Posted by methusla (anonymous) on August 4, 2008 at 3:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mr. Briggs, Sir:
You claim that if the 1% sales tax increase is passed on Tuesday that property taxes will be reduced by $1,974,702.02, well sir I have a question for you the other County Commissioners, City Manager and City Commissioners and my question is this, " will you the other County Commissioners, City Manager and Emporia City Commissioners guarantee the taxpayers of Emporia and Lyon County in writing, signed by you, each County Commissioners, City Manager and City Commissioners, that if the 1% sales tax increase does pass, that the property tax mil levy for Emporia and Lyon County property tax payers will indeed be lower, also that if the property tax mil levy does not decrease, that you the other County Commissioners, City Manager and City Commissioners will resign you posts as being unable to responsiblly spend the taxpayers money in a sensible, non extravagent manner and will you, the other County Commissioners promise to strenuously pursue the delinquent tax moneys owed by certain individuals and businesses in Lyon County and Emporia ?
Afterall thats why you were elected or hired by the taxpayers, to do the job of making responsible, sensible and commonsense decisions as to what is best for the taxpayers of Emporia and Lyon County. If you can not or will not do the job expected of you, then give the job up and let someone else try.
I also will need some strong convincing that the extra tax dollars created by a 1% sales tax increase will actually lower property taxes and not just be used to continue to do business as usual, spend, spend and spend unnecessarily on unneeded frills.

Posted by emporian (anonymous) on August 4, 2008 at 3:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Why cant they live within their means? The rest of us are trying real hard at it.

Posted by create (anonymous) on August 4, 2008 at 5:45 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Mr. Briggs, the only thing you are doing here is dangling an impending property tax raise like a threat if the sales tax question fails.

Another poster named Summer_Breeze made this point earlier on another thread: "I suggest people take a look at their weekly grocery bills, and calculate what an additional 1% sales tax will cost them over the course of a year. I'll wager it's more than what they'd pay in an increased property tax." Something to think about.

Our budgets are stretched, Mr. Briggs. I suggest the county (and the city) stretch theirs too. That $10,000 for fireworks and $6,000 for office furniture may have been your swan song.

Posted by methusla (anonymous) on August 4, 2008 at 11:02 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I don't know about anyone else, but I think I can hear the County Commissioners,City Manager, City Commissioners and others salivating and sharpening their pencils, getting ready to figure out where to spend the additional moneys they will have if the 1% tax increase is approved and I will bet you that if the 1% sales tax increase is approved there will be no thought given to the lowering of property taxes as Mr. Briggs stated will happen, because Mr. Briggs and others will count on the taxpayers forgetting about his statement that property taxes will be lowered if the sales tax increase is approved.
In fact I believe I can also hear the businesses who owe delinquent taxes salivating at the possibility of being able to put even more money in their pockets and bank accounts.
However I am a little like an elephant, I do not easily forget !

Posted by methusla (anonymous) on August 4, 2008 at 11:38 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Also I don't know wheather Mr. Briggs, the County Commissioners, City Manager, City Commissioners and others read some of the posts on the other forums about the tax increase or not, but if not, they really need to, because there are a number of people who say that if sales taxes are increased they will be shopping elsewhere. If the tax increase policy of our local governments doesn't cease they will eventually drive the majority of the tax dollars of Emporia and Lyon County into the coffers of other citys and counties.
In fact they have already driven a number of former Emporia property owners out of Emporia with their extremely high property taxes.
Here is a good example, why should anyone buy a new car in Emporia when you could drive 40 to 75 miles and purchase the same priced car at a lower tax rate ?
For instance if you drove to a different city or county and purchased a $25,000 dollar car at 6.3% sales tax, the sales tax would be $1,575.00, if you purchased that same $25,000.00 car in Emporia, after the 1% sales tax increase, the tax would be $1,950.00, by doing the simple math, you would save $375.00 by driving to another city in another county and to me a savings of $375.00 is quite a bit now-a-days, it would certainly buy a few more grocerys or gasoline to go to your job, etc., also if you bought a $700.00 T.V. in Emporia you could expect to pay $54.60 in taxes, if you bought the same $700.00 T.V. in another city and county with a 6.3% tax rate your tax on the T.V. would $ 44.10 a savings of $10.50, I know these examples are pretty big ticket items but I think you get the idea, that increasing taxes while wages are stagnet and the prices of good are getting higher is not a good thing to consider right now.

Posted by pizza (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 11:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Meth, your TV example may be ok but your car example is not. As long as you register your car in Lyon county you will pay the Lyon county sales tax in the full amount on your car. It doesn't matter what the percent is in another county.

I have no doubt that the half of the sales tax that the county has earmarked for property tax relief will take place. I do question the use of the city share of that tax. All they have said, to my knowledge, is that they will use it for capital improvements. Does that mean they intend to pay for the capital improvements they have already borrowed money to pay for or does it mean they want to spend for new purchases when they are having difficulty paying for what they have? The city should be extremely appreciative of what the county has done for them. The county instigated the idea, the vote and the vote passed. The city now has over $2 million a year just dropped in their lap. Let's hope they have the management ability to take advantage of their good fortune and use it wisely. The county will be free of debt in about three years and their 1/2 percent sales tax will no longer be collected.