Tucson City Council Candidate Debate
I attended the Tucson City Council Debate hosted by the
League of Women Voters on October 14, 2015.
All the candidates were finally in attendance, as the Democrat council
members stood up the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Debate and I was wondering if
they would stand up the League of Women Voters too, but all the Democrats did
show up last night so the show went on!
It was obvious from the outset that the Democrats were
committed to more and more subsidies and more and more borrowing and spending
for short term goals. None of them had a
grasp of the gravity of the city’s financial situation, which resembles
Detroit. They were all proud of their
accomplishments and want to continue the program. Their emphasis on constant growth is naïve. They
are like a kid with her first job looking at Corvettes in the showroom, willing
to commit to 27 years of heavy debt to just get her hands on the car.
They are willing to mortgage the future and spend the money
now.
We live in a constrained environment. Water resources are getting scarce. If drought conditions are declared on the
Colorado, we could be impacted right here in Tucson. Yet the city council is for more annexation
and more growth, instead of making an attempt to recognize environmental constraints
on dreams of grandeur. They need to do the job. The job is to do what the charter says. Instead we get red light cameras and
Parkwise, neither of which raise money for the general fund. If there were no Parkwise, people could park
mostly free and the city would not have to subsidize Parkwise and money would
be saved. Since the city gets negligible
income from the red light cameras, the money is being sucked out of the
city. These city council members support
these boondoggles and they are not doing their jobs, as per the city
charter. Look at the streets!
The Republican Candidates offered a refreshing view of what
could be different in Tucson. They
actually talked about paying down the debt instead of adding to it and they
even talked about not raising taxes and the benefits of lower taxes to the
local economy. Kelly Lawton wistfully
remembers the Tucson of yesterday, when the streets were good and the economy
was healthy and small businesses were king.
I remember those days too and I believe that the era of big government
in Tucson is literally bankrupt. The
government should not be a prime source of jobs for the community. The private sector, the university and the
base should be the sources, not bond projects.
Vote
Bill Hunt, Kelly Lawton and Margaret Burkholder for Tucson City Council!
Shirley Scott was so jubilant over the spending in her ‘district’
that was paid for at taxpayer expense, which probably benefitted her supporters’
financial interests! Of course Ms. Scott
is for more borrowing and more money sent out of state, just like other
government officials who want nothing more than to get their hands on all that
money right now and spend it while it takes decades to pay back. Ms. Scott is proud of all that development
and wants all annexation possible and no doubt is promoting more and more water
hookups while the water table and the Colorado River drops. Archaic attitudes like Ms. Scott appears to
hold should be voted out of office. Ms. Scott wants a $1.2 billion debt added to
the $1.4 billion debt the county already has.
It should be in Ripley’s Believe it or Not!
This bond thing is a fight over money and who controls it. The vested interests want to reap the luxury
living gained through taxpayer investment, which they do not call profit but it
is a handsome living for the few. They
just set up deals, without financial risk to themselves, which true private
enterprise cannot do.
Mr. Hecker was really interested in Rio Nuevo and now he takes
a titanic interest in these bond proposals.
I am uncomfortable with those same old names popping up as the prospect
of a new free trough opening up again, just like Rio Nuevo.
The problem with Mr. Hecker’s premise that such a small
amount per year increase in taxes benefits everyone through these bond projects
that he and his friends control. They
are attempting to use the force of taxes to amass money quickly through
borrowing to pay for projects they control and have chosen to put on the
ballot. It’s so easy for them to get something
on the ballot. And it is so difficult to
fight their choice of projects and contractors.
They want $780,000,000, which creates a debt of about $1.2
billion because of the enormous amount of interest paid for the privilege of
allowing this group of people to amass and spend this huge sum. Do you want these people to control this much
money, leaving a debt for the children to pay?
Shall the sins of the Fathers be visited upon the children? In this case, YES, the debt is said to extend
27 years into the future……
I don’t want these people to amass and spend the surplus for
the next 27 years. That is too much
money for too long and it is too expensive.
I think the money should remain in the hands of the people to spend as
they see fit. I think the county should
take available revenue, pay down the huge debt without rollovers, maintain what
the law requires and stop raising property taxes. Rents go up, payments go up, apartment owners
and cooperatives are hit with higher taxes, and everybody pays more to maintain
the control and collection of huge money from the little people who might
rather use that money every year to buy gifts for grandchildren, rather than to
pay for parks and amenities for developers far from the old neighborhoods of
the south side.
The county is trying to get more money for roads when they
already have authorization for millions in road bonds. Why? They are like the four year old who heaps his plate
and reaches for more.
Mr. Hecker said that private enterprise doesn’t build
libraries and museums. Apparently in
Mr. Hecker’s world, government is the end all be all and private enterprise is negligible
unless it’s a favored contractor.
Remember the Carnegie Library chain throughout the United States? Andrew Carnegie financed these through money
obtained through private enterprise! Has
Mr. Hecker ever visited a private museum?
Like the Daughters of the American Revolution museum in Washington DC? Wow!
There are even private enterprise transportation systems! Look at Uber!
Call your local taxi! Maybe people would rather spend their money on
Uber rather than subsidizing the union controlled bus system milking the
taxpayers. Mr. Hecker is trying to
justify the increase in the debt load by defining the meaning of government to
include exclusive rights over the building and control of cultural activities
and transportation systems. He is
wrong.
Suppose that $1.2 Billion remains in the Tucson economy the
next 27 years instead of going out on these chosen projects? What could happen if the county were to pay
down the debt, which IS the highest in Arizona?
- Taxes might stabilize, which is good for predicting a business model.
- Rents might stabilize.
- Taxes could even go down, as the public debt is paid off.
- More ready cash would be in the coffers at the county due to debt paydown.
- Road maintenance, transportation, parks and other services could be paid for with the cash instead of more borrowing and rollovers.
- The debt on the HURF fund would be paid off, freeing up cash to be used in road maintenance.
- Infrastructure conditions could be improved without further debt.
About the Pima bond
proposal: Say everybody has at least
$50 a year to spend instead of paying the $50 a year for 27 years or even
saving the money and they would have $13,500 plus interest in their personal
accounts. If you own more expensive
properties, the amount is even greater. If people spent some of the money eating out, local
restaurants would benefit financially.
If the money were spent on goods and services locally, this money would
circulate through the economy many times throughout the years, bringing
prosperity by circulating the money locally.
Local businesses would benefit by the money in the economy and from tax relief.
If the bond proposals are passed, this money will be
concentrated in the hands of a few contractors and their workers right now for
them to spend. Huge sums of the money
will go out of state to pay interest on the debt, which will be of no local
benefit. Contractors using temps from
outside Pima County are often hired, which takes money out of the county. Sure, we get these proposed structures and
improvements but so much more could be had if the debt were paid down instead
of increasing. The problem of
maintenance of existing facilities has not been met by Pima County and has not
been addressed in the budget, yet they want to go into debt to build more
facilities to neglect. Part of their job is to have an ongoing
maintenance program that is successful using the amount of funding
available. That is the job and they are
not doing it and I don’t think they should have more power to borrow more
money.
VOTE
NO ON PIMA BONDS
