CITY AND COUNTY commissioners are biting their nails and sharpening their pencils as budget deadlines approach.
Both the city and the county are facing some hard decisions. The problem of tax revenue lost because of the layoffs at Tyson Fresh Meats is now being compounded by the rising price of almost everything — prompted by the steep rise in the price of oil.
Motor fuel is a big expense for local governments and school districts and that expense has gone up in the past several months. Trying to keep costs down, some school districts have shortened their weeks to four days to reduce the use of bus fuel by 20 percent. Some communities have placed restrictions on police patrols.
Not only are gasoline and diesel fuel expensive, their prices are volatile. In tight financial times, how can you draw a budget that accounts for fuel prices that are continually dropping and rising on the market’s whim, prices that could be 50 percent higher by the end of the next fiscal year?
The answer, of course, is that you can’t.
But there are ways to reduce the effect of rising fuel prices. A town in Georgia has come up with an idea that is probably worth borrowing.
The city council of Holly Springs, Ga., has decided to add a fuel surcharge to all speeding tickets written by the town’s police. From now on, news reports say, speeders will pay not only the statutory fine, but a $12 charge to help pay for the fuel used to enforce the traffic laws.
There is a nice symmetry about the plan. Think of it as a speeder’s tax. The fine for speeding is punishment for breaking the law. The gas surcharge is a reminder of the cost of the fuel that the speeder was so cavalierly wasting. The surcharge also provides money for gasoline to keep police cars on the road to stop other people who insist on risking their own lives and those of others by driving foolishly.
Taxing crime is not a new idea in Kansas, which has long sold tax stamps for illegal drugs. Putting stamps on the drugs does not make the drugs legal, but not having the stamps on drugs adds a whole new set of charges that can be filed against the person caught with the drugs.
If Kansas can tax illegal drug activity, certainly Emporia and Lyon County could put a tax on speeding.
At $12 a ticket, a gas surcharge wouldn’t solve the budget problems — but every little bit helps.
Patrick S. Kelley
Editorial Page Editor
Comments
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Posted by blulitespecial (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 11:10 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Probably not a bad idea at first read,but a big liability to implement.Where does government draw the line on what services to charge extra for? How much? And who is the body that decides? Do you write the laws so a pregnant woman driving herself to the hospital pays a hefty"Dukes of Hazzard Speed Trap Tax"?
Or "Hey Grandma-You coasted down the hill to fast,We're gonna take half your Social Security check."
The speeder's vehicle is taxed.The fuel is taxed.Bread is taxed in Emporia at same rate as caviar.The city and county,and state don't pay any.When was the last time you heard of taxes and fees going down?
A fair and evenhanded fine for speeding is one thing- Beware the government that is failing and turns on its own people.
Posted by goodoleboy (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 11:31 a.m. (Suggest removal)
They could do what any responsible company does, cut costs. I am curious to know that since our town's population has dropped over the past few years, has the number of civil servants dropped along with it? Perhaps if this were the case the city would work harder to bring in and sustain more business instead of making irresponsible fiscal decisions such as the courthouse.
Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 12:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
ok first, it's not ok to speed or break the laws for any reason. if you do, expect a ticket or to go to jail. it's just that easy. if that pregnant woman ran into your car because she was in a hurry to get to the hospital...would you excuse her poor driving?? or expect her to get a ticket and have her insurance take care of you?
second. good ole boy....the city and county have managed to whittle the number of employees it keeps on it's staff down significantly over the last decade simply because they have chosen to pay them far less than their counterparts in other cities. employees leave because they don't want to work for less than what they could make. then, they do away with the jobs because they think "hey, we are doing ok with two or three fewer street guys for now..lets just try it for a while like this".
also, the city has reduced the numbers of employees BUT.....remember that the city and county keep on running no matter what....meaning you still have to have the same number of guys responding to fires, police calls, and to fix streets or water main breaks. it's not like mcdonalds where if you have fewer people through the drive through from 1pm to 4pm you can staff less...the city runs pretty much the same whethere we have a full tyson staff or not. we still have tons of people from outside the city who visit and others who are moving in probably as we speak.
remember, the city is not a company..it's a city. that means being able to fix, respond, and act accordingly...so you folks don't complain when the water main is still spewing water 5 hours after you call. nice idea but i think you are completely off base..sorry good ole boy
Posted by goodoleboy (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 1:32 p.m. (Suggest removal)
dhcc66
Your example of a broken water line or a fire is occurrences that cannot be predicted and even a city that is adequately staffed cannot always act accordingly when such things occur. Example, in 1998 a good friend of mine died in an accident, the ambulance that came had personnel that were contracted to the city and poorly trained, hence not city employees, this was due to a rash of accidents in the area and at a time when Emporia was had many more taxpayers than now. My point? Emergencies happen they are not predictable and one cannot plan for them, only react as best as possible. The situation you speak could cripple an understaffed or properly staffed city all the same. Consequently there is an always will be an inverse statistical relationship between the number of people in this town and the likelihood of said events happening. Hence with our numbers as a community on the decline said occurrences should happen with less frequency.
