It’s good to be back. Thanks to AT and all concerned.
I got a call from an old friend today, which surprised me. I haven’t heard from him in a while. It’s funny how you get used to not hearing from somebody. Then they call you up and you realize you’ve missed them all along. There has to be a word that describes all this…
Right, it was the school system… which is also why I bought a house, pay their taxes, and do most of my shopping here. Because this city has traditionally valued education.
Or at least until recently.
Evidently the city council is determined to keep to a flat property tax in spite of everything. Unfortunately, the costs of running a damn school system haven’t been flat, and the 4.25 increase in this years budget isn’t going far enough to keep things running. Whats going to get the axe?
This appalls me. I intended to start out the resurrection of the Tumor (hi, yes, we’ve had problems) with something a bit more tounge in cheek, but these bastards have gone too far, voting unanimously against the requested $24 per $100,000 property tax increase despite the fact that most everybody at the meeting was there to request the council see the school increases.
Something else that bugs me about this, is the idea that raising property taxes at this point will inhibit growth. Can somebody explain that to me? Yes, yes, I understand that people will pay more money to taxes, and that pisses nobody off more than I, but seems to me that the jewel in the crown of this backwards little town is the school system.
So, the damage is done, and we’ll see what gets cut out of the budget. Betcha its not going to be sports, which, in my mind, is least important, but which gets the most attention.