No new taxes for crime control

[bruce]

Tax tax tax that is the solution for everything here in the great state of Mecklenburg. Giving more money to the ruling bureaucrats is a huge waste of taxpayers money.
They have had their chance to deal with this crime wave and they turned their backs on hard working citizens in favor of every shiny new thing that comes along. Crime is not and has not been a concern for a long time now in their screwed up thinking.

Did this crime wave happen overnight? NO it did not . It got this way because of ineffective leadership,and liberal bureaucracies . The city council chose not to deal with it at all. LIP SERVICE is all we get. Now that crime is and has been out of control ,what do they do?I will tell you what, they CRY for more money.

When they say it is the states fault for not giving the county enough funds for the courts here in Charlotte then why did they not raise HELL years ago and let the citizens here know what was going on?

The jails are full ,repeat criminals are roaming the streets ,rampant property crime is the norm and they sit at their meetings talking about (Crime).But only when they have been shamed into it!

The sad thing is that when action is finally taken there will have been a monstrous wake of destruction left to deal with.

The police do their job but here in Charlotte but they have been neutered by the courts and the ruling administration . Why the police even bother to arrest anyone is a mystery to me ,the idiot criminals spend no time at all in jail to speak of. All you have to do is look on this site to see this.

I swear, you would think they have been told not to arrest to many criminals just so that they do not have to deal with the backlog at the jail.

THEY HAVE HAD THEIR CHANCE giving them more money is just throwing good money away!!!

Just remember crime here in Charlotte is out of control because of years of neglect by our politicians and they should be held accountable for this mess they helped create.Is every crime their fault,no it is not but they helped create a system that allows criminals to to keep doing their crap at YOUR EXPENSE and MINE!!!

[bluelinebill]

Bruce
I can under stand your frustration about taxes. The reality is that there is no way around increasing taxes to fight crime or to have needed services.
Everything comes at a cost. If taxes don’t increase to cover the problems we have in the community (then nothing is done).

Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte are growing.

That growth comes at a price. People can not expect infrastructure with out a cost, it is unrealistic to think so.

More people moving here will mean more schools, roads, police, fire, medic, jails and courts needed. These services cost money. If people don’t want to pay taxes they should go live in a very rural area that only needs a small tax base. The cost of living in Charlotte-Mecklenburg is going to mean higher taxes.
Also the operating costs of services go’s up when the cost’s of things like fuel and equipment go up.

If people want more services they will have to pay for them and that is through taxes. I agree that things have gotten bad, that something should have been done before now and that past choices have come home to roost.

The choices I see are---
1. Get the tax revenue our community needs to solve the problems.
2. Do nothing and allow the problem to grow.
3. Move to a smaller town, miles and miles away from Charlotte-Mecklenburg.

Because I will bet you that most towns within 25 to 50 miles of Charlotte-Mecklenburg are having the same debate about the cost of operating services.

The rise in taxes is the cost of having a response when you dial 911 or need a road paved or medic to come to a crash.

[bruce]

Bluelinebill, I can accept your comments and you make some good points,but here is what I do not understand. If we have a big influx of new population growth will not the taxes they pay cover the increased operating cost of government services?

Lets just say there is no inflation in our economy for now ,I would think the added taxes these people are paying would cover new and expanded services. If you consider inflation than I could see modest tax increases to cover operating cost.

Are all of these new people paying their way or is our local government mismanaging their available resources? I say both.
The voters here will vote for more taxes I know but when the government ROBS Peter to pay Paul they can always count on the support of Paul.

[bluelinebill]

It would be nice if the increase in population equated to more tax money. It is not that simple.
For example Charlotte Mecklenburg has large numbers of commuters who work here who do not live here. Workers who commute from South Carolina and surrounding counties, they use services and infrastructures but make no tax contribution to Charlotte Mecklenburg.
Then there are those who live here under the radar and pay little or no taxes.
The rising cost of everything that goes into providing services soaks up tax revenue.

For example the training of emergency personnel, It takes time to hire new people and get them trained and in the field. There is a lag time. During that time they are paid and receive benefits.
There has been talk of a commuter pay role tax on people who work here but don’t live here. That might be a short term solution.

I am inclined to believe that long term the cost of commuting will cause people to return to living closer to work.

The one thing we can’t afford to do is to haggle about the doctor’s bill while the patient bleeds out on the table. The longer we wait the worse it will get.

I just spoke to a friend and fellow Officer who works in South Carolina.
He told me that his department receives officer safety and gang information from CMPD all the time. So there is a whole lot going on. It’s best we do something.

But I am afraid it may cost us (more) the longer we wait.

[bruce]

Ok ,you have made some more good points but I know plenty of city workers and I can tell you that there is gross mismanagement in all levels of city county government. You should check out the Landscape Division and look at what they do. Theft,loss of tools,no useful work being done at all for most of the year. The big salaries that a lot of the city officials get is unbelievable considering what they do to earn it.

There is plenty of room for a great increase in efficient operations at all levels of city government.
However what was once considered incompetence is now considered normal.

The commuters do shop and eat out here so they are paying some taxes,also they pay state income taxes.
Why is it that basic services cannot be met nowadays but there is money for all kinds of special purpose projects in the uptown area?
I do agree that something has to be done and your solution is not extreme by any measure but lets clean house before we start adding another addition.

[bruce]

OH WELL ,Never Mind. Dumont and the other county commissioners will probably get their way when the State ok's their request to raise taxes.