Local option sales tax on the ballot again

I decided to move on and talk about the ballot items we will be voting on Tuesday.
I already have an entry about the fluoride question (click here).

Once again we get to vote on whether or not Burlington should have 1% local option sales tax. Didn’t we already say, “No” to that same question last year?

I guess the Mayor decided to take a page out of the school board’s playbook - if at first a tax doesn’t pass, try, try again, but this time threaten to cut something they really want.

According to the Mayor, the City will have to cut vital city services, like police and fire, if this tax doesn’t pass. Other threats..er, recommendations are: cut library hours, cut snow plowing, and cut parks and recreation programs.

First let me say, now we all know why Clavelle isn’t running again. The guy is so inept that he has no other solution other than bringing back the same sales tax that failed last year.

Second, in 2004, we, the voters of Burlington, approved a 4-cent tax specifically “to maintain services in Police, Fire, Library, Public Works, and Parks and Recreation.” (That is a quote from one of the Mayor’s Friday letters (6/4/2004), click here to read.)

Let me explain this. That dedicated tax was not revenue neutral when we had the reappraisal. That means what was previously a 4-cent tax levied on the grand list value of $18,997,012 is now a 4-cent tax levied against a grand list value of $36,068,069. In other words, this year the city received a windfall from that 4-cent tax because of the reappraisal.

First, we were told to pass the tax because it was for police, fire, library, and parks and recreation. We passed it because we value those things. And now, two years later, we are told that if we do not pass this new tax, we will experience cuts to these things despite the fact that the City is now receiving almost double the amount it did last year from that dedicated tax.

If you are not completely outraged, go back and re-read that. We have been completely screwed by Peter Clavelle and our City Council. Like I said before, now we all know why Clavelle is not running again.

I say we do not pass this tax. I say we do not allow ourselves to be bullied into saying yes when we already said no. There are other things to cut and hopefully we will elect a new mayor who is willing to make the right cuts.

The tax is a bad idea. Burlington is losing ground as the best place to shop. We should continue to have as many enticements for shopper as we can.

The argument has been made that other communities will adopt the tax, too, and it will not be a disadvantage to us. Well, let other communities do it, and then we will have an advantage over them. Isn’t that what we want – to bring people here to shop?

If you think the tax is a good idea then vote for it, but don’t vote for it just because you are being bullied into it by a washed-up mayor, who's out of fresh ideas.