Just Vote on August 4
Submitted by civil on July 14, 2009 - 11:53am
There has been a lot of chatter on this blog, some favoring the police tax proposal, some against it. It is not my intent to sway anybody's vote one way or another. I am more concerned that each of us does vote. At the last election about 8% of those eligible did vote. Somewhere between 4 and 5 per cent carried the day. So, of the voting population in Independence less than 5% govern what and how the other 95% function within the city. Sad.
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I believe that cops and school teachers are both VERY UNDERPAID for the work they are doing. I would gladly vote to increase their pay-but not for higher taxes. This tax is for more cops at the same pay and for new vehicles and such. I don't know about you, but with the economy the way it is, I've started doing my own oil changes and repairing my car myself-which has over 200,000 miles on it! Taxes in Independence are too high now. We need better control over what we do collect now and if that means voting other people into office, then so be it. We should be keeping a closer eye on what we are doing with the money we have now than collecting more money just to sink out the same drain.
Welcome JayShaw!!!
That is our point, we don't have a problem with new cops we are just trying to figure out why our sales tax has to be raised again in order to get them......... You are very correct with cops and teachers way under paid, I use to work as a spec. ed teacher and got hardly nothing, but I wasn't there as a good paid employee, I was there to help the ones that couldn't..... Not saying they are all that way, but there are a very small selected few that actually thought teachers and cops are the money jobs........ My thought was to fire the ones that don't want to do their jobs and hire the ones that do in their place.......... No one liked that idea at all!
.........everybody has their principles and I can appreciate THAT..........I have stated before that I believe that they probably have wasted money and may not DESERVE to get more by taxing us more........and HOW they are going to spend it may or may not be suspect........but for the "cost of admission?".............my take?........for me?................I used to spend more in one night of reveling than what it will cost me the next year if they pass the 3/8 sales tax increase..........and the alternative?..........as we fall behind with city growth?........time it DOES take to train?............for them to gain experience?................I just can't see keeping that little bit of money and "hoping for the best"............the city of Independence has always been a pretty good place to live.....there has been increasing "riff raff" activity as well as more bank robbery and violent crime...........as there has been in Lee's Summit , Blue Springs and anywhere else in America........I've always said that there are a few things in life that it's NOT a good idea to "get cheap" on.......to "skimp on".............what are they?........doctors......lawyers.......and auto mechanics.................lol.............because "you'll pay in the end......one way or the other"...............which END?... is the $64,000 question..........(pun intended)............so to ME?......this whole issue boils down to the SAME thing.........is this an issue that we REALLY want to err on the side of being conservative?..........when the outcome could effect us so adversely?.........and I DO mean effect........as opposed to affect..........
eldoggg
I never buy cheap Guns or Parashoutes! ! !
...........ROFL.............EXCELLENT POINT !!!......... ha ha ha ha................. a hard landing either way...........
eldoggg
Okay Civil! For risk of sounding retarded here, no pun intended......
Since we already approved this once and it wasn't being used the way they stated it would be, then why up it and get the same results again? I could be wrong, but from the brochure that David sent me they are doing that, am I right?
How you vote is up to you Dragonlady. I believe at this point you have seen all the pros and cons. David is not likely to change his position and I'm not going to change mine. So on August 4 go to the polls with a happy face and vote your heart, whatever it may be. God bless.
Civil is right, vote Ur heart .....BUT a yes vote we might get 20 NEW Cops??????
How many U think well get with a NO vote????????????????
I want the Cops?????? just me ?
I will try to vote, but since I'm having surgery I cannot guarantee getting there with the long walk........ I was just wondering that was all! I would love more cops in the shop, but without the high tax rate that is all!
An $8,000 per year purchase in basic Independence will cost you an extra $30.00 for the year. That's $2.50 per month..$0833/ day. That's less than any pop or beer or whatever you drink. As for not being able to vote, I am sure there are absentee ballots available. Check with rhe County Election Board.
$20 bucks a year????
For new Cops???? u can't afford it???
next time u need a cop, call a Hippy..........
Civil, I just don't drink beer, I also drink tea, pop and kool-aid! Sorry a kid at heart....... Thank you for your response. I will check into the absentee ballots for this case, usually I do vote, but with me being out of commission with knee surgery the walk will be way to much...
MMinnoe, it isn't that we cannot afford it, I will spend it if I have to, I just didn't understand why when we passed it and it wasn't being used once before. Why would it change now???? Does that make sense????
When was it passed? The 1/8 cent tax passed in 2004 was limited to expenditure on equipmen, no personnel, by state law. It was spent. $2.4M last fiscal year.
the one before was 4 equipment, this is 4 people????
Oh, so I was a little confused. No Problem, thanks guys!
Civil
David has brought up so many important points, Do you agree? I look for the Examiner to help me out and keep me informed. I am a registered voter and will be at the polls.
