In my opinion, the mayor has done a great job. I back up my opinion with facts:
* The stabilization account has gone from almost zero to $6 million since he’s been in office.
* He has not raised property taxes 4 out of 5 years at a savings to tax payers over $2 million.
* He was able to build the money in free cash and stabilization despite a steep decrease in state local aid.
* He also did all this while also addressing building maintenance issues and without exceesive borrowing
* Mayor Knapik performance has been rewarded with higher bond ratings, saving the city even more money.
You can knock the mayor all you want, but I think the facts and numbers most accurately reflect the mayor’s stellar track record. – Steve Dondley
This message is for City Councilor Cindy Harris. We are furious at the way you hosed us on property taxes. Your vote raised taxes $1.6 million. That will cost us nearly $200. You promised to stick up for us! We expected a few of the good ole boy councilors to go along with the mayor’s tax and spend plans, but we expected a lot more from you. What a Phony!! You wasted time arguing about nickels, yet flopped on $1.6 million. It’s going to take you a long time to earn back any respect. Needless to say, don’t expect our vote next time. There were two ways to prevent a tax increase for homeowners at the Thursday meeting. One required depleting one of our reserve accounts, while the second did not. After the first approach failed, I made a motion for a tax shift factor of 1.71, far below the peak factor of 1.78. If adopted, it would have resulted in a tax increase of $2 per year for the average homeowner. It was seconded by Councilor Figy. However, Councilor Flaherty immediately moved to amend and substitute a 1.63 tax shift factor before a vote could be taken on my motion. Unfortunately, the Council voted 9-4 in favor of the 1.63 shift factor with Councilor Flaherty voting AGAINST his own motion – a very unusual occurrence. I was also in the minority. It was the lowering of the tax shift factor from 1.71 to 1.63 -towards a flat tax of 1.0- which caused the tax increase. There has been significant pressure on the Council to move towards a flat tax of 1.0 over the last five years. That is the reason that the average homeowner’s bill has gone up 22.6 percent while the Commercial-Industrial sector has increased 15.8 percent over the same period. Our reserves are not what they appear to be: $3.2 million was cut by the Council in June with the knowledge that it would have to be replenished with help from a one-time bond premium payment. Half of that occurred Thursday. The remaining Free Cash account funds will be needed to get us to June 30,2015. I voted against a Special Tax Assessment recently along with another Tax Incentive Financing plan (T.I.F). Together 675,000 of your tax dollars was spent. I was on the minority end of 11-2 and 12-1 votes. I voted against an unnecessary $326,000 expenditure for facilities management-another 11-2 vote with me on the short end. The Stabilization Fund is only 4.6 percent of the budget and has to be segregated for absolute emergencies. I take my Councilor’s position very seriously. I closely study the issues. Unfortunately my proposal for the 1.71 tax shift factor received limited support. The residential rate would have gone from 18.18 to 18.19. – Cindy Harris
