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Old 02-21-2014, 10:52 AM
 
Location: Midtown
152 posts, read 243,666 times
Reputation: 105

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Omaha Ended 2013 With $10 Million Budget Surplus

So a $13 million budget shortfall in June is turned around and we end the year with a $10 million budget surplus. Very interesting.
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Old 02-22-2014, 05:23 AM
 
181 posts, read 356,922 times
Reputation: 63
Her critics will still find something to squawk about.
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Old 02-22-2014, 10:45 AM
 
Location: Tampa (by way of Omaha)
14,561 posts, read 23,012,670 times
Reputation: 10356
Stothert was very smart to abandon her campaign promises of cutting taxes, especially the restaurant tax. I just hope she doesn't use the surplus as motivation to turn around and cut those taxes.
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Old 02-22-2014, 11:07 AM
 
Location: Midtown
152 posts, read 243,666 times
Reputation: 105
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bosco55David View Post
Stothert was very smart to abandon her campaign promises of cutting taxes, especially the restaurant tax. I just hope she doesn't use the surplus as motivation to turn around and cut those taxes.
Stothert has done a decent job of putting the brakes on the wasteful spending that is so typical of governments. Now she needs to move forward intelligently.

I'm okay with the restaurant tax, because it's completely voluntary. If you don't want to pay that whopping 2%, don't eat at a restaurant. Pretty simple.

But they desperately need to restructure some of the property taxation. People need to be offered something like "10 years property tax free" to buy and build (and live on) on some of the abandoned properties in the east part of Omaha. It's not going to cost the city much, because the absentee owners aren't paying their taxes anyway, and it could provide a powerful incentive for people to continue to invest in the turn-around of this part of the city.


Mayor Suttle had it right, when he said (in a meeting I was at with him) that if we don't invest in the east part of Omaha, Omaha will become another Detroit.
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Old 02-22-2014, 02:30 PM
 
Location: Midtown Omaha
1,224 posts, read 2,183,279 times
Reputation: 550
Stothert had to run way right of center in order to win the Republican bid for Mayor. Since taking office she has come much closer to center on a lot of things I was worried about like North Omaha, LGBT, Urban Development ect.

Actually she has had a very moderate first year in office. Did a lot of good cost cutting without ignoring much of the people that voted against her.
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Old 02-22-2014, 05:17 PM
 
Location: Chicago
3,340 posts, read 9,671,201 times
Reputation: 1238
I've pretty much learned at this point that political parties don't matter too much in Omaha. Most people who end up getting elected, at least for Mayor, are moderate.
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Old 02-22-2014, 05:32 PM
 
Location: Midtown
152 posts, read 243,666 times
Reputation: 105
Quote:
Originally Posted by Raphael07 View Post
I've pretty much learned at this point that political parties don't matter too much in Omaha. Most people who end up getting elected, at least for Mayor, are moderate.
I think you're right.

The two main differences I see between Suttle and Stothert are:
1. Suttle is stiff & distant, while Stothert has much better people skills.
2. Suttle was owned by the OFD, Stothert owns the OFD.



I remember the giant fiasco of the "mayor's vehicle." Suttle chose a Chrysler Aspen, and somebody (probably Dave Nabity) started screaming about how much it was going to cost the taxpayers of Omaha for him to lease it. Huge political damage. In the end, the dealer offered to lease it to the city for free, but it didn't matter. Then Stothert comes along and announces that she's going to lease a Toyota Hybrid, and pay the lease herself. Saved the city a whopping couple hundred bucks per month, but everyone was happy.


Suttle is a very smart man, but his social skills are pretty poor.
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Old 02-22-2014, 07:22 PM
 
Location: Tampa (by way of Omaha)
14,561 posts, read 23,012,670 times
Reputation: 10356
Quote:
Originally Posted by Old General View Post
Stothert has done a decent job of putting the brakes on the wasteful spending that is so typical of governments. Now she needs to move forward intelligently.

I'm okay with the restaurant tax, because it's completely voluntary. If you don't want to pay that whopping 2%, don't eat at a restaurant. Pretty simple.

But they desperately need to restructure some of the property taxation. People need to be offered something like "10 years property tax free" to buy and build (and live on) on some of the abandoned properties in the east part of Omaha. It's not going to cost the city much, because the absentee owners aren't paying their taxes anyway, and it could provide a powerful incentive for people to continue to invest in the turn-around of this part of the city.


Mayor Suttle had it right, when he said (in a meeting I was at with him) that if we don't invest in the east part of Omaha, Omaha will become another Detroit.
Agree on both counts. That would be an excellent idea to bring renewal to eastern Omaha.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Old General View Post
I think you're right.

The two main differences I see between Suttle and Stothert are:
1. Suttle is stiff & distant, while Stothert has much better people skills.
2. Suttle was owned by the OFD, Stothert owns the OFD.

I remember the giant fiasco of the "mayor's vehicle." Suttle chose a Chrysler Aspen, and somebody (probably Dave Nabity) started screaming about how much it was going to cost the taxpayers of Omaha for him to lease it. Huge political damage. In the end, the dealer offered to lease it to the city for free, but it didn't matter. Then Stothert comes along and announces that she's going to lease a Toyota Hybrid, and pay the lease herself. Saved the city a whopping couple hundred bucks per month, but everyone was happy.

Suttle is a very smart man, but his social skills are pretty poor.
Good recap. I also think Suttle was hurt by taking office during a time when a bunch of angry old white people decided to get together, call themselves teabaggers and attempt to make life difficult for anyone wearing a "D" next to their name. People like Stothert and Nabity tried to tap into that and use it against Suttle, though it was never very effective.
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Old 02-22-2014, 07:36 PM
 
624 posts, read 1,306,796 times
Reputation: 147
I guess the only thing wrong with this mayoral period so far to me is the idea of privatizing MUD. Its just something that would get Stothert brownie points from her groupies, but would be negative for our future.
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Old 02-22-2014, 08:20 PM
 
Location: Midtown
152 posts, read 243,666 times
Reputation: 105
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bosco55David View Post
Good recap. I also think Suttle was hurt by taking office during a time when a bunch of angry old white people decided to get together, call themselves teabaggers and attempt to make life difficult for anyone wearing a "D" next to their name. People like Stothert and Nabity tried to tap into that and use it against Suttle, though it was never very effective.
Not sure I can agree about the whole Teabagger & "D" thing. Granted, you had the "vindictive Nabity" thing, but I think it was a combination of other problems. Things like freezing city employee wages, yet hiring personal staff for far more than anyone had ever been paid before. And even though Suttle's administration may have netted a profit for the city by doing that, it look really really bad. Then when it became obvious that Suttle was just a lapdog for the OFD, a lot of people turned on him.

But in the end, I think Suttle's downfall was his complete and total lack of people & PR skills. Take a guy like Bill Clinton. Every single person in the country knows that virtually everything he says is a lie, but he somehow manages to make you feel really good about being lied to. Compare that to Suttle, who could tell the absolute truth about something, but do it in such a way that even his supporters got POd.


I don't know what Suttle is doing now, but I can't help but think that he is THRILLED to no longer be Omaha's mayor - kind of like GWB is obviously THRILLED to no longer be the POTUS.
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