The city is in this hole because of poor forecasting, future planning and irresponsible day-to-day operating. We had a bloated police force for a long time, we have an extravagant courthouse that should have never cost as much as it did and our city has a horrible track record as of late for attracting new industry (or keeping it). I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that we as taxpayers will continue to bear the brunt of all of it. Any company run the way this city has would likely be bankrupt, and yet all the powers that be here really need to do is break even, not profit, which they fail at time and time again.
Posted by netloafer (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 2:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
There are some services that need to be maintained on a 24/7 basis like police and fire. That's not to say that the departments couldn't look for possibilities of overstaffing or consolidating functions.
But it seems to me that there are some areas where costs could be reduced significantly. Why can't the city look at reducing some administrative functions to three days a week. I'm sure that those in those positions would complain, but the city needs to now think in terms of continuting to have costs grow at the same time more and more citizens are being hit adversely in this downturn.
There are difficult choices to make and I think the city needs to consider ways to get costs under control.
Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 5:06 p.m. (Suggest removal)
so can anyone predict what the school district will do when the gas prices have spent the summer climbing while the enrollment number has spent the summer declining? i know there is a floor on how much the district can loose money wise for the declining enrollment, but any ideas...?
Posted by justthefacts (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 6:39 p.m. (Suggest removal)
It's always interesting to hear how public service needs to cut back. Ok, you only want city administrative services to three days? Ok. But when someone is upset because it takes twice as long to get a response or service, don't complain. It's always interesting that this goes on for a few months during budget session and the rest of the year, people complain because of lack of services or incompetent employees. You get what you pay for. This city is in the hole because it didn't keep up the income stream with the cost of operations IE, they didn't raise prices to meet the costs of the labor and product costs. Most places go out of business when this happens, government just staggers by until enough people get fed up or someone dies. Then people scream reform and the result is an increase in taxes and things go ok for a while.
I spent about the same number of years in the private sector and public sector. If most of the people in the private sector were scrutinized and beat up like public sector folks are, nobody would do the job.
Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 6:58 p.m. (Suggest removal)
well good ole boy, sorry about your friend. i really am. but that should if nothing else make you re-think what needs to be done. you mourn your friend because of inadequate services but still say cut back because a portion of our city left??
i think just the facts has it straight. you can't keep trimming services that have already been cut to the bone. if any of you would keep track, our city services have been cut back tremendously in the last 10 years. that IS why things get fixed as slowly as they do.
like he said. you get what you pay for. if you want lower paid, less experienced police, fire, and city services...keep on cutting and see where it gets you. most of the more experienced guys will probably continue to leave...leaving you with only the new guys. and thats IF they stay long enough to be called new guys. please do NOT confuse this with a private business. it doesn't work the same way. never has and never will
Posted by Bigbuddha2448 (anonymous) on June 21, 2008 at 11:41 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The truth is everyone is half right.Fact the size of the town is starting to decline just a bit.Fact most places pay their employees less that they could make somewhere else, mine included.Fact there is a budget issue (may not be as big as pesented). plus many others that have been presented. IN MY OPINION.. the cuts, fix or what ever you wish to call it, needs to start at the top. If the town is declining in population, then shouldn't the "Top Dogs" take a decrease in pay! Then take that money and put it towards what is needed and not wanted.i have only lived in this town for 5 years, but i have noticed that people want the best of both ends of a small town and a big town (City elected personel included).
Before anything can be delt with, there is a decision to be made. Our we going to be a big town or little town? Once that is done then the city "officials" can then decide on budget needs.
Now for the original topic, the fuel charge fro speeding tickets, go for it. You have to start some where if high ranking officials won't take a cut.
Posted by Observation (anonymous) on June 23, 2008 at 8:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I don't know just why the new proposed law should be limited to speeding tickets. Why not make it on all tickets. Running stop signs/lights, failing to yield the right of way, over parking, DWI, jaywalking, domestic violence and many other crimes take up police time, effort, and gasoline to patrol, within the city. These crimes need not be accepted in any lesser light than speeding. Making the criminals pay for the increased costs in maintaining a safe society should be fair play and if they don’t like it then they should not do the crime.
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