County government spending has grown enormously over the past ten years. Some of our large spending projects were researched with questionable accuracy. The revenue predictions for 1% public safety sales tax to fund jail construction and related costs were overly optimistic. The county has in the past years taken money from our general fund to pay for public safety costs because the of the current administration's poor forecasting. And for the past two years we've had property tax increases because we couldn't hold the line on spending. That's not acceptable.
The county borrowed money (without taxpayer approval) a few years back for road construction, to spur growth, using the "tax growth" along Perryville Road as justification for borrowing the money. Perryville revenue growth is a myth. For the most part, we've simply seen a shifting of businesses from one area of the county to another. Our sales tax receipts show we're just keeping up with state averages for tax income.
We offer tax abatements to businesses to move to new areas, and create TIF districts and SSAs (both are special tax programs) to help fund older areas. We're competing against ourselves, and we can't afford to play both ends against the middle.
Whether its a spending project or a tax cut opportunity, I believe the county board needs to do a better job in educating itself and the public on these programs. We need to justify our spending to you, the taxpayer.
The county borrowed money (without taxpayer approval) a few years back for road construction, to spur growth, using the "tax growth" along Perryville Road as justification for borrowing the money. Perryville revenue growth is a myth. For the most part, we've simply seen a shifting of businesses from one area of the county to another. Our sales tax receipts show we're just keeping up with state averages for tax income.
We offer tax abatements to businesses to move to new areas, and create TIF districts and SSAs (both are special tax programs) to help fund older areas. We're competing against ourselves, and we can't afford to play both ends against the middle.
Whether its a spending project or a tax cut opportunity, I believe the county board needs to do a better job in educating itself and the public on these programs. We need to justify our spending to you, the taxpayer.
