.0057 is the figure that the budget was reduced by; $10 on a $200,000 house is what it would have cost us. Hardly a box of cereal and a gallon of milk these days. But the outcome could perhaps cost us millions.

When the tax rate was reduced and the money borrowed from our savings account to make the ends meet, like Finance Director Keith Hermann suggested, it sent up a red flag that all was not well in the city full of bull. If in fact he is right, and our valued credit rating of AAA is reduced (we're only one of 19 cities nationally who have [that] coveted rating), the rate we pay on the money we borrow will cost us more; millions more. Just to put it in perspective, raising the tax rate one penny raises $2.1 million dollars. ...

The reality of it all is that the rate went the wrong way. ... If we were going to go any direction with the tax rate, just looking at the capital projects (roofs on buildings, park repairs, fire stations, and the list goes on ...), the tax rate should have increased by more than $.58 (to $1.12). Instead we went the other way and risked our good fortune to have it set now at $.54. No wonder it's hard to get it all done. There just isn't enough money to go around. Some would say we waste a lot of it already and just adding more to waste would be a waste in itself. But seeing the real costs of what we have and what we need year after year, there's just not enough there to fix it all. ...

I'm like you, I hate taxes. But the reality of it all is that it costs to keep this stuff we've built over the years and there's just not enough coming in to do it. There are hard choices to be made and we need leaders who will make them. Otherwise it'll all catch up with us sooner (as it has) or later (and cost us more). Reducing our tax rate by $.0057 was a stupid thing to do. That was not leadership.