Hey all, I think it time we band together and support the tax renewal in our own unique ways. Here is a flyer I've put together to help get the word out. What do you think? Is it factually accurate? Should it be reworded to be more effective?
Support the 3/4% Tax Renewal
By tekrat - Posted on February 16th, 2008
strong case. This will help me make my decision, thanks tekrat!
That's pretty good :-)
Very professional, mature, and respectable.......
Need to find a way to keep the officials from taking away the nessessaties if it fails. You just know theyre going to threaten with the fire, police and sanitation. The roads will go to worse hell than they are.
Need to get that strong mayor thing on the ballot so Carty will slow down a bit.
Dottie
"Need to find a way to keep the officials from taking away the necessities if it fails"
It's like when you run into financial difficulties at home - you cut the frivolous stuff and only pay for the necessities.
But if it were Carty and Council's house they'd say "the mortgage is the biggest drain on our budget - so if we get that budget cut we wont be able to pay the mortgage and we'll be out on the street!"
And then they go merrily on using that household budget on landscaping, cable internet, decorative lighting and the like, because "curb appeal" is more important to them than intelligently maintaining the home...
i like what you had to say, but after getting a call from a polling person, i'm confused. they told me this tax was supposedly ONLY going to be for the police, firemen and trash, and if it does not pass the city will lay off workers from those areas. it seems like there is two different objectives going around asking voters to support the same tax. makes me wonder what the money would actually go to. what's going on?
billy, i completely agree with you, nicely worded.
littlered - Who was conducting this poll? They shouldn't have threatened the lay offs. That's a no-no when conducting polls.
or a poll to determine advertising campaign.
Littlered, do you want to detail more what they said?
i can't remember who it was that called me, it was in the beginning of january. the first thing she asked was if i was planning on voting for the levy, why or why not. then she gave me this line about the police, fire and trash budgets will be cut if it does not pass. she told me for the past 20 years voters have been approving it, and i questioned when it first was put on the ballot it was pitched as being a temporary tax. she also asked me what i thought of carty and our city "leaders" that was a fun one. :) i tried to give her numbers of more people to call, but she wasn't interested. it was a rather refreshing survey. i enjoyed telling her what i thought.
The mindless lemmings in Toledo will be told how to vote by their union reps and will swallow the crap that vomits out of the mouth of the mayor.
Don't bother trying to force King Carty's administration to be fiscally responsible, the socialist mindset of Toledoans will prevail.
Ask a Toledoan what the city did to pay for fire and police BEFORE the 3/4% tax and the mental midgets will probably say some damn fool thing like "I guess we didn't have police and fire".
Ask a Toledoan why they pay for trash pickup now and why the trash collector UNION got raises, and they will take their marching orders from the puppet masters of the DNC.
Do you wonder why there is "brain drain"? Because the smart people LEAVE. You can't fix stupid, and Toledo is a prime example.
And if you really wonder why Toledo is a Socialist paradise, read the Manifesto of the Communist Party then ask yourself which political party Marx is talking about.
"This organization of the proletarians into a class, and, consequently, into a political party, is continually being upset again by the competition between the workers themselves. But it ever rises up again, stronger, firmer, mightier. It compels legislative recognition of particular interests of the workers, by taking advantage of the divisions among the bourgeoisie itself."
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/
You can't fix stupid...I love it!
...their web page. They stated that the proposed budget for 2008 was $251,789,259, but the bar graph that showed a break-down of the areas of spending started at about $180 million for "everything else", and ended at about the $215 million dollar mark. In other words, it seems to bear no relationship to the proposed budget. I thought that maybe it was meant to convey what the budget would look like when the $57 million was removed from the budget, but that limit would come out closer to $191.3 million. It would be nice if they could provide us with accurate visuals.
...with "everything else" besides fire, safety, solid waste, judges and courts, and public safety administration. That 24% of the budget comes to $60, 429, 422, and we would be able to put $3, 429, 422 back into the budget for "everything else" once we voted against the 3/4% "temporary tax". That's $3 million for environment, general government, health, public service, and recreation. I guess the one thing I don't want to see removed is anything having to do with public health (I don't know if that falls under "health"). Someone passing some contagious disease around is someone I would pay taxes to avoid. I really don't care about swimming pools for other people's kids.
You sound like what a republican is supposed to be....Smaller Governement, Less Spending, Less Taxes. All three core beliefs are inter-related.
Well, I just decided that I want street repair back in "my" budget. That add's $3,695,636.59 (2008 estimate) to my budget. Crap, that means I got to lay off a policeman or fireman. But streets without pot-holes are important.
...courts, public safety administration, and street repair as stated in the budget. There is no more money for anything else including any public health concerns the city might be interested in. I only had to lay off one cop or fireman. And I'm under budget. Whoopey! Anything I missed. that is important to the citizens of Toledo?
I know of ONE citizen that can not live without FLOWERS.
(His motto - Leave no dollar unspent)
"..courts, public safety administration, and street repair as stated in the budget. There is no more money for anything else including any public health concerns the city might be interested in. I only had to lay off one cop or fireman. And I'm under budget. Whoopey! Anything I missed. that is important to the citizens of Toledo?"
mayor oldsouthendbrdy,
i'd go along with your budget, but could we make sure that our streets get plowed, i have a big problem with shoveling my street after the plows stop doing the main roads. we also live in the old south end.
