Commissioners Heimlich and DeWine believe they are smarter than us.
This story in Saturday’s Cincinnati Enquirer explains how Commissioners Heimlich and DeWine apparently are convinced they are smart than you and me. I for one am not convinced.
After the committee they appointed to provide "independent analysis" acted independently Heimlich and DeWine fired them. I may not be they sharpest tool in the shed, but I know what the word independent means.
Heimlich and DeWine believe our taxes are something that encourages people to leave. Apparently a majority of us who choose to stay don’t agree since “in 2005, residents agreed to tax themselves $247 million for all special levies.”
But apparently the democratic process is unjust. "That is not fair," Heimlich said. "Nobody was watching how fast these levies were going up as a whole." So if you are one of the majority who voted for the tax levies, you either did not know what you were doing or you are simply a “nobody.”
posted by Jeff Sinnard @ 5:02 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
Hamilton County's pop went from 873K to 845K from 1994-2000:
http://www.census.gov/popest/archives/2000s/vintage_2001/CO-EST2001-12/CO-EST2001-12-39.html
The population fell to 815K in 2004 (spreadsheet at link):
http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/CO-EST2004-01.html
That's a roughly 7% drop in 10 years, while the state's pop grew a little less than 3%.
If it's higher taxes that are causing people to move and not just a family-size aging population problem (I think it's more of the former), the higher taxes need to be reined in.
People who vote for too many taxes have to realize that at some point the people who don't vote in high taxes vote in another way--with their feet.
The "indy" board is an attempt to look at the big picture. If their mandate is to help make sure taxes don't go up more than inflation and they're failing in their contributions to that effort, then they do need to clean house, unless watching the county as a whole contract like Cincinnati, Cleveland and Detroit have is considered a good thing.
Tom Blumer
BizzyBlog
I was just in the car for a few minutes and listened to a discussion about how the stadium financing is falling apart. They don't have the money to make the bond payments, because their projections at the time of the deal assumed steady increases in sales tax and (I think) hotel occupancy tax revenues. We could go back and debate that deal all day long and it wouldn't do any good. They're stuck with it, and they've got to do something about it.
With a 7% pop drop, that's not going to happen. They've got to do something to stop the bleeding. Increasing taxes beyond inflation will increase the bleeding.
The problem is, assuming that the two who were let go (I don't think you can "fire" a volunteer) have been around since 1995 when it started, it's very likely that they acquired a version of Stockholm Syndrome after hearing the people who want our tax money plead their case time and time again and gradually becoming more sympathetic to them than they had been in the beginning. It's natural and it's human, but it's also an indicator that it's time to go (that's also why term limits are generally a good thing).
BizzyBlog
Tom,
You make some interesting, documented and well-articulated points. I just don’t happen to agree with all of them. I believe the Republicans preoccupation with taxes is counterproductive. And you are right we could debate that and the stadium tax all day.
My point, in keeping with the theme of this blog, was to point out the arrogance of believing that voters are smart enough to elect DeWine and Heimlich but not smart enough to decide tax levies. I believe patronizing attitudes like this are damaging to our democracy.
Your statement that “People who vote for too many taxes have to realize..” sounds a bit condescending and elitist to me as well. Perhaps the voters feel they are getting value for their tax dollars.
Jeff,
The "vote with their feet" isn't meant to be elitism. It's a point that is too often missed. And I'm not one to say that the voters are dumber than the politicians as long as they (voters) are informed.
Not enough people realize that things aren't static. How many people do you estimate know that the county's pop is down 7% in 10 years (it surprised me--I thought it was 2-3). People (smart voters) respond to incentives, positive and negative. When a tax increase is proposed, almost no one asks "are we going to lose people because of this?" If they did, they would realize first, that there are limits to how high taxes can go, and second, in an already pretty-high tax situation, you may not get all the money you think you're going to get because some of those (smarter than the politicians?) voters are going to leave on you.
I think Heimlich's statement that no one was looking at the big picture is correct, and that was the assigned job of the indy board. But it was also Schnozzy's job to perform oversight, so there's more than a little failure to spread around, and yes, Schnozz and DeWine are passing the buck, so to speak, more than a little bit, and hoping the voters don't notice that they (and some predecessors) weren't doing their job either.
A radio caller pointed out that 2-3 of the current commissioners were on the Cincinnati City Council (I think they all were myself) that "punted" doing the stadium deal to the county, made Bob Bedinghaus the fall guy, and now are, irony of ironies, having to deal with what they passed off. And one of the punters (Portune) is specifically suing over the deal his city council didn't want to orchestrate. Yikes.
Tom Blumer
bizzyblog.com
No comment on the Schmidt speech? I'm surprised.
Jim Parker's been tossing comments all over the blogosphere. It's almost like he's running for something.
Eric,
Not much to say. The right loves it; the left hates it. I don't really think it is a big deal. It seems to me this is just Jean being Jean. I am not going to get all bent out of shape about it. I figure Murtha can take it, being a decorated Marine.
I hope we put the name calling behind us and get back to debating the issue. What are we doing in Iraq? When are we going to be done?
JS
You're very sensible. I like that.
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