Ka-ching! Time to pay up
When I first started writing for this newspaper, covering city council meetings was one of the toughest things I did. It has gotten easier and I really do try to keep them from being dry and uninteresting reports. Often that is simple if some councilman or constituent has a meltdown. Fist pounding and sputtering are fodder for quirky headlines that click with the readers. But most meetings are still snooze-fests.
Some of the most boring, incomprehensible, and thus the least attended meetings are those related to budget. They are important meetings. What happens with your tax dollars should make you sit up and take notice. There is usually tons of criticism at the coffee shop about "the way they're spendin' my tax dollars" so you would think people would love to express their opinions at meetings! But I am usually the only person in attendance.
I think people simply do not understand the terminology or how the system works. They don't know how much a mill is, they don't understand capital improvements, special highway funds, or ad valorem tax. They know when their taxes go up and they know when they go down. They care little about the rest of it.
I am launching into this topic because it is possible that the city of Peabody is going to come up with a "shock and awe" mill levy in a week or so and most people aren't aware of it. Preliminary reviews of the money needed to keep the city rolling for another year indicate a double-digit mill increase. The mill levy has not been raised significantly in 10 years. Because of that and because of some bad luck, unexpected project costs, and the subsequent depletion of cash reserves, the city council is looking at a bleak fiscal 2008. Preliminary worksheets at a budget meeting July 8 indicated that a hike of 20-plus mills, while pushing most local taxpayers right over the edge, still might not be enough to cover a bare bones budget.
It would take more space than I have here to explain all of the problems that face your mayor and five councilmen. I am glad, by the way, that I wasn't moved to file for a council seat myself. Real glad. I have seen this governing job and believe me, I want no part of it. That said, I do have an opinion about how councils, boards, and commissions do their jobs. (You knew that was coming, didn't you?)
First of all, they are not out to "get you." Nor do they hire employees who "do nothing" or "just ride around" while drawing fat paychecks. They agonize over where to allocate the meager funds they have. They rob Peter to pay Paul. They want to be able to give you everything you want for a pittance, but it ain't gonna happen. Sometimes I wonder why they do some of the things they do, but I rarely think their actions are aimed at me or that they relish wasting my tax dollars.
There are state and federal government mandates that must be met. Do you think the city council 10 or 15 years ago just dreamed up a new water and wastewater obligation for us? No, the really big boys in Topeka and Washington did the dreaming for us. They told us to get a new water system and a new wastewater system. The troublesome part is they want us to pay for it. So we do. And we will pay until roughly 2040. Every year. The alternative is for each of us to drill our own water well and deal with the disposal of our own waste. No thanks, not me. I want my tax dollars to take care of it.
There also exists a plethora of rules and regulations about hiring and firing, ADA accessibility every time the city replaces a curb, and OSHA rules about safety and equipment and the products that a city can buy. None of these regulations makes anything cheaper. Count on it.
We have parks and a swimming pool that generate virtually no money, but require maintenance, repairs, plantings, lights, and lots of other stuff to provide our citizens with a recreation area. The pool was built in the early 1960s. Last year repairs cost $75,000 so that we can keep it around for another 10 or 20 years. Before that it cost several thousand dollars a year for several years. Did you make a donation? I bet not. Will you howl when user fees are raised to help recover some of the costs associated with providing a pool for your youngsters? I bet you will. Are you one of the swim team parents who think it is OK to pay the city less than $300 a season to provide a spot for the entire team to practice
What street do you live on? The Mister and I are pretty lucky. We live on Walnut and potholes, cracks, broken curbs, and problem areas are addressed with some regularity. We appreciate that. Other parts of town are not so lucky. For that reason, the city council this past year requested and received a one-cent sales tax that will generate about $55,000 annually for street repair. The trouble is, that amount only buys about a third of the materials and labor that it bought when the sales tax issue was put on the ballot.
Do you want fire trucks available 24/7? Do you want enough police officers on duty to keep your community safe and secure? When you call 911 because you have chest pains, do you want to be the guy who can't get to the hospital in time to save your life because the ambulance no longer has certified personnel to operate it?
Why do you live in Peabody? What amenities are important to you? Many of you don't work here; your jobs are in Wichita or Newton. You could live in Halstead or Sedgwick. Maybe some of you will look at your next property tax statement and hightail it off to one of those places. But consider this: they have taxes, too. You will still have to pay for streets, water, parks, pool, sewer, staffing, emergency services, and all the rest.
We all have to pay. It is how we get the money to run our community. That is the way it works. If you are interested in how much of your tax dollar goes where, you should join me in the cheap seats at the next city council meeting. And always remember, if you are aghast at how this mayor and council handle your money, there will be another election in a couple of years and we would all love to see your name on the ballot.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
