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At a public hearing last night, City Council discussed several ideas for combating the city’s budget deficit this year. Most ideas revolved around budget cuts and the increase of fees and taxes. The idea of a .25% income tax increase was specifically mentioned several times.
Council is still seeking public input and creative ways to solve these financial issues. Does anyone have any ideas to throw around here?
The reason the revenue is down is because the economy is down. An increase in income tax is not going to help the economy. Actually, it is probably the worst thing that could be done. If any tax increase can be touched, it’s the real estate tax. We should be doing things to encourage money and people to come here, not discourage.
Tight times call for innovative ideas. I’m happy the city is looking outside the usual places for those ideas. I personally wouldn’t mind seeing the income tax reduced and replaced by consumption based taxes. Got to do what school districts do to pass levies and bonds. Threaten to cut the football team and band if people don’t pass the bond on property taxes. Another bond in the next election sounds good to me.
I think Coleman needs a meeting with the master’s of the universe (i.e. Strickland (from Ohio) Wexner (of limited) Morris (of AEP) Jurgensen (of Nationwide) Kenny Clark (of Cardinal Health) Gee (of Ohio State) Caroline Ramsey (of Honda) Steinour (of Huntington Bank) ect…) and tell them anything they are planning to get it expedited and do a joint announcement on making jobs here. It would send a powerful message to the rest of the nation that Columbus is going to weather this storm and come out stronger.
Talk with the Ohio Chamber and the Columbus Chamber too.
How much does Coleman make? What about City Council?
I think the budget deficit is something in the $100 million range, right? Even if Coleman & all of Council went completely unpaid in 2009, it would hardly make a dent.
I like Merc’s idea of a joint jobs plan/announcement. I’d take it a step further and ramp up the involvement of the SBDC and really push the development of startup firms and small businesses here in Columbus too.
It sounds like a good long term plan, but I’m not sure how much of an impact those sorts of thing will have on this year’s budget.
I think City Council should not be afraid to INCREASE investment in programs that bring revenue into the city. The mayor’s plan to cut funding for some of the city’s great fesitvals seems short-sighted, as people from outside the city come downtown to spend their money. Streetscaping programs such as the Gay Street corridor have done a lot to reinvogorate businesses – continue that good work.
Finally, charge us for garbage pick up (but start free, mandatory recycling.) Just do it already. There’s a two-fold benefit: more revenue, and less trash being thoughtlessly dumped. Though prices for recyclable materials have come down, there’s still money to be made for the city there too.
Yeah, I’m in for the trash fee. Have like one can a week be free …. anything over that and you have to pay. Last year my roommate and I started hardcore recycling and I’m not kidding, we only took the garbage out once in a month.
On the other hand, don’t listen to me and raise taxes. I’d like to see Girves, Gibson and Conte on City Council anyways.
Is there anyway to do an emergency bond/levy and not wait ’till November?
In my opinion, the trash fee would hurt those on a fixed income (seniors, low income residents). It would also hurt those who don’t use a lot of trash (I would not recommend punishing those who recycle). It would have to be a flat fee, but it would be a monster to collect. What if you live in an apartment? What if you don’t pay it? What if you have one of those “community trash receptacles”. I am an advocate of using the business community to really invest in the school system and make it better. A high performing school system would be a catalyst for growth in the central city with the low cost of housing right now (and continuing to drop). This would bring more jobs in here, and thus more long term income tax. It would also improve the communities by bringing in more families. I would also like to see more departments getting a fair share of the cuts. We shall see though.
These are tough times. Please keep the ideas coming.
Apartment buildings and complexes are usually responsible for their own trash pick up. I think the city cuts you off after a certain number of units.
What if, when the city slashed a department’s budget, they worked with community organizations (and local high schools) to pick up the slack. I’m thinking particularly of Rec and Parks. They could help form Friends of ______ Park for every park and lighten the load on city maintenance crews. It could be fun, some high school kids could learn about landscaping/plants/nature, a better sense of community pride and involvement.
Don’t know how you form a neighborhood group to collect trash though.
Jawjack, not to digress, but your lack of comprehension of the issues is often confounding to me. It would be quite simple to sell unique bags for the cost of waste removal (e.g. waste removers only take bags that are specially marked and those bags, when bought in the store, costs the entire price of waste removal and a tax.)
There is no reason this couldn’t be subsidized for lower income folks. Look what San Fransisco (or even Upper Arlington) are doing and how Luddite we look comparatively. I agree with Gram that this would result in more illegal dumping but it would also result in greater recycling, composting and a longer life for the landfill. It would actually help those who don’t make much trash (not hurt as you implied,) the whole point of it.
