This is from The Southern's archieve: "Carbondale's proposed budget 'lean'"I would say that it looks like we are going to have our property tax back, based on Sheila's words, if she is elected mayor.
(ID: 15903944.qcd; Published: April 5, 2006; Section: News)
"...Reviewing the proposed budget during Tuesday night's meeting, City Councilwoman Sheila Simon was prompted to ask if it may be time to re-evaluate city's abatement of its property tax levy, which was enacted in 2002.
'It's not as if I am in a rush to reinstitute the property tax, but I do want to make sure we are being responsible,' Simon said."
"...Mayor Brad Cole said the city bucked a statewide trend when it zeroed out its property tax levy four years ago. He said residents initially experienced an approximate 6 percent relief in their overall taxes, but other governmental bodies have now stepped up their financial demands."
My take on this is that Carbondale has enough employees to do the job and I'm happy they are doing more with less down at city hall.
Clearly, this is a key difference between the candidates. Brad promises no property tax and Sheila has already tried to put the tax back on. A new tax is what Sheila calls, "being responsible." I agree, it will make the property owners and then the renters have the responsibility and Sheila will be having a party on our nickel.
Your comments are welcome.
4 comments:
Where does she say she wants to reinstate property taxes? She's basically saying she won't rule it out, which is hardly the same thing. You'd prefer to *not* have the property tax and have the city budget go in the dump?
(By the by, you can't just create new six policie lines out of thin air. They're salaries have to come from somewhere.)
If you're against her for advocating responsibility with the budget, that's your choice...but its a stupid choice.
Peter,
I think your post was a bit too "real" for some people to handle.
You've done a great job covering this race. Keep digging.
About the first response -
Politicians who talk about adding new taxes, always seem to get around to it. Generally, sooner then later. Given that Sheila has contributed almost no new ideas at any city council meeting in the last 4 years, it is interesting that one of the few ideas was to raise taxes.
Personally, I don't care about Carbondale taxes. I can afford them and I'm happy to pay. You read my bio yet?
Are you claiming that Carbondale doesn't have a balanced budget today? The reason that Carbondale might need more tax money is because Sheila plans to add size and cost to city hall, if she was elected mayor. When you think about it, this is the family heritage and follows her platform.
I will give you that the state of Illinois is going to have to raise taxes to pay for their pension debt sooner or later, but that is different then Carbondale. Are you confused about the difference?
The Mayor eliminated a tax and promises not to bring it back, the challenger talks about bring back the tax and doesn't promise not to. Everything you wrote here is just deception and misdirection.
Why don't you call Sheila and report back on what she says? This is clearly a difference in platforms. Sheila looks to be raising taxes, Brad promises not to.
Looks to be and will are not quite the same thing. You can infer tax increases from Simon's statements all you want and it's a perfectly valid inference but its still not the same a her stating she will do it.
Post a Comment