Public-comment budget session gets few participants
By Russ Morgan (Contact)
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
The Emporia City commissioners and Lyon County commissioners met once again Tuesday night for another public-comment session on the proposed city budget.
Only a dozen members of the public gathered in the Sacred Heart Parish Hall, 101 Cottonwood St., to discuss a late draft of the budget.
County Commission Chairman Scott Briggs opened with a brief statement: “It’s gonna be a real tight budget. ... We’re trying to decide what is the taxpayers’ responsibility to fund.”
“Based on current revenue projections, we’re looking at significant cuts in the budget,” said City Manager Matt Zimmerman. “We’re looking at some very difficult choices,” he said, going on to describe the possible loss of taxi service by eliminating its $91,500 subsidy or the impact on the municipal band by cutting its $7,500 contribution.
Zimmerman also discussed a proposed 20 percent increase in solid waste pickup fees to make up for a projected $704,521 deficit, and a 13-percent water rate increase to make up for a projected $660,830 deficit in that department.
The few comments from audience members were related to these fee increases.
“I’m not convinced you’ve cut everything you can,” said one audience member. “The way it’ll turn out, we’ll get what you say we get and then it’s ‘Sorry, buddy, price of okra’s gone up.’ I’m convinced you can find it. Go back and work harder.”
The sentiment was reiterated by one audience member:
“I realize you have to plan for next year’s budget ...,” she said. “You can’t plan for Tyson or $4 gas, but you can plan sensibly.
“You have a hard job and I don’t know how you’re gonna pull it all together.”
“We’ve been through this with a fine-toothed comb,” City Commissioner Jim Kessler said. “But at some point we have to come to a finale and say, ‘This is done.’”
City Commissioner Jeff Longbine illustrated the problem.
“The desire in the community is to keep taxes flat or to reduce them,” he said. “But you can’t do that without major cuts in your operations. Do you want three police officers instead of five? Three paramedics instead of six? Should we cut the fire service?”
“It’s darn tough, but we will come out with a final budget,” said Emporia Mayor Bob Agler. “It will not satisfy everybody.”
Comments
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Posted by slipandslide (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 4:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
start by collecting the overdue taxes owed by area businesses. instead of cutting emergency services, cut out the businesses that dont want to pay their taxes.
Posted by stevo (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 5:25 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Yeah, early this morning you had a headline "Primary Election Results" Read all the blogs on it too...It has been hidden in the older news already for I believe some are trying to hide it....It will mention the businesses to start with if you need help commissioners....and don't let the one commissioner hide any longer....Collect them and then decide on your cuts.....
Posted by stevo (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 5:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm sorry, you have to go into the local news on the left side bar and soon you will have to probably click on older stories for it is close to the bottom of the first page...
Posted by LifeGoesOn (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 8:46 p.m. (Suggest removal)
The Emporia City commissioners and Lyon County commissioners met (((once again))) Tuesday night for (((another)) public-comment session on the proposed city budget.
Only a dozen members of the public gathered
imagine that, you would think by those who post on here that the whole city of Emporia is unhappy with the buget and the city commission/county commission and the job they are doing
. Funny how only about a doz people showed.
Posted by spectator (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 9:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"Funny how only about a doz people showed."
I didn't "show" because I seriously doubt that my south-of-the-tracks input would mean diddly squat to the commisioners or the city manager.
And no, that's not a defeatist attitude, it's realistic.
Posted by Peyton (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 9:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Ok, I have had ENOUGH!
Stevo, Slip and all you others who want to start a witch hunt and ruin a business’s reputation...let me give you a few FACTS about the tax situation you seem to "know" so much about!
Many of you are referencing this tax warrants page and although I know what it says....Madelynn's does NOT owe any money to the State....let me say that again....I know for a fact that Madelynn's does NOT owe any money to the state and their name is listed incorrectly!! (And how many others are listed on their incorrectly???)
I am really tired of people using internet news, blogs, emails, websites, etc as pure fact...there isn't a lot on TV or in the paper that you can't question. THINK PEOPLE! How about a little intelligent research before spouting off!!
FACT:
1. Yes, Madelynn's is listing on the tax page...WHY...because the State has LOST 10 MONTHS OF RETURNS....surprisingly the checks have all been cashed! So, yes the State has their money and NO the business should NOT be listed online!! Which the State does admit!
2. Madelynn's had no idea a tax list existed and since finding out has been working with an attorney and the State Tax agency for weeks now to remove the incorrect information.
3. And, in that 2 weeks, the owner has talked to 6 different Agents at the State...each time called, there is a new story and new hoops to jump through to correct the situation.
4. Yes, Madelynn’s recently received a State Award, which had to pass through the Department of Revenue....do you really think the State would have given the business an award if there was taxes owed?????
Those are the FACTS and I would feel ashamed if I were you, commenting about information that you know NOTHING about! And those same people probably still won't believe what I am writing and that's fine, but I hope the rest of you will read this and think twice before SLANDERING a business in town!!
If you want proof, come into the shop, ask for Jean, Casey or myself....face us in person not behind your anonymous online comments!!
Erin Meisel-Woods
Emporia Businesswoman, Employee of Madelynn's, and Wife of Casey Woods, General Manager of Madelynn's
P.S. I big "Thank You" to the Gazette for continuing to allow such nonsense!! You have been so much help in this situation!! (insert sarcasm)
Posted by LifeGoesOn (anonymous) on August 6, 2008 at 10:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
spectator, I see now where you get the name. I guess it's easy to complain about something when you do Nothing but complain about something.
