December 10, 2009
Thursday

Please stop insulting the intelligence of your citizens by justifying a property tax increase based upon the mill rate being unchanged for many years. As you know property taxes increase as home / property assessments increase, even if the mill rate remains unchanged.

As borough documents clearly point out, property assessments have, and continue to increase at rates GREATER than inflation. This has resulted in net TAX INCREASES for years on end.

Per the KDN you are proposing to layoff employees, cut spending and institute a property tax (mill rate) INCREASE, to close a $1.5 million budget deficit.

For the record, people like me have been telling you that City / Borough spending has been unsustainable for some time, you haven't listened.

Honor would (should) dictate that any assembly member (s) who vote to layoff employees, and/or increase property taxes, apologize to the public for squandering vast amounts of tax revenue on nonessential "fluff" over the years.

I feel obligated to point out that had you not pissed-away $1.54 million for a set of library blueprints, City workers would not be facing the loss of their job, and residents would not be facing higher property taxes.

Once again, lack of planning on your part is resulting in an emergency on the taxpayer.

And you wonder why no one trusts government anymore.

Rodney Dial
Ketchikan, AK

Received December 08, 2009 - Published December 10, 2009

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