I agree with you on the schools but that wouldn’t help the economy for another generation. Secondly, it is mostly a state issue and at that is questionable whether more money (i.e. teachers and schools) will improve results. So far it hasn’t. Also, the state has a 7 billion dollar deficit, so I wouldn’t cross my fingers for much help from them.
Mercurius, your lack of comprehension comment was not productive at all. Do you have a link to where your example is working? If not, give more details, and if it makes sense-maybe we can talk about it. I would think that if i could not afford the bags, I just don’t buy them, then i find a way to dump my trash anyhow (apartments, schools, large businesses, etc.) It would not be quite simple to enforce. Our cops would have to deal with more illegal dumping issues, thus further enraging the public. I am not confident that it would encourage more recycling. I don’t think they would propose charging by the pound. People know the gains we get from recycling right now, but a lot of folks still don’t do it.
I disagree that better schools would not help for another generation. Housing stock is desirable now for those who can afford it and get loans (good luck). Oftentimes the only thing that keeps folks from moving into communities is schools. Businesses don’t take a “generation” to create jobs.
Many cities combine the trash and water/sewer bills, so collection wouldn’t be a problem, and non-payment could be enforced the same way non-payment of water bills is enforced – shutting off the water.
A trash fee would not have to be a flat fee – why would it? People in other cities pay for the size of their trash cans and pay extra for everything that doesn’t fit inside. People with community trash receptacles could get individual cans, or share the cost of the communal bin through their condo or rental association. People with less money could keep their trash bill low if they were dilligent about sorting out recyclables, as they should be.
Also, jawjack – this thread is a forum to contribute ideas about how City Council can save money – seems like you taking a listening role rather than an argumentative role would lead to the best outcome.
Here’s my idea. It seems like there is some overlap in services that Columbus and Franklin County both provide. For example, why do the county and the city both need boards of health or inspectors for weights and measures? Does anybody know what would happen if the city stopped providing these services? Would Franklin County (which seems to be in a better position financially) have to step in? Would the down side be worse than closing rec centers (potentially leading to an increase in crime) or cutting back on trash collection (potentially turning into a public health issue) or higher taxes/fees (during a recession)?
I happen to think that dialogue between opposing sides produces the best result. I am not shooting down any ideas that I hear from any of you. I don’t have to agree, and maybe something that i say would spark a better idea or vice versa.
Please don’t make this about me. We need all the support we can get.
On trash and waste removal:
The Dispatch wrote-
“A typical Upper Arlington household pays $30 a year, plus $2.40 per bag of trash. Residents who want back-door service, about 2 percent of the city’s 12,000 households, pay an additional $150 per year.
Inland replaced the city’s refuse workers under a five-year contract that’s expected to save Upper Arlington $600,000 this year.”
Links on San Fran:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/07/us/07garbage.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/0/MN47122A98.DTL
http://www.sfgov.org/site/mayor_page.asp?id=59337
On schools:
What specific links would you like on schools. I can provide many showing caring parents matter, not money and many that show comparisons to money and performance and how little they are linked.
Also, I welcome any face to face meeting. Shoot me a PM or email. I don’t believe you have bad intentions, just vastly different priorities. Thanks.
Shade,
I completely agree with you. We have an incredible amount of local government, much of which is redundant. Look what Indiana is doing.
http://indianalocalgovreform.iu.edu/
I am all for parents being responsible. I know first had what it can do for schools. Our school was better just because our parents cared.
I am advocating for businesses to invest with more human capital as well as money. Helping teachers use the technology that they have to make learning fun for kids would be great. Paying staffers to work in the inner city school buildings for two hours a week would be even better. Particularly in the areas of science and math. We have the resources to do that, I just don’t know if the business community is willing to try it.
I guess privatizing the trash in UA probably helped them. I don’t think we would be able to do it for $30/year. It would probably be more than that.
The comment about local government is well taken. Tavares sits on the Commission for Local Government Reform that was started by Gov. Strickland to discuss this issue. Your ideas for making smarter government are welcome, and you can forward them to our office.
A month ago, news reports were stating that the trash fees could fall somewhere between $5 and $17 per month…
LINK
I’m all for it, but I agree that it could be problematic for those on fixed incomes who are ALSO homeowners, as I assume it would most likely be fees built into property taxes. I imagine a lot of rentals would pass on some of the cost as well, but yeah… I really don’t know if it would be too fair to somehow subsidize trash collection for those under certain income levels. Unless it were in the form of an annual tax credit from the city?