This is an informal poll – cast your vote with a comment.
During the recent election campaign, now Mayor Ireton suggested that residents would not object to paying higher taxes in order to have more police on the streets. Now he says that he will be asking the City Council for more money to repair the streets that have fallen into disrepair under the tenure of Barrie Tilghman. There may be no way to fund these serious needs without at least some tax rate increase.
Should that happen now - what’s your opinion?
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50 comments:
Trim all the fat first, then raise taxes if need be.
I disagree with tightwad Debbie Campbell. The streets need to be upkept, or you lose them, and that makes bigger problems. Sure raise taxes to keep our city looking good. I don't mind paying taxes to get the services I want.
Raise the TAX
raising taxes now will hurt our local economy even more. they should find some more areas to cut, not just raise a certain percentage. Government watse is a big problem and they need to go line by line to find areas they can do away with. More taxes, that is never the answer. Less revenue comes from raising taxes. We need to lower taxes, attract businesses and increase our total tax revenue to the government. Close off downtown, put picnic tables all around, give tax breaks to small, independant business owners and another tax break on top of that for those bringing in family oriented businesses to reenergize the downtown area.
Not until full auditing has been completed to ensure funds are being spent wisely. The tax rate in the city is already higher than the county. More tax burden will dicourage homeowners from moving into the city limits. I just bought a home in the city limits(might be the biggest mistake in my life with the outcome of the council elections) and cringed when I saw the annual tax bill.
We all know how the last mare loved to hide money. If bs funding such as the All American City crap as well as the banners put up was cut there would be more money available to address these issues.
Also overspending on unneeded equipment and vehicles for the fire department has created part of the problem. I also think it is time to seriously consider consolidation of the SPD and WCSO. Pooling of resources would give us a more effective police force with minimal expense increase.
Common sense folks.
Mike Ash
How much can we continue to raise taxes? Why is being tight with money a bad thing? If more people were tight with their money and did not buy things they could not aford, our economy would not be as bad as it is today. 10:01 is right, trim the fat, get rid of usless or failed programs first. Stop taking all the peoples money.
NO.... Ireton already wants to raise taxes?!! Funny that Joe isn't bitter about this!
Unfortunately, Barrie Tilghman let the Salisbury's essential infrastructure deteriorate to the point that the City is in peril -- the recent assessment of the streets shows that about $32 Million is needed to do basic repair and maintenance. Ireton would be smart and right to seek an immediate tax rate hike to begin to address these needs, including the police.
And that should be accompanied by immediate elimination of the grotesque waste on such things as the All-American City scam, beautification, etc. of the standpipe, dog-park, street lights in Sassafras Meadows and roads in Harbour Point that they allowed the developer to omit. The Marina and the North Prong nonsense should be canned as well.
But it's unlikely that any of these changes will occur because of political considerations.
10:01 Ditto!
The only thing that should be raised is the RENTAL LICENSE FEE from $25 a year to $500 a year!
In order for Salisbury to make enough from the taxes they will most likely have to swallow up all those wierd areas that are not in the city limits currently. All the citys are having to do this. Why dont they just cahrge a nominal fee for using the by-pass?
Joe:
Please get the salary of John Pick and the department heads.
If Ireton and the 2 council persons just reelected are smart, they will try to raise taxes now -- as early as possible in their term. That's Poly Sci. 101, folks.
Guess it all depends on who is raising the taxes? How scientific!
I would suggest the county and city incorporate as many services as possible as they did in Louisville Kentucky. In addition
I would suggest we initiate a county lottery that would keep revenues in the county. The state did it why can't our community do it. Cities are printing their own money for services within their community
it is not about who raises taxes, it is about who pays them. Businesses are always the first to have their taxes raised, therefore prices go up and the public actually pays the taxes themselves. Barrie screwed up Salisbury big time, but we must get rid of the government waste first, or there will always eb a shortfall.
