efficiency of government

[smithtg]

my city recently put this in the city newsletter. We have about 50-70K people and are still growing.

My comment to my wife was, "Man, I wish washington could stretch a dollar like the city" Im not saying my city is NEAR perfect by any means, as we have had our share of crony mayors giving kickbacks to developers and contractors, BUT they do stretch the dollar very well considering their tax base is almost all residential and the commerical base is only starting to grow.

The FY 2009 Annual Budget is supported by the tax rate of $0.63. This is an increase
over the previous fiscal year tax rate of $0.6088. This will be an increase of $0.212
per $100 of valuation and will increase the average tax bill by approximately $28.62
annually (Assumption: the average home value is approximately $150,000. 10%
homestead exemption)
The average tax bill of $850.50 is equivalent to $70.87 per month, which is less than the
average cable or satellite TV bill.
For your $70.87 per month, you get the following services as a taxpayer:
• 24 Hour Police Protection
• 24 Hour Emergency Medical Services
• 24 Hour Fire Protection
• Animal Control services
• Maintenance of all public streets (371 miles of paved streets)
• Park facilities including softball fields (10 parks with a total of 189 acres)
• Unlimited use of the Municipal Library
• Building inspections and permitting services
• Code enforcement services
• Access to the TV16 Municipal Channel

How do we shift federal 'services' to the local domain? Or maybe we just eliminate federal 'services' Im not talking about big ticket items like SSA and military but other things where 'sometimes' the feds send money to the cities..

[Firegirl]

The words "efficiency" and "government" don't belong in the same sentence.....

[acptulsa]

A municipal government in a small town is doing for its mayor's neighbors and friends. Have any neighbors and/or friends in D.C?

[heavenlyboy34]

The words "efficiency" and "government" don't belong in the same sentence.....

qft;)

[HOLLYWOOD]

ROFL... The insider on the Obama Plan reveals: $200 Billion for Cities and States. Hurry, up and get in line, because it's long and irresponsible. Just cut all services by 20%... that include government salaries. The US Welfare State of Entitlements, grows massively.

Did your local government include borrowed BONDs/MUNIs and due dates?
Did your community include Pensions and Retirement obligations?
Did your community include Inflation and Cost of Living adjustments?

90% of all statistics, can be made to say anything, 100% of the time.

I adored the hypocrisy of the Lt. Governor FISHER of OHIO... he stated today, unemployment is now over 6% on CNBC... OHIO has been over 7% for 4 months and currently is at 7.3% (Dec 08 & the usual gov propaganda)

but the striking part was the backdrop behind the governor... "OHIO, The State of Perfect Balance"

Obviously, that doesn't reflect the states budget, which is projected to close in on a $2 BILLION deficit/shortfall for 2009. Ohio Get in line too!

Hey Ho, Way To Go, Ohio!


my city recently put this in the city newsletter. We have about 50-70K people and are still growing.

My comment to my wife was, "Man, I wish washington could stretch a dollar like the city" Im not saying my city is NEAR perfect by any means, as we have had our share of crony mayors giving kickbacks to developers and contractors, BUT they do stretch the dollar very well considering their tax base is almost all residential and the commerical base is only starting to grow.

The FY 2009 Annual Budget is supported by the tax rate of $0.63. This is an increase
over the previous fiscal year tax rate of $0.6088. This will be an increase of $0.212
per $100 of valuation and will increase the average tax bill by approximately $28.62
annually (Assumption: the average home value is approximately $150,000. 10%
homestead exemption)
The average tax bill of $850.50 is equivalent to $70.87 per month, which is less than the
average cable or satellite TV bill.
For your $70.87 per month, you get the following services as a taxpayer:
• 24 Hour Police Protection
• 24 Hour Emergency Medical Services
• 24 Hour Fire Protection
• Animal Control services
• Maintenance of all public streets (371 miles of paved streets)
• Park facilities including softball fields (10 parks with a total of 189 acres)
• Unlimited use of the Municipal Library
• Building inspections and permitting services
• Code enforcement services
• Access to the TV16 Municipal Channel

How do we shift federal 'services' to the local domain? Or maybe we just eliminate federal 'services' Im not talking about big ticket items like SSA and military but other things where 'sometimes' the feds send money to the cities..

[nickcoons]

The average tax bill of $850.50 is equivalent to $70.87 per month, which is less than the
average cable or satellite TV bill.
For your $70.87 per month, you get the following services as a taxpayer:

Sounds like a pretty good deal. If your local government does this well with finances, imagine how well the private sector could do.

[Fox McCloud]

The reason State and Local governments do so much better with their money than does the Federal government is because they have no ways of directly bailing themselves out. They can't just magically issued treasury bills, bonds, and the likes and have some all-powerful monetary institution (*coughFederalReservecough*) come and buy them on the open market to generate money for them. Because of this if they go into debt or are falling on hard times they're forced to make cut-backs.

Sadly, even this is changing; we have a number of State governors who, collectively, what a trillion dollars to bail out their own States--it's actually pretty distressing to read some of the articles on bailouts; they talk about cutting this and that to make ends meet, but so many functions and services are labeled as "essential"--heaven forbid we cut education, animal control, or the likes! In any event, if they don't get bailed out, they'll have to borrow the money from the Federal government or they'll be forced to make major cuts.

Given our country's history, what do you think they'll do?

[liberteebell]

The words "efficiency" and "government" don't belong in the same sentence.....

+1

Talk about oxymorons...:p