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Recount’s cost matters — and it’s irresponsible to pretend otherwise

“It’s not about the cost. It’s not about the time with the people.”

Every taxpayer in Lycoming County should be concerned with this attitude toward responsible stewardship of tax dollars expressed by Tony Mussare, Lycoming County commissioner and member of the county board of elections.

We have, from the beginning, been skeptical about the need to endlessly rehash and relitigate the 2020 election. As we editorialized this past weekend, we are against the dangerous precedent it sets.

We are also skeptical about the cost — and a dismissive attitude toward public spending and the priorities for using the time of both our county’s paid staff and volunteers only reaffirms our skepticism.

Our county has already incurred the cost of two audits. Now we see our elected officials pursuing a recount, with blithe assurances to the taxpayers that not only has the cost not been determined, but that it doesn’t matter.

Responsible governance demands responsible, measured oversight of public spending. A recount with no clarity — no transparency — on its cost is irresponsible and shirks the necessity of measured oversight.

The pursuit of responsible spending has led our editorial board, for decades, to criticize wasteful spending. The pursuit of responsible governance has led our editorial board, for decades, to be a voice against the fiduciary excesses of liberalism and progressivism.

And it must lead us today to be a voice against spending an undefined sum of taxpayers’ hard-earned money on a redundant recount.

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