Lookout Burlington, here comes the taxes
As mentioned at the last Burlington Business Association meeting with Bob Kiss, our mayor is proposing increasing taxes… here’s the story from the AP:
Burlington Faces Tax Hike To Cover Pension Underfunding
POSTED: 10:43 am EDT May 13, 2006
BURLINGTON, Vt. — Burlington’s new mayor said the state’s largest city faces a tax increase because there hasn’t been enough money set aside to cover employee pensions. Over the past two years, Burlington has underfunded the pension system by nearly $2.8 million.Mayor Bob Kiss said he’ll ask for a tax increase to cover all of this year’s pension requirements and to begin reducing previous obligations. Kiss has formed a task force to help him deal with problems in the city’s budget. Former Mayor Peter Clavelle’s administration had estimated the city would be $1.7 million short of meeting its budget. The state has since approved giving Burlington authority to collect a 1 percent local sales tax that is expected to generate $800,000.
So now here’s a little list I’ve come up with of more money Burlingtonians will have to dole out to the government:
- Local option sales tax
- Burlington Electric rate increase
- Increase in Dept. of Motor Vehicle Fees (starting July 1st)
- Some Burlington residents (including our home) will be or have already gotten from the Assessors office, a ‘re-estimate’ of the property reappraisal – our home’s estimate increased by $3,000
- And of course, the extra taxes as mentioned in the above article that our Mayor will be asking us for very soon…
It wouldn’t suprise me to see even more For Sale signs start springing up like weeds around town.
I always welcome comments, so please… feel free! 😉
May 13, 2006 @ 9:58 pm
Amazing that he simultaneously announces that this aspect of the budget problem will be dealt with through a tax increase, and assembles a “task force” to determine how to deal with it. Tax increases are the solution of first and last resort.
Will somebody who lives in the real world PLEASE start thinking about running against this guy in ’09 NOW. Announce your candidacy next week, my check will be in the mail the next day.
May 14, 2006 @ 9:31 am
Who in the real world didn’t know Burlington was facing these issues? Why don’t you join the task force and suggest where the budget should be cut in order to fix the budget problems Burlington faces?
May 14, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
Of course everyone knew there were budget issues. Not everyone thought that taxing our way out of the mess would be such a foregone conclusion, or that Kiss would be simple (er, I mean “honest”) enough to say so even before convening the task force.
And the task force isn’t something you just “join,” especially if he thinks you might suggest such blasphemy as rolling back pension commitments that everyone now acknowledges were asinine. Progs don’t think of budget cutbacks as something you actually DO, they’re just threats you make to get tax increases approved.
May 15, 2006 @ 9:31 am
In the end, people will come first and maybe you’re going to pay more in taxes. Doesn’t the Burlington website now show a bunch of city commissions you could join? Get on one and make your case for lower taxes. Or whine on a blog if you like.
May 15, 2006 @ 9:38 am
You’re completely incapable of reading all the way through anyone’s posts but your own, aren’t you?
“maybe you’re going to pay more in taxes.”
Right, because that’s the only way to accomplish anything. Typical Prog.
May 15, 2006 @ 3:08 pm
we could use a man like Herbert Hoover again….
May 15, 2006 @ 4:46 pm
I’d recognize that zero signal to noise ratio anywhere…
Why not get back to the scintillating discussions on your own “blog”?