Jan
18
Will Lake Co. Income Tax Arise From Death?
Filed Under COIT, Income Tax, Lake County Council | Leave a Comment
Just when it seemed that the proposed Lake County income tax was dead and buried after angry villagers with torches and pitch forks vanquished it, the second act of the play begins.
Like an evil creature from a Stephen King novel, the proposed Lake County income tax is slowing coming back to life.
Only time will tell if the evil creation will be powerful enough to defeat the good guys and destroy the local economy by rearing its ugly head just as economists are predicting a recession.
Read more at nwiblogs.com.
Jan
7
CP Mayor Proposes Budget Streamlining
Filed Under Crown Point, David Uran, Income Tax, budget cut, taxes | 4 Comments
Newly elected Crown Point Mayor David Uran — preparing for a reduction in funding because of frozen budget levies — proposes streamlining Crown Point’s budget at tonight’s City Council meeting, reports the Northwest Indiana Times‘ Marisa Kwiatkowski.
Mayor David Uran said Crown Point was warned it might need to grapple with the budget freeze. With less than a week in office, he said he has come up with several initiatives to streamline efficiency and spending.
The mayor’s office will be restructured and city positions eliminated to a savings of about $65,000, under four ordinances Uran will present to the City Council tonight.
While I’d like to see more police and firefighters protecting the community — you can never have too many police officers around when you need them and my cousin is a lieutenant with a fire department in another state — I’m willing to sacrifice by sticking with 2007’s budget levels while the city looks over its budget and finds ways to hold the line on spending.
I’m sure Crown Point will figure out a way to make the budget work by cutting back in other areas where they may be room to cut. It’s good to see that the new mayor is taking steps to prepare for solutions to the budget freeze before the predict crunch becomes reality.
It’s a tough deal, but households all over Northwest Indiana have to routinely make tough budget decisions to keep from busting the family budget, so government officials should feel a little better know they aren’t alone in sometimes having to wait a while before purchasing something.
(H/T to BCBS).
Jan
5
Feds Ask Mayor Clay To Step Down As GSD Admin & Taxes Could Still Rise
Filed Under COIT, Gary, Gary Indiana, Gary Sanitary District, Income Tax, Lake County Council, corruption, federal investigations, government waste, political machines, property tax crisis, tax revolt, taxes | 4 Comments
Higher fees might be the result of mismanagement of funds at the Gary Sanitary District and the Lake County Council is still talking about the premature declaration of death of the proposed Lake County income tax needed to continue business as usual.
Gary Mayor Rudy Clay refuses to quit his job as special administrator at the Gary Sanitary District, despite requests from the U.S. Attorney’s office that the mayor do so because of allegations of mismanagement of funds, reports the Post-Tribune.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office has asked Mayor Rudy Clay to resign as special administrator of the Gary Sanitary District alleging mismanagement of funds, a city attorney said Friday.
Hamilton Carmouche, the attorney for the Gary Sanitary District and corporation counsel for the city of Gary, said Clay has refused the request from Assistant U.S. Attorney Wayne Ault.
Meanwhile, Carmouche said the district is likely to raise its rates for the first time in about five years. He said it probably should have happened sooner, but he said Ault put additional pressure on the commissioners.
The Post-Tribune reports “the city borrowed about $11 million from the sanitary district to cover operating expenses” in 2006.
The news of the U.S. Attorney’s Office investigation another case of mismanagement of funds within a Lake County governmental unit comes right at the time that the Lake County Council is talking about the need to “regroup” because a proposal to raise taxes was defeated by voter opposition. Councilman Will Smith’s departure — he was a key tax proponent despite his own personal opposition to taxes which resulted in a conviction — also hurt the proponents of higher Lake County taxes.
Writes Bill Dolan in the Northwest Indiana Times:
Former Councilman Will Smith Jr. worked behind the scenes last fall to pass the tax following his conviction on a federal tax fraud charge. Smith resigned last week after the tax failed. His sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday, although Smith is asking for a delay.
It’s just too bad that people didn’t see the need to sacrifice some of their hard earned money in the form of higher property taxes and a brand new income tax so that government officials and their kids can have several lucrative government jobs and money to spread around to their cronies.
It’s selfishness!
Shame on you, anti-tax protesters asking local government to cut back at a time when it is obvious that the only people who think there is waste and abuse of taxpayers’ funds are those folks at the U.S. Attorney’s Office with all of their investigations and such.