My post was not about whether David has raised important point or whether I agree with him. I simply am urging all who read this to go and vote their convictions, not David's nor mine nor that of the Examiner. Use you own brain and vote as it tells you.
ur bio says ur from KC right ???
........I vote in EVERY city mminoe.......don't you?...........
eldoggg
Kansas City area Yes
hell when ur caught ?
I agree everyone should vote since the City of Independence continues to waste money for elections in August in hopes that you will not vote. I also hope you are prepared to approve the same increase for the Fire service next year for personell as you are looking at for police. The Fire department is just as short for personell and remember the mini station they are building at Center Point will have Police, Fire and AMR. Now I am sometimes slow but where do you think they are going to get the Fire Personell from or a better question where do you think they are going to get the money from? And if that Council says that is not true ask yourself have they lied before?
You may have something there!
Last fall, I overheard a city official talking with a citizen. This person said that the city wanted to have another tax proposal put forth to help both the fire and police departments. But they were wondering, with the recession and all, when would be a good time to come forward with this.
And then, in I think January or February, Robert Heacock announced the idea publicly. But then, he had to back-pedal a day or two later, apparently because of public backlash to the idea. When he announced it, though, he announced it as being a tax to raise money for BOTH the fire and police departments. ( I even recall stumbling onto that exact article a few days ago in an Examiner archives search and I remember verifying that yes, it did say both!)
So, where's the money for the fire department in the August ballot? They said at the Neighborhood Watch meeting that they think the new fire station down at the new precinct building location would cost $3 million (ballpark figure).
Now, how are they going to pay for it? Well, it would seem that they CAN'T use money from this August 4th tax. But then, they already do have $4 million set aside from the Centerpoint TIF, apparently for both the police precinct and the fire station. (They were kind of talking like they were both considered to be the same project, with respect to that TIF money.) So, I guess as long as they don't go over that $4 million, then they've got the fire station paid for.
But you're right. When will the next tax increase for BASIC SERVICES come up for vote?
I think U r absolutly right, and the worestest part of all this??
When it passes, WE'LL BE STUCK WITH 60 NEW COPS ! ! ! ! !
It's 42 sworn officers that could be hired during the first three-and-a-half years for $6Million Dollars every year for the rest of our life. The key word is COULD. Sorry 42 Maybe COPS for $6 Million sounds a wee bit high for the rest of my life.
Normal
0
Our resident Expert, Rdash who is against it ???
Says we get 60 Cops for $20 bucks each????
If U take $20 X 110, 450 people well about the same I guess?
60 new hires - 18 civilian desk jobs = 42 officers on the streets.
Now divide them up amongst patrol, traffic, and the other divisions. Now divide by three shifts.
Pretty sad that we've got.... and Elisa can correct me here because I'm pretty sure she knows this figure too.... 9 guys in squad cars patroling this city at any given moment. Sad.
Yeah, I want 'em... but the "price" is too high. This smells way, way too much like a bait-and-switch. Three new building projects already in there, all for 39th street. And they'll be back to us in three years (or less) for more!
DRaash I am with you on your math. This has been the same math for the last 25 to 30 years. We have two bloggers who have been brain washed and programmed to say yes to this sales tax. You or I can not deprogram them. I have walked 23rd street from Hill Park to 291. We need to get the word out with signs, fliers, e-mails and calls. We have to use what little time we have to talk to the people who don't know about it. That's a lot of people!!! You are Great I hope you do a Guest column for The Examiner. I need to do one too. Thanks for being a strong "Voice." The City has endless money to dump into the books they are passing out. They get paid to talk about it and promote it. We have no idea how much they paid a professional lobbyist to lobby for them to change the entire law to put this on the ballot in the first place. They have an army of people making money to chain us to this wide open tax provided by Our City of Independence, City Manager's Office. All I can say is God help us and I believe he will!!! xox
Alas, Elisa, I don't think the Examiner will print letters-to-the-Editor from the same person more than once every 30 days. And my letter ran on July 2nd, I think, so I doubt I can submit another one and expect it to get printed before the vote.
Which is why I was glad to see Don Harvey's Guest Column today.
I've delivered flyers.... and folks, they were just the generic ones that I published links to earlier... the only "persuasive" text I threw in was a question at the beginning that said something like "Are you aware that the city's asking you to vote to approve a sales tax increase in Independence?"
Anyways, my neighbor and I delivered about 100 -150 flyers the other night... and I gave a stack of about 75 to another good neighbor who lives on the southern reaches of our neighborhood. I've still got at least two streets to deliver to over here, but I'm going to see if another neighbor can do it...as I'm back to work for the next 5 days....12 hour shifts. I'll try to keep an eye on the blogs here, though.
Thanks for working so hard on this, Elisa!
You are great at this. I have given out 600 on 23rd street and my shop. One store will put a flyer in every bag for us. I have kids making flyers with markers for us and they tell me they will put it on face book for us too!!! What a cool idea they came up with!!! They are loving it and I am loving it more!!! xox