Betty Grable & Frankenstein
Phil Dillon, Emporia
Thursday, September 9, 2010
On Aug. 26, I wondered what the next shoe to drop might be. I got my answer the next day. I was expecting a shoe. What I got was a hobnailed boot.
In a convoluted attempt to justify what appears to be a 3.5-mill increase on property taxes, Lyon County Controller Dan Slater said it could have been worse, thanks to a county-wide sales tax increase approved in 2008. Instead of a 12- or 13-mill increase, we’re only getting about 3.5.
You’ll have to pardon me if I don’t break out in a string of Hallelujahs.
The 2008 sales tax was cleverly marketed as property tax relief. So, a 3.5-mill increase in property tax and a 1-cent sales tax have somehow become a great act of municipal generosity. It was like hearing the executioner say the choice will be strychnine or hemlock, the guillotine or the electric chair.
I don’t think folks expected Betty Grable in ’08, but I don’t think they bargained on Frankenstein, which is exactly what they got.
County officials were quick to come to Dan Slater’s defense.
As Tammy Vopat put it, “I don’t remember anybody actually coming out and saying keep the mill levy flat.” I think that people are smart enough to know costs have gone up. There’s no way without cutting something you’re going to be able to keep the mill levy flat.”
If it was an attempt to invoke sensitivity, it fell flat on me. Our officials don’t seem to understand that sensitivity is a two-way street. To be honest, they seem to be willfully ignorant of the economic impact their decisions have on Emporians who are least able to afford them.
A few years ago we moved my wife’s mother to Emporia. Velma’s a proud woman. During World War II, she worked on a B-25 assembly line putting pilot switch boxes together. She was conscientious, knowing how critical the quality of her work was to the men who flew the missions.
She’s now a 91-year-old widow living on a fixed income. She is the primary caregiver for a developmentally disabled son, who also lives on a fixed income. I don’t think her case is unusual. There are a lot of Emporians living in similar circumstances.
They’re not stupid. They do know that “costs have gone up.”
When I visit my mother-in-law and her son in the morning, for example, she’s very aware that her property tax bill is higher now than it ever was in Kansas City. She knows that she pays more for water here than she did in Shawnee. She knows that the price of staples like bread, milk, suga, and flour are creeping up. She also know that sales taxes add another penny or two to every dollar she spends “shopping Emporia first.”
When the temperatures soared above the century mark a few weeks ago, she didn’t want to turn the air conditioning on, worrying that the increased utility cost would have to be leveraged against a “luxury” like okra, one of her son’s favorite vegetables.
I think a lot of us are getting tired of being flimflammed by officials who seem to be honor graduates of the Marie Antoinette school of sensitivity.
When I was 20, I took a job as a door-to-door salesman, selling encyclopedias. After two days of training, having the mantra “it will only cost a dime a day, less than the cost of a cup of coffee” drilled into my head, I was sent on the road with the company’s best salesman. He sold a set at the second house we went to. It was impressive. I think he could have charmed the apples off wallpaper if given the opportunity.
A few houses later, when my turn came, I kept going back to the mantra — “Sir, this will only cost a dime a day, less than the price of a cup of coffee.” It seemed to be working; the man was on the verge of buying. But then I got hit by a pang of conscience. The man and his family were obviously living on a very limited income. I knew he couldn’t afford the encyclopedias, nor did he need them.
I began folding up the marketing materials and explained, “Sir, you really don’t need these. There’s a library down the street and your son can use the encyclopedias there for free.”
As soon as we left, I got fired. I slept well that night, knowing my conscience was clear.
In the end we’ll get a property tax increase heaped on top of the sales tax increases. I’d like to hope for better, but I don’t have that much faith. Nothing will change here until our leaders truly understand that sensitivity is a two-way street.
sail (anonymous) says...
Loved the comment about Marie Antionette school of sensitivity.
September 9, 2010 at 2:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
lowereastside (anonymous) says...
We have to impress on our commissioners, both city and county, that they have got to cut costs not increase taxes. How much has our population decreased in Emporia and Lyon County in the last 5 years. There were 4 columns of homes and apartments for sale or rent last weekend in the Gazette. It's hard to sell a house in Emporia because of the exorbent tax rate and utility rates. My gosh, our sewer bill alone for our house with 2 people was 29.00 last month and our water was over 18.00. We would sell our house and move if we could get a sucker to buy it in a town like this.
September 9, 2010 at 10:25 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
create (anonymous) says...
Great article that definitely hits home right in our pocketbooks.
Yes, loved the Marie Antoinette sensitivity analogy.
September 10, 2010 at 9:07 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
snow (anonymous) says...
You believed them when they said they were going to "relieve" your taxes by increasing a tax?
September 10, 2010 at 3:37 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
mythoughts (anonymous) says...
Let them eat millet? MIlls....millet...that's all we're getting. The husks. Think we can live on them? I don't.
Maybe every other county road could be let go since only about 5 cars a day go down them. If you want to live out in the country, then put up with being rural. A 50% reduction in the roadways might help us out right now...why do I need to pay for a road that only three people in a ten mile radius live on?
P.S. can anyone cover my water bill this month, because I can't.
September 10, 2010 at 8:13 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )