To The Editor:

Everything costs more. Gas. Groceries. Your mortgage. And now, your Borough tax — up 13%.

Why: Castle Hill lawsuits. $75,000 in legal fees this year alone. Over $90,000 since the fighting started. The meters are still running.

Here's what that money bought: Zero new homes. Zero new tax revenue. Just lawyers.

The people who packed those hearings to stop Castle Hill got what they wanted. Everyone else got the bill. Meanwhile, 117 homes that would have generated nearly $1 million in annual property taxes sit unbuilt. And our taxes keep going up.

At some point, organized opposition to housing isn't civic engagement. It's an expensive hobby that everyone else gets to pay for.

Not everyone can afford a 13% tax hike. But those fighting Castle Hill think we can.

Samuel S. Grummons

Newtown