10 January 2007

Oh No...This Won't Hurt A Bit....

How many times did you go to the doctor as a child and repeatedly hear this from your parents? And how many times did it HONESTLY wind up hurting? Well now you know how the FWCS "hostage situation" is going...with the TAXPAYERS (once again) becoming the hostages. We're being held for ransom...to the tune of between $230 million (up to one BILLION) bucks.

I've worked for the private sector in PREVENTIVE maintenance, and I can tell you THAT costs a helluva lot LESS than going back after the fact, and trying to fix things after they've "broke", as it were. It's like the old tale where the rancher decides to repair the gate AFTER the horses have all run off. Would have been a LOT easier to fix the gate when it first showed signs of needing repair in the first place.

This "Yellow Ribbon" Task Force (what's with the yellow ribbon...does it have to do with troop deployment or something?) has met once with the public, and after the next meeting will go to work with proposing some sort of "painless" way of emptying our wallets. Sorry, people, but there is NO way to fleece the public without causing some sort of (financial) pain, angst, or agony. Besides, any "Task Force" I'm familiar with was created to do ONE thing only...seek out and enemy and eradicate them...check your history books. When did WE, the taxpaying public become the "enemy"?

Now forgive me because I like to deal with REALITY and FACTS, but I'm just not seeing how ALL this money will make the students SMARTER and more likely to graduate and go on to college one damn bit. I'm all for having students LEARN...but are we talking educational process improvement, or just plain old aesthetics here? Does a nice, shiny new building automatically preclude that we're going to produce a better quality of student with a greater passion for the learning process?

Personally, I don't feel the BUILDINGS matter as much as the education itself. That's not to say the students should attend school in tents or crumbling facaded structures, but on the other hand, there are more influential aspects to a better education, such as noise reduction, dress code standards, and even (dare I say it?) stricter discipline including corporal punishment. Teachers are there to EDUCATE and be respected. Students are there to LEARN. The buildings have little impact on that, if any.

The breakdown for our "painless" tax hike(s) would be over TEN years (unless we wind up LEAVING the FWCS sphere of influence...a doable option) based on a home worth $85,290. Now I don't know about YOU, but try and FIND a home in a NICE area of Fort Wayne that goes for THAT price. My home is "assessed" at around $76K, and considering it's a post WW2 home with add-ons (2 car detached garage and a family room), it's modest to say the least. Most all other homes in MY area (the beautiful ghetto-esque southeast side) go for as little as $7500. And they are NO bargain at all. Add to that the quality of the people shoved into all the rentals (an ever-growing market it seems), and this tax "deal" merely serves to drive whatever homeowners you still HAVE the hell OUT of the area...period!

The landlords will have to raise RENTS as well to offset their rising taxes, and although one would think that would bring in a better clientele, you forget about ALL the "freebie" programs designed to pay the rent FOR the tenants (section 8 and HUD ring any bells?), and taxpayers are already paying THAT freight, so it becomes a lose-lose for many areas on the fringe of that magic $85K number mentioned above. What the city will wind up with are more rentals, fewer homeowners in more areas of the city, and basically a spreading of the blight the city seeks to reverse (or DO they?). And with this "blight" comes crime, litter, noise, and an overall poorer quality of life. But if that' s what the city wants to allow, by God they're gonna get it!

I reiterate, where is my jar of VASELINE?

No, this ever-burdgeoning debacle won't hurt a bit.......it might financially over burden those living hand-to-mouth, and might cause others to up and move out of the district. It could cause others to rethink their spending (food or housing?...hmm...big decision), while it will most certainly cause hardships on seniors with an already fixed income (and no children in the system even).....but it won't hurt one bit....! It might KILL you (financially), but it won't HURT you.

That's what Mom used to say...as the doctor gave us that injection. And guess what? It DID hurt, but at least we got a lollypop (and a kiss from Mom) to make things better.

What will we wind up getting for THIS type of pain?

2 comments:

Jeff Pruitt said...

Prevantative maintenance seems to be a foreign concept to this city.

I'm nearly certain that if a $1B property tax hike comes then I will be moving - if anyone would be willing to buy my home at that point.

BTW, I think the Yellow Ribbon task force's name comes from what THEIR petition "color" would be in the likely event of a remonstrance. They would be yellow and the remonstrators would be blue - but I'm not 100% certain about that...

Bob G. said...

Good point about the "remon"...the old blue & yellow gig....worked out in SACS last year as I recall.

FWCS would like to "spread" the hike over 10 years...IF they were the ONLY faction weighing in on this, then it might just be doable. Big "if".

The city and county have OVER THIRTY diffrent entities that CAN (and love to) levy property tax hikes on us...

I say "take a number" and get in line, 'cause you're going to have a longer wait than at the BMV...lol!

(better yet...take out a BIG LOAN)

B.G.