Posted by dhcc66 (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 7:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
peyton, we only read the state's information online. if they have mis-represented, then an apology is in order. i would suggest having a lawyer call the state dept of revenue and get their attention. yes i know that costs money, but at least it would get it cleared up.
also peyton, you have to realize that this is somewhat of a witch hunt, with the witches being the overspending city commissioners. when they go out and groom their pet projects, sell each other cars, spend money re-paving streets that don't need it, and spending 190,000 building a pond at the golf course....the public wants heads to roll.
i realize that somehow madelyn's got caught up in all of this because of the reportedly uncollected taxes, but that is part of the whole spectrum of what the public perceives is wrong with the way the government does things. then, something which appears to be clearly bad/wrong gets pointed out and the hunt is on, or at least until somebody calls off the hunters. thank you again for clearing that up.
Posted by Peyton (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 8:02 a.m. (Suggest removal)
dh-
Thanks for the advice, but we are way ahead of you on documentation and once again trying to jump thru the states hoops to get it all taken care of. We are having trouble getting correct answers because of the high turnover of agents and that this is such a rare occurrence. And again, we had no idea the website and list was out there and no reason to suspect our name to be on it.
We have requested a letter of apology and the attorney is working on that too.
Just think how you would feel if your family & business was listed incorrectly as "tax evaders" and unfairly attacked online. You would not take too kindly to it either.
Any information on a website has the potential to be incorrect. Due diligence would require that you look at both sides of the story and that was not done in this case. People with the intent to inflict harm on our business kept repeating the website and numbers. Just in the short time I have been reading the online gazette and comments; there have been several businesses slandered....Walburns, Menu, Tyson, and Reebles. It is like nobody wants a business to succeed in Emporia. Some complain about not having anything in Emporia, but you have to support what you have first!!
Our business has had expansion plans and offers to move to other cities, but we love downtown Emporia. It is situations like this that makes us seriously reconsider staying in Emporia or having a business at all.
I am all for public debate and healthy discussions, but please, think about the effect you have before you comment.
Posted by mythoughts (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 8:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I'm having to cut my budget (No eating out, no vacation, no movies, meatless Mondays) SO the City/ County should do the same. There's fat to trim! Quit trying to instill fear and threatening us with reduced essentials (fire, police, water, sewer, trash) and cut the fat. Lease the golf course for a fee. Up the parking fines. Evaluate workload efficiency in your staffing. Make do with hand-me-down desks and older filing cabinets. Charge the USD/ESU for use of the civic auditorium. Let the private sector handle the 4th of July fireworks. Don't take a pay raise! I still think the City/County should go after all the delinquent taxes. The local list should be showing up in the paper any day now. Many of them tend to be landlords...Make the debtors pay!
Posted by Hillbilly (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 9:18 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Hey Zimmy, Why does it cost $180,000.00 to ENLARGE a pond? Second question, is why DO you think the pond needs enlarged? Third question is, why do you need $69,000.00 for new mowers? Just how many years will it take just to bring in enough revenue off the golf course to even show any profit at all? I'll tell you zimmy' it will not happen, what a waste of damn money, yet you will take it away from those who have given their all for this city and county for years and now you want to take away a small thing as allowing senior citizens a chance to ride safely. And the damn city is BROKE, why do you think the UPPER seats in the auditorium need replaced? $105.000.00 is a lot of money that DOES NOT need to be spent NOW. WAKE THE HELL UP ZIMMY
Posted by create (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 9:21 a.m. (Suggest removal)
I would trust the Gazette's research if they cared to do an in-depth article with regard to delinquent sales tax, withholding tax, and property tax. As I recall, they print all the property tax delinquencies every year in a special edition and it is pages long.
One of my best friends was the late Gene Hunter, award- winning city editor of The Honolulu Advertiser. His investigative series on exposing underworld crime in Honolulu was spectacular and eye-opening to people who actually believed there was no organized crime in the Hawaiian Islands. He named names. Death threats became commonplace for him and his wife. But the Attorney General took up the gauntlet and many were arrested and eventually convicted. That's gutsy reporting, but it exposes what journalism is supposed to -- Truth.
Like I said, I would trust the Gazette's research. I know they'll ask the right people the right questions.
Posted by Blackshirt (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 9:46 a.m.
(This comment was removed by the site staff.)
Posted by Peyton (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 9:53 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Blackshirt,
Peggy Mast dropped by our Award in person and it is hanging in our business as I type. If you don't believe me, come in and see for yourself!!!
Why would you even speak about things you don't know??
Posted by Iloveemporia (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 12:37 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Well I know for a fact that Madelynn's is the best thing to have happened in small town emporia in a long time and i hope they don't ever leave
Posted by tosie (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 1:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I will never shop at Madelynn's again and haven't for almost 3 years because they are rude and pushy people and trust me, they don't need tax issues to give them a bad name, they give themselves a bad name. I ended up having to go out of town for all my wedding needs....if they hadn't been so rude I may have shopped in my hometown......
Posted by stevo (anonymous) on August 7, 2008 at 1:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Peyton, I don't thinking we are on a witch hunt.. I know I am and hope all the other people are all hard working people who pay their taxes and support there wonderful city of Emporia, but we are getting feed up with the city,county officials wanting more and more and we get less and less...I would suggest that if the tax warrant is an error not only for Madelynns but all the others that are on this web-site. to be after them like a egg frying on a 190% sidewalk... The web-site tells us that it is up to date, and only is removed when paid, I believe I would start with the removal before anything...the same with the others...we brought it to your attention...and you mentioned you did not know it exsists, which I believe you..It was never intended to hurt any business that is being an honest operating business... we just are all trying to get a hold of money that has been put into the wrong hands and not honestly forwarded to our City/County. The Sales Tax has caused an uproar in Emporia and Sorry you got taken into the Lions Mouth....
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