Nostalgia: Memories of the Candidates Debate: 2006: Mason Speaks on Possible Pipedreams

(Ed note: This is a copy of the original post of 2006)

Last night at the Bauer Haus was a mayoral forum that consisted of two parts---first a 10 minute presentation by each candidate, and then a short question and answer period where each question asked was answered by each candidate.

The first question was asked by Mason Braunschweig, 590 W. Main, an aldermanic candidate in the April election. He asked " What would you do as Mayor to reduce taxes?"

There was a moment of silence since it may have been a long time since the prospects of reducing actual spending has been in view. Both Sandy Decker and Mike Anderson responded that they felt the city budget was in order and so no area that could sustain big cuts. Karen Aikman, the current Finance Chair, responded that yes Evansville taxes were high, but the thing to concentrate on was developing more commerical and industrial tax base which might provide some relief to homeowners. The key was not to concentrate on absolute cuts but on having the homeowner tax burden shrink relative to the total taxes paid.

If any candidate wants to add to this description, feel free to do so.

The comment line is open.
Posted by Evansville Observer at 2:05 PM Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to Facebook
4 comments:
Mason B. said...
The question was fair and so were the answers...mostly.

A popular answer is that if we bring in commercial industries and businesses then we can help reduce the tax burden felt by the citizens. That is all well and good, but what if the courtship of a large scale industry is a pipe dream? What if we have spent too much on the downtown restoration that we have little left to offer in incentives to a new industry here in Evansville? I am not saying downtown restoration is a bad thing, I am saying you can stretch a dollar only so far.

I understand that my queries call for speculation based upon premises that have been created by the local government in place, however I think the local government must realize that we cannot have our cake and eat it too!

I like the idea of grant applications and requests. I hate that this idea is not already been abused by our local government.

As for the presumption that there is no fat to trim in Evansville, well I find that a little hard to believe. I know an awful lot of money goes to the police department. How many costs are associated with ridiculous internal investigations or flipped squad cars in this city?

I have yet to attend a city council meeting or a committee meeting where someone requests money and has been turned down. Maybe it is time to check the little "drops in the bucket," because they have certainly accumulated.

10:55 PM