Citizens have a duty to be involved in government -- but too many citizens wait until too late to become informed or take action. Here are a couple of examples:

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When a city or county government prepares to raise taxes, opponents of the increase often complain that there's wasteful spending which could be cut instead. But few of those opponents keep up with county government closely enough to give specific examples of waste or to offer specific suggestions on how government could be made more efficient. And by budget time, it may be too late to make enough realistic or reasonable changes to avoid a tax increase.

Yes, sometimes governments have to simply propose across-the-board cuts, as the state did a few years ago, and hope that each individual department can find a way to make them work. Necessity, in that case, becomes the mother of invention. But there are limits to the across-the-board approach.

More informed, more active citizens -- active not just during the budget season but year-round -- could help build taxpayer confidence that their money is being spent wisely.

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In the year 2000, Bedford County and its four incorporated cities (Shelbyville, Bell Buckle, Normandy and Wartrace) approved growth plans required by state law. In the case of the cities, they had to define "growth boundaries" surrounding them which were meant to represent possible areas of growth over the next 20 years. The new state law made it easier for cities to annex land inside those growth boundaries, and much harder to annex land outside them.

Bell Buckle and Wartrace, noting the rapid growth in their areas, both proposed relatively ambitious growth boundaries. Wartrace's originally-proposed boundary was 20 times the existing land area of the town. That growth boundary, by itself, didn't commit the town to annexing all -- or any -- of that land. But it did leave the door open for annexation.

I wrote a number of stories about that planning process at the time. But even though officials specifically asked for public comment, relatively few citizens turned out at public hearings when the county-wide plan was discussed. I am not going to get into the Bell Buckle controversy, especially now that we've put a moratorium on letters to the editor about it. But I think I can safely say, without taking sides, that some citizens in Bell Buckle have been expressing ideas about limited growth that are in disagreement with what was done by the town, and approved by the county, in 2000.

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Not every citizen can follow every issue or every meeting. If you could, I and my colleagues would be out of a job. You depend on us to follow what's taking place in city, town and county government and point out the highlights. But there's certainly room for private citizens to become more involved in specific issues they care about -- not just by passing out petitions when something reaches crisis stage, but by staying informed during the early stages, when there's much more of an opportunity to make meaningful changes. Find out what's going on. Get to know your city and county officials.

The earlier you get involved, the more of an impact you can make.

John I. Carney is city editor of the Times-Gazette and covers county government and other topics. His home page is lakeneuron.com.