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When a real buisness doesn't work, major changes are made. In government they impose tax increases to fix there problems..
In the real world, if you are wasting money and increase the price of your product to cover, at some point, people stop buying your product. In this ridiculous situation we are in, we are powerless to stop them. They waste money, and foist the debt on us.
Rehab the system, it doesn't work anymore..
Ithink the system as a whole works. It is just ran poorly. Needs management change.
In listening to the news yesterday, I think it is pretty clear the county and city government are being lobbied heavily by CMS and their boosters to use property revaluation to raise the property taxes that people pay. They will do this by refusing to drop the tax rates after the total valuation of property was raised by 9%. They will call this tax increase, "rate neutral".
To add insult to injury WCNC's bubble headed reporter, Greg Argos, made light of it yesterday by holding up a shiny new penny and stating (using the others disclaimer) that it's only 1 penny/dollar or 4 pennies/dollar "for the children". Give me a break. I guess it's not a surprise, most times, the local media does nothing but carry water for the local politicians. This means anyone owning property in this county, and/or paying rent, is going to get hood winked by some of the most disingenuous descriptions from the deepest depths of the local political sewer of what amounts to a tax increase. Never mind holding the high paid administrators accountable. They already demonstrated they won't do this.
I should imagine this was the entertainment at a government paid for party for local officials.
I have predicted "for the children" and 6 cents reduction in tax rate for months now.
The only wrinkle is what the state is trying to shift to counties and taking away lottery money. Right now that's $15M which puts a hurt on the idea of a totally neutral rate.
I was in the budget meeting yesterday and not one commissioner appreciated CMS sneaking in the idea for another $10M which just happened to reach the board during the meeting which of course ends as the CMS meeting is starting.
So, there should be a number that gives a good size rate cut while making up for the projected $15m that isn't around anymore. At least might not be. State still hasn't had the guts to pull the trigger that tells all 100 counties to go buy their own school buses and pay to keep state prisoners in county jails.
When a real buisness doesn't work, major changes are made. In government they impose tax increases to fix there problems..
In the real world, if you are wasting money and increase the price of your product to cover, at some point, people stop buying your product. In this ridiculous situation we are in, we are powerless to stop them. They waste money, and foist the debt on us.
Rehab the system, it doesn't work anymore..
I'd like to see examples of waste. All of the employees that have been let go or cut. Maybe some of them were waste but if layoffs fix the problem them what are you talking about now?
And there is no new debt. The county has been on a "debt diet" for two years now. This is why the budget is only 1/2 million short and how the County has kept its bond rating so high.
all have to look at what they are spending, from what and for what. The days of the voters sitting back and saying stop is over. These people are elected and the problem with that is most of the people who voted for them do not know what they do, have done or will do. 1. The voter did just a party vote. 2.If they (voters) were asked about that person (elected official) they would not know anything about them.
Taxes are a great thing If they get stuff done. But look around and see what is getting done. The voters need to get in the officials face and ask why. Why is this not done why is that not done? Why are we fixing that light ten times in one year? While others work fine. Why are we addding a sidewalk that starts nowhere and leads nowhere? When the road needs repaving. Why are you getting a raise and not the people who are doing the work? Why is there six guys standing around watching one dig a hole?Until they can answer the questions. The voters need to be getting in their face at every public meeting, every form avaliable to them (voters) and ask those questions.
Truth be told. You have no chance. Voters as a whole are to lazy. They are waiting for you to do it. Thing is. This is what happens everytime. We get mad stomp our feet a little then go about what we are doing. Just like when the city annexs a community. We come together raise a fuss. Some form the no annexations group. Get a lawyer, collect a few dollars, take the city to court, the court rules, then it is over. City wins. It is forgotten. I have never seen anyone as a group hold the city to the fire. Keep pushing. What if all the homeowners came together and said. Go ahead, Annex us, we refuse your services and are not paying the new taxes imposed. What do you think that if say a thousand people came together and did that? What would that say? Sorry Drifting. You are screwed live with it or move.
Well I don't think there is anything wrong with going to a meeting and getting your 3 minutes at the microphone. Most meetings have those segments live on TV and streamed on the net. That's a good way to find others that think like you.
And you don't have to literally get in their face. Some are better than others but send in some thoughtful e-mail and I bet you will get a thoughtful request.
On top of that, there are manly locals that have facebook in twitter. During a live meeting there are several of them and some like me tweeting facts, opinions and linking to documents and stuff.
This is the most interactive and I think coolest way to communicate with elected officials. Press is doing it at the same time. You can get to know them too if you want.
Even during meetings county commissioners and city council you will have elected officials tweeting live and they will answer concerns live too. So this might be the best way to get their attention.