I don't know, littered. I have a hard time reading this budget but the expected budget this year for "snow removal" under "streets, harbors, and bridges" (around page 211) is $5, 134, 317. That's probably equivalent to laying off another 50-60 cops (with benefits), and also losing their income tax if they live in the city. It's looks like you'll have to hire some kids to shovel you out. You'll probably see an increase in your insurance rates since there'll be more accidents in town because the trucks aren't out salting the roads, and plowing. But the budget has to come in under 76% of $251,000,000. Can't have everything unless we're wiling to pay for it. The big cuts are in manpower, and capital investments such as equipment, not in flowers. Of course, maybe we could do a "Wal-Mart", and start demanding certain standards. You work until you finish the job I think you should do, and forget about overtime. You walk your beat until there's no crime on the street, and then you can go home.
your budget is still amusing, yeah not practical, but amusing. :) there is a lot of truth in what you say, they just need to cut the things that are not necessary.
New trees? Not in the budget. Maintenance of the city golf courses? Not in the budget. Maintenance of the city parks? Not in the budget. I wonder if we could get our fellow citizens to put tar patches on the road, and save the city some money. We would have to make sure that they realize if they burn themselves, or are struck by a vehicles the other taxpayers aren't responsible. Swimming pools? Not in the budget. Rat control? Not in the budget (hurray for the feral cats). Maintenance of the city cemetaries? Not in the budget. Removal of nuisance homes? Probably not in the budget. Signage? Definitely not in the budget. Pretty flowers on the Anthony Wayne Median? Do you know how to say "weeds". Sidewalk repair? Definitely not in the budget.
I went over budget $266, 216 when I put street repair back into my "wish list". That is more than a cop or fireman. Even with benefits it probably means laying off three or four patrolmen (or fireman, or garbagemen) depending on how much they make each year.
The cops I laid off turned out to live in the city. I lost their income tax contributions. Not much, but it threw the budget all out of whack. I am considering legalizing prostitution, and letting the city get its cut in "incum tax". That could bring in a pretty penny. Some of the libertarians are po'd though. They say that government shouldn't tax any private service.
I am still conflicted on this decision.
Mike Collins spoke to our neighborhood group about the need for this levy.
But the city already gets 1.75% if this levy drops off
Mike is a former policeman for T.P.D. about 27 years and still has a lot of friends on the force that would be affected by any budget cuts.
He is a union man deep down.
Consider his comments in proper context.
...tax isn't renewed, rather than 1.75%. Not much difference. If we had 1.75% we would have an additional $19 million in revenue. With 1.5% we will have $57 million less in revenue (a loss of a third of the income tax). We'll find a way (probably) to live without it, but just not as well. I don't know if you lived in Toledo when the parks had weeds three feet high. They will make perfect dumping grounds for any bodies. It might help add validity to the "broken window" theory that when you allow your neighborhood to go to hell crime moves in. The next few years should be interesting. Of course, if you're well off you've already moved out of Toledo.
First, a NO vote on Issue 1 just as a NO vote on Issue 7 would not cut a single penny from the budget. Both taxes run until the end of 2008. The city and schools could go back during a special election or the November general election and put the levies back on the ballot.
So for those of you frightened by a cut in service but ticked off about how our money is spent by elected leaders that have priorities a bit different than most of us, you can vote NO just to send them a message.
Now it would make for some interesting budget talks as city leaders would have to consider a budget without $57 million in it. It would be interesting to see if they took this role seriously or just cut those items that they know will upset everyone. It just might be very interesting to watch.
I personally belief that taxes in Toledo have to be cut. We have the highest income tax and our property taxes rank right up there with Ottawa Hills and Sylvania. Last time I looked (about two years ago) Toledo was second just slightly a head of Sylvania. I'll have to check again.
We can't bring business into Toledo when surrounding communities offer advantages including lower taxes. I would entertain a "temporary tax" that is smaller than the current 3/4% tax. I have not considered or explored other options at this time.
What additional percentage would we need?
OSEB - what would it take to get the services on your wish list?
I'm personally going to vote NO on both Issues 1 and 7! I believe a message needs to be sent to One Government Center and Manhattan & Elm. Part of that message needs to be that we can't keep taxing citizens until they run for the burbs. Scaling back the bureaucracy and being fiscally prudent and restrained is the order of the day.
Folks - money talks!
... either more revenue, or more cuts from the list. I used a meat-cleaver. I didn't really look inside fire, satety, solid waste, judges and courts, public safety administration, and street repair. There may be some fat there if we trim those areas, just as the administration did. But we don't like what they did. Now any budget limits what can be done by government. That is a given. I'd like a cop on every street corner, but it isn't going to happen. In the "real world" you have the cop pulling up 20 minutes after the illegal act ocurred. They are not there for prevention, but rather "cleanup". See my post "Plow 'Em 'Til It Hurts" to see what happens when we introduce another service. Again I took the service as a given, and didn't look at any "cuts" like the administration is doing. We want to complain about taxation, put the burden on our elected representatives, and cry "foul" when they do their job. More services, less police, fire, or solid waste is a given.
...a listing of services she thought were a waste of tax-payer dollars. That isn't on her web-site now. I tried to find it in the "cache" but it isn't there either. What I'm getting at is I bet that the "waste" she would have cut from the city's budget came to less than 1% of that budget. Perhaps I am wrong, but one person's waste is another person's "service" from the city. I personally like seeing the flowers on the median on the Anthony Wayne Trail. Do I want to pay for it? Hell, no. I don't want to pay for anything. I want a free ride from the government just like any other "good" citizen. I want the cops there before the crime is committed. I want the garbage men to come in my back-yard and take the garbage, and leave a new trashcan everytime. I want my kid to have all the fun in life, and still be a stellar student. I want. I want. I want., but I still don't want to pay for it.
....this year. If it is $251,789 then it is 1/10 of a percent or 10 cents of each hundred dollars we are taxed. If it is $25, 180 then it is 10 cents of every thousand dollars we are taxed. I can sense a real savings there.
i'm still amused at how much time and effort you are putting into this. :) 2 years, or sooner, we'll hopefully get rid of carty, maybe you could do a better job.