voters and our “representatives” to make their voices heard.

I do NOT believe this bill should be passed as-is.

Remove the unnecessary language that has nothing to do with a budget (gender-affirming care) and focus our spending on REAL infrastructure improvements (schools instead of prisons, mental health care for ALL) so that we can be a better example of American freedoms.

Alena Fox, Bucyrus

I can’t retire

I’m concerned about our property taxes in Hamilton County.

I’m not a native of Cincinnati; I was born in Portsmouth.

I bought a home in Anderson Township a year after moving to the area and got a great deal. It was the first home I had bought for myself.

My taxes were very low — I believe around $500-$600 every six months, which wasn’t too bad, but I was still working full time.

Over the years, however, taxes have risen very drastically.

I’m now retirement age and my Social Security check isn’t enough to live on. I now have to work part-time just to basically live.

Last year, my taxes rose by $600.

A couple years ago, I appealed, but it didn’t work. The appeals court didn’t pass it. So now I struggle month-to-month just to pay bills and buy food. I still owe some on my house and make a mortgage payment.

It’s getting harder and harder every day.

I feel like I’m just struggling and surviving every day. I want to stay in my residence, but It’s getting harder and harder to pay my property taxes.

I’m 69 and still working. I and other elderly citizens — especially veterans — need help with our property taxes.

I feel like I’ve worked all my life and now I can’t retire.

It’s really a shame, and I know I’m not alone. Others face similar circumstances.

We really want to stay in our homes, but the way things are going, I just wonder how much longer this can continue.

Sherry Fitch, Cincinnati

Who is deranged?

Re “Criticism of Buckeyes shows how bad TDS has become, April 21: Louis Nobile, you are spot on. The OSU Buckeyes handled themselves with an aplomb that would and should make all Ohioans proud.

The president? Well, you called it. Deranged.

Josh Eaton, Columbus