By Scott Unger • Of the News-Register • 

Council denies request to add tax limit item to Nov. ballot

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Comments

CubFan

Part 1: "Council President Garvin offered to bring in emails and social media messages with residents explaining the exact impact of the fire district on their property taxes and said the city was transparent throughout the process." Adam Garvin- I hope you read these comments here. You have a different recollection of the social media exchanges regarding your explanation of the fire district. While I didn't keep copies, I'm fairly sure you stated:

1) "Though the city was retaining the $1.50 taxing authority, it would be put to citizens whether or not to actually assess it".

When the city was developing the citizen survey, you promised there would be a clear option for respondents to select an option for “Return the tax to the citizens”. The city did publish two surveys. One survey asked citizens where to spend this newfound money, but didn’t offer a way for respondents to opt for “return the tax to taxpayers”. The other survey that did provide an option for “return the tax to taxpayers” only received 42 responses. So was a 42 response survey sufficient for the city to decide it has citizen support to proceed with the $1.50 tax?

The News-Register conducted their own survey, which gathered 907 responses, of which 54% chose the option “return the savings to taxpayers”. The results of this survey were shared with the city council, but the city council apparently ignored the results and proceeded to apply the tax anyway.

2) “If citizens decided to keep the $1.50/M assessment, the city would ask citizens how they would like to spend it”.

So now the city has agreed to assess $.50/M on the next property tax, and plans to roll out the remaining $1.00/M in the next few years. How is the city going to spend this money? Going back to your initial promise when asking for support for the fire district, you said citizens would be able to decide how to spend the money. Please tell us how you are making good on that promise!

CubFan

Part 2: It appears Chris Chenoweth and Jessica Payne are the only two councilors concerned about the overwhelming burden of taxes and fees on city residents.

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