Correct me if Im wrong but didnt we just sign a bill that alocated trillions of dollars for roads and bridges? Somebody go get Salisbury some of that money, after all were all paying for it why not at least use some of it.
Chris:
So what should we cut, pal?
Everything.
How much will this years "Salisbury Festival" cost City taxpayers?
OK anonymous 11:19, let's start with a $840,000.00 FIRE BOAT! How about we cut back on 1/2 of what they're spending on the Fire Department all together. You can then send that money over to the SPD where they actually need it. Do YOU realize those same two police cars without lights on them are STILL sitting there in their parking lot without lights? How good is that! Gordy is sporting around in his Police Cruiser and he's not even a Cop. It's a slap in the SPD's face but someone there doesn't have the stones to stand up and fight.
How about they eliminate any work on the Stand Pipe?
Let me assure you, I have been way too busy to look at the new Budget Tilghman proposed but gime us time and we'll tell you where. I think the items mentioned above are a great start.
Around $300,000.00
Joe:
Is that expense for a festival really worth it or should that funding be greatly reduced or totally dropped?
That would be a great question to ask the new Mayor.
IMHO, it should be completely dropped.
You have far too many other activities going on in Salisbury like Pork in the Park, Bike Week, they have almost the same amount of rides and fun.
It's a Policing Nightmare and that's probably the biggest expense.
You also have Ocean City right down the road. It's an inconvenience for the Library and ALL business Owners in the Downtown area. They have no place to park. Their customers have no place to park. It's a nightmare, like I said.
We're at War, our national economy is completely shot. We're in so much debt, we simply cannot afford this crap.
I'd much rather GIVE my money to children with cancer than to BLOW whatever is left on crap like this.
I told everyone, 2009 is a year to give back. Now you have every right to disagree with my way of thinking butu let me assure you of one thing, if YOU think things are going to get better and Obama is going to turn our economy around, YOU'RE WRONG. You ,ark my words. It's going to get a LOT worse!
People out supporting events like this, simply to have fun and play, they're going to be the first people losing everything. Oh, and the way Obama wants to fix those people borrowing from credit cards to have fun, well, you and I will be bailing them out too, you'll see.
The Salisbury Festival is a joke and should be shut down. At least we have a Mayor now that will listen. Before it was like telling your Wife she can't have any more money for her nails and hair. NOT a good thing! When Jim sees the expense, believe me, it won't be like shutting off the lights at Christmas time. The impact on that was far greater than it would be if you shut down the Festival.
I guess it would be up to everyone paying for it to decide, if I was Mayor. Pick one or the other but not both. We simply don't have the money.
Find cuts...NO PAY RAISES. LAY OFF UNNEEDED EMPLOYEES.
Joe:
But he also wants to pump more $$$ into the downtown owners group, so what's the difference?
11:46-
How about Lore Chambers first?
PROVE IT anonymous 11:48.
11:19...
I will find out, of course Joe knows. just wait, when myself and Bob get on the county council, Liberties will be the foremost of anything. People asking the governemtn to do everything for them will have to end. And of course, we will stand up to the stae if they try to impose new bills governing our farm land.....for those who do not have any ideas, do not complain unless you are willing to put yourself out there.....
That sure is a lot of money to spend on something that accomplishes what? Kill It Jim.
The former Mayor Tilghman has always blown money like this. It was called her "pet projects" and none of them ever worked out.
While some people question Urban Salisbury and what they have and haven't done, every time they would bring a strong proposal to the table the Mayor would instruct the Council President to not put it on the agenda.
How can any group succeed if the Mayor keeps dodging them? I'll add, you have to truly wonder WHY the Mayor would hold these professionals back. I'd say it was because she didn't want to move forward. I'd say there were better real estate investments made when the values drop to next to nothing.
Can't everyone see why she now wants to buy homes and sell them????? HELLO!!!! Who allowed the market to drop this low? Why is crime so high here and why was it covered up by the MSM?
There's been a Master Plan for Downtown Salisbury, let me tell you Folks. The Master Plan works for the RICH, not those who are invested in property ownership there.
