Taxes vs. Services

1. 84

   kerrygposted 14 years ago

   Colorado Springs is drastically cutting basic services after sales tax revenue dropped due to the recession and residents emphatically voted down an attempt to triple property taxes to make up the difference.
   
   They're cutting more than 1/3 of streetlights, selling the police helicopter on ebay, cutting firefighting jobs, burglary investigators, beat cops, and their vice team, replacing city trash cans with signs encouraging people to pack out their own trash, asking local residents to mow their own parks, turning off the sprinklers to city parks, closing museums, community centers, and pools, canceling evening and weekend bus service, delegating all street paving jobs to the regional authority, and more.
   
   It seems like it will be an interesting experiment in whether people's desire for lower taxes will win out over their desire for basic city services, or whether Colorado Springs will simply start bleeding residents.

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   1. 70

      rhamsonposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I guess we will see if there is a private sector answer to the situation.  Can it replace the local government based services and to what extent? Will the private sector dump trash in the correct places? Remember the syringes on the shorelines? Can a volunteer fire department take the place of the professionals? Will more training be the determining factor when it is too expensive? Will there be lawsuits when locals hurt themselves mowing public lands and sue?
      
      It should get interesting.  My guess is that they will pay the increased taxes eventually.

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   2. 0

      Poppa Bluesposted 14 years agoin reply to this

      I wonder how much of those measures are necessary or if the cuts could have been made elsewhere. For example, when my company was hit by the recession we all took a pay cut to save jobs. Was this considered, or are elected officials protecting the unions in order to maintain their contributions and their jobs?

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2. 0

   PrettyPantherposted 14 years ago

   I read the entire article.  It definitely will be interesting to follow the results.  Will they end up a smaller-scale version of California in the aftermath of Proposition 13?  [Did I get the right Prop #?  It's been a few years.  lol]

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3. 66

   MikeNVposted 14 years ago

   Same old story.  Local government has to cut back so they try to stick it to the people by cutting police and fire.  There are plenty of public programs that can be cut long before essential services.  The very fact of the matter is all that is needed is essential services.
   
   The Mayor isn't taking a cut in pay is he?  I read the article.  Looks to me like city government is way over paid.
   
   The very tactics they are using are those used to promote socialism.  The Government should have an extremely limited role in peoples lives, yet they continue to try and control the people.
   
   When people are out of work and do not have income they can not buy and sales tax receipts go down.  The solution is not to tax the people more.

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4. 79

   Uninvited Writerposted 14 years ago

   Well, I don't think it will be a very interesting place to live after all that.

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