I'd like to see examples of waste. All of the employees that have been let go or cut. Maybe some of them were waste but if layoffs fix the problem them what are you talking about now?
And there is no new debt. The county has been on a "debt diet" for two years now. This is why the budget is only 1/2 million short and how the County has kept its bond rating so high.
Government sticks it's nose into things it shouldn't, then we pay for it..
My assessment went up 27% so I know my taxes will go up, the only question is how much. I have enjoyed paying the same property tax bill for 3 years in a row. This has been a unique experience after living in NJ where EVERY year without fail my property taxes went up.
I would not protest a tax rate that is lower than the old rate but not as low as "revenue neutral". Cuts seem too deep to me, especially the schools.
What really upsets me is when a politician (or anyone) makes a statement that keeping the tax rate unchanged would not be a tax increase. That is just lying, makes no sense, and begs the question, "How stupid do they think people are?"
CMS is $100M short and they are funded by the county.
They are projected to fall short $100M because of state cuts, not county. Even if the current tax rate was left the same with the new reval numbers, the county couldn't cover it because of the losses the county is already figuring in. The county needs to find $15M somewhere though this does cover some money for the schools.
If the rate was left the same it could bring in $50m+which the CMS advocates understand totally because that's the number they are throwing around. In other words, that particular lobby wants the tax rate to stay the same so $77M (ish) of new money comes in and CMS would get everything besides the $15 or $16m that is coming up short.
How is CMS funded? shows some overall ideas of where the money comes in. Yes a lot of it is from the county but here's where the cuts come in this year:
Federal stimulus: $15m
County 5% cut: $15 million
State 5% cut: $32 million
Total = $77 million cut at the 5% model
So you can see "funded by the county" is not even half of just the state funds and there are federal funds on top of everything above.
The county may be forced to pick up bills such as buying new school buses at a tune of $15m per year at the same time the state is cutting lottery money. The lottery was supposed to supplement funds but in reality it has begun replacing funds. I'm sure no one saw that coming.
To big of a target for the state not to tap. They don't tap it directly, they just reduce funding schools to the same tune as in the past and use lottery to make up for it.
Really the idea that the county's fund the schools kind of fails if we have an "educational" lottery ran by the state.
So, the county is an important but rather small player and because of the reval we are "fortunate" enough to be in the position to raise taxes by not raising the tax rate in order to fix this.
I say that yes we should fix some of it but if we gave CMS $52 million extra this year (by sucking away almost the entire gain the reval could produce) then I think the state is just going to react with "well I guess they don't need as much from us" and cut some more. So in the end the state doesn't do their job as much if the county is willing to let them off the hook. Then our rate remains highest and there's no net win for anyone especially the kids. CMS will still lose and all of us will pay more in taxes as punishment for trying to fix the problem.
My assessment went up 27% so I know my taxes will go up, the only question is how much. I have enjoyed paying the same property tax bill for 3 years in a row. This has been a unique experience after living in NJ where EVERY year without fail my property taxes went up.
I would not protest a tax rate that is lower than the old rate but not as low as "revenue neutral". Cuts seem too deep to me, especially the schools.
What really upsets me is when a politician (or anyone) makes a statement that keeping the tax rate unchanged would not be a tax increase. That is just lying, makes no sense, and begs the question, "How stupid do they think people are?"
Well Jennifer doesn't think you're stupid. I mean SHE isn't so stupid as to say what she did when she did (this thread start date is quite old) because she said it publicly, on camera and then repeated.
What really surprised me wasn't the fact that she tried to deceive anyone because I don't think she did. What surprised me is that this is a chance for the Ds to NOT say that and instead say "here's a rate cut" and then take credit for saving everything without technically raising taxes.
By offering a rate cut AND bring in more revenue it would have looked better and would have been an easy win. I think that's the way it's going to work out anyway. The Rs are not going to be able to pound the table and say absolute neutral or else for two reasons:
1) That mystery $15m hole in the budget due in part of the state playing games
2) Compromise usually wins the day. Both sides need something to claim a victory and the Rs are in the minority.
If we're forced to buy school buses then we have to either raise the tax revenue or make $8M in more cuts without helping CMS at all and I just don't see room for that.
But, just going purely on not changing the rate and bringing in an extra $75m (ish) then giving the whole thing to CMS? I think not.
And folks might not believe that Harry Jones wants to be conservative with our money but in reality one of the highest priority for him is to setup a debt fund. I am not a big fan of Harry's but this is a sober and conservative move to make sure we get out of debt without taking out more loans at higher rates if we don't deal with the debt we have now.
These kinds of moves make me appreciate Harry as a numbers guy even if I have some issues with how his department behaves in other matters.
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