You need to support Urban Salisbury and Jim Ireton. It's not going to be easy but if we don't start now and bite the bullet, man, it's going to get a whole lot worse and every property will have For Lease Signs on them titled Tilghman Property Management, you'll see.
How was the $250,000.00 in the last five years spent?
Joe:
It's true that Barrie has recently turned on Urban Salisbury, but for years it was her darling and they were among the FOB's -- just look at all the money the City has given them when she was the Mayor. It's more than $250,000.
Whether that group can be viable and is vital to the City is very questionable IMHO.
No.
Cut the salaries of the fat butts that are there now spending to much of the peoples money already.
Cut spending and please spare your time dont tell me they cant.
anonymous 12:09,
I'll tell you what. How about we let Urban Salisbury present their Master Plan to the Council and Mayor and then present it to the taxpayers and then we can all decide.
Fair enough?
Joe:
that is a very good idea. let Urban Salisbury present it to us all, without any one politician silencing them.
Hell No---I cannot afford any new taxes. I had 2 increases within 6 mos that i moved into this house in the city limits in 2006. I cannot afford it, and i can't sell my house either.
I understand from reading this blog that most here are favoring your new mayor, It looks to be mostly because of the past performance of the incumbent mayor.
The new mayor is a democrat, so raising taxes is just what they do, no doubt in some cases needed.
I would urge the mayor and city to try to scarf up some of obamas stimulus package before even the thought of more taxes, after all it is billions alloted for just such as road service and repair etc.
I'll bet Don Cathcart will support higher City taxes this year and next year too!
1:06-
As big as it seems, the Obamabucks stimulus pie is being cut in so many pieces that Salisbury's will be pretty small.
And the fact that this area went for McCain and does not support O'Malley won't help the cause.
How long will it take for this blog to stop talking "Barrie" She's gone, and all the beefing about her is not going to solve any problems. The streets need maintaining PERIOD. Now, cut out the gripes and solve the problem. If you buy a house and don't maintain it, hasn't your investment dwindled away. Same with anything. If it comes to taxes being raised, so be it. Has anybody here compared taxes with other municipalities. They are about the same. I have, before I moved here, so I have no gripe.
anonymous 3:11, will you just shut up. NO, Barrie Tilghman will be the subject of many topics for many years to come. She drove this City into the ground with supporters just like you Mr. Cathcart.
No tax increase. Period. Cut where ever and move to the police dept. No tax increase until every bit of fat is cut. Maybe we can ask Obama to fix our streets.
dont worry, SPD is firing and making people quit. no need to do pay cuts. i say by the end of the year 15 will be done working there!
anything so deputies are not furlowed
I agree the rentals make up for well over half of all housing in Salisbury. Rentals should be providing over 50% of Salisbury's budget. They are a strain on the infrastructure packing that many people into one home. $500 a unit may be a little light, $750 PER UNIT is more like it.
Businesses must pay a higher rate for water, rentals are a business, so they too should have an elevated fee for water and sewer.
I also cannot afford to pay higher city taxes. When I bought my house two years ago, my taxes were $5,000.00 less than they are today (city and county taxes) Now in the meantime, my house has lost over $30,000.00 in value and they want to raise my taxes. NOT!
Agree with Chris & 10:20...
same old, same old...politics as usual...
if this were Berrie T & cronies asking for a tax hike, you people would go balistic. So now theres a new mayor and its ok? I think NOT. With economy the way it is and so many people losing homes and jobs, now is NOT a good time to do this...cut the pork....we need to cut taxes and get jobs to come into the city not run more out.....
NO< NO< NO< NO< NO more taxes.
with the coming "stealth taxes", end of Bush cuts (a rise in taxes on a federal level), revitalization of inheritance & capital gains taxes, loss of deductibles, including charitable giving & home mortgage interest, from fed. taxes, who needs or is FOR an increase. CUT, CUT, CUT SPENDING!!!!!!!
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