WHY BOTHER?—BECAUSE IT NEEDS TO BE SAID AS A MATTER OF PRINCIPLE. May 3, 2015
Why would a voter (citizen) cast a yes vote to continue the 30 year 1 cent Sales Tax, formerly & officially known as the 1 Cent Street/Sewer Tax? The official legal title was surreptitiously dropped by city government for the new name (1 Cent Sales Tax) for political cover in order to allow City Manager Gosack and Board of Directors (past & present) to loot at will as if the tax were a General Funding tax.
A vote to continue the street/sewer tax, absent historical facts and specific questions addressed & answered is indeed foolish; particularly when the 30 year street & sewer tax was not applied as it was ordained. An ironclad legal guarantee in writing by the City Manager, the Mayor and the current Board should state every “rolling penny” must be spent on streets & sewers and should be demanded by citizen voters. At this juncture, why would any sane citizen presume to think the Fort Smith city government will change its present dubious & perhaps criminal conduct in their spending of the street/sewer taxpayer millions, if extended for another 10 years, and it will be?
A letter appearing in the Wednesday April 22 edition of the T.R. written by Scott Stuart stated in eloquent fashion why money should not be diverted from the 1 cent street/sewer tax to fund trails. However, Mr. Stuart, in his letter, unfortunately did not use the official name of the tax, i.e. THE 1 CENT STREET/SEWER TAX.
What Mr. Stuart fails to point out in his letter “vote no to the proposed diversion of money from an already inadequate street/drainage tax”. Absolutely not inadequate, if the 30 year street/sewer tax had been applied as so ordered by citizens. The City Directors & Manager refuse to answer how the 1% Street/Sewer Sales Taxes were spent. Simply put: the 30 years earmarked 1 cent street/sewer tax has generated $600 million…$20 million per year, and has been and is being misappropriated and diverted, and again, there could possibly be criminal involvements. All City Directors, Mayors, & City Managers from 1985 to the present have been involved in tawdry practices, whether they know/knew it or not. What makes one think anything will change unless citizen legal force is exerted? The city of Fort Smith is awash in tax dollars and in this regard, the Arkansas Times reports “Arkansas is 48th in government services provided”. “In spite of being in the top ten in what we pay to state and local government, we are in the bottom three in terms of what we get from state and local government”.
If the 1 cent street/sewer tax had been properly applied from say 1985—1995 the sewer/drainage systems would be perfectly functional and the streets in excellent condition. We would not now be faced with a 12 year $500 million federal directive, numerous fines, and new problems with sewers & streets occurring weekly. City Manager Ray Gosack should be fired and investigated immediately.
Residents are now faced with double taxation, rising rates, the streets a shamble, putrid sewers, numerous fines, all due to Fort Smith city government’s ineptness, coupled with other deficiencies. During the 12 year EPA mandate, the $500 million federal edict could easily balloon to $750 million. Recall, Gosack has been embedded in city manipulations for 22 years. Why continue to bestow $20 million per year on such a dysfunctional & questionable entity, accompanied by self-serving insiders?
April 15, 2015 I posed the question to City Directors Catsavis & Lau—What is the dollar amount of cash and convertible assets (bonds, C.D.’s, royalties, insurance, etc.) that the city possesses at this time, as opposed to the city’s fixed assets (buildings, equipment, etc.)?
No response. I believe that neither of these gentlemen have the foggiest idea what the fiscal assets of the city are, and if they did they would probably be fearful to divulge the dollar numbers even though it is a citizen right to know. In all likelihood the city has millions stashed away as is the case with most cities. Two questions must be directed at the City Board—should the 1% street/sewer tax be continued, if so WHY? Just how much does the city have in cash reserves?
History and evidence indicate the fix is in: if serious citizen analytic consideration was applied to the 1 cent tax matter, does anyone believe there are not ample funds to satisfy the alleged police/fire pension deficits? If there is doubt that pension funds are not available, police & fire unions would be screaming. Same scenario (is money in fact presently available?) for the promised (undeserved) raises for the 900 city employees. The appearance of a bait & switch operation. The day after the election or soon afterward, the above deficiencies, in all likelihood, will rapidly disappear.
If there is an actual shortage of pensions for police & fire, the City Manager as already stated should be fired and the current Board resign en masse.
The misplaced focus of city government, enabled by city elitists, e.g. Griffin, Sicard, & the Chamber, etc. have dual purposes. One is to enhance the property values & future incomes of said elitists, much of which is being subsidized by city, state, & federal taxpayers, while at the same time, the city government and the elites are playing to the ignorant (absent facts) Bread & Circus crowd through their new & proposed entertainment venues, e.g. trails, walkways, bike paths, sharrows, et al.
In this case, less than 50 well-placed F.S. residents are being used to influence, through indoctrination (mostly untrue), the thought processes of 89,000 residents and perhaps 250,000 in the 3 county propose alliance.
Then to the proposed Marshal’s Museum, taking a larger & larger share of the taxpayer pie to subsidize what initially was billed as a private enterprise project. Griffin & Sicard are the prime movers and if it reaches fruition they will divest their financial responsibilities and it will be quickly inherited by one or more government agencies.
A little fatigue by the self-serving insiders’ use of the penny, “IT’S ONLY A PENNY” & “KEEP YOUR PENNY ROLLING”, but very successful, after all, that little penny generates $20 million+ per year and allows the Fort Smith city government to continue its lavish spending and financial diversions while the city deteriorates.
One would be led to believe, in view of recent alleged city monetary deficiencies and fines, all embarrassing, and very expensive, that said government would make a gentleman’s agreement demanding the 1 cent street/sewer tax would be spent on exactly that, city streets & sewers.
Instead of engaging in the proper functions of city government, entertainment has seized the F.S. stage.
Why the sudden push for 87 miles of trails? Laying a plotter on a map, 87 miles would translate into a distance from Van Buren, AR to Henrietta, OK. Is this not pause for objective thinking? The push for extensive networks of trails in all communities is not a recent phenomenon, part of Agenda 21’s grand plan.
Therefore; what is the Grand Plan? Is there more to the trail systems than meets the eye? Absolutely!
Appearing in the T.R’s edition of 4/28/15 was a letter to the editor signed by Drew Linder, the Chairman of the F.S. Trails Commission. Spewing the company line, Linder made some outlandish, unsubstantiated claims designed to indoctrinate. To whit:
1. “Citizens told our committee that continuous trails are a priority”. By what authority? Why are trails a PRIORITY? How many citizens attended the 4 regional meetings? About 50, most self-servers, e.g. owners of bicycle shops, etc. and a 501c3 NGO (Frontier) run by a Marxist sympathizer.
2. “Tax will continue to go toward (?) streets and bridges”. Either Linder is ignorant or prevaricating. As previously pointed out, the 30 year 1 cent tax was specifically earmarked for streets & sewers, and the tax for the most part, was and has not been applied to streets & sewers. Nowhere was it a bridge tax. The streets are as rough as the Appian Way and the sewer system stinks.
3. “Many reports demonstrate the economic benefits in cities that have extensive trail systems”. There is not one shred of empirical data that substantiates the above claim.
4. “They are (trails) especially attractive to young people like M.D.’s, engineers, etc.” So what does that prove? More nebulous utterings promulgated by city government & NGO’s.
Trails are a small part of the global governance commitment. The ultimate use of the 87 mile trail system in Fort Smith & across the nation is simply designed to ultimately restrict & restrain various modes of transportation and movements of people, while concentrating residents into high density central locations—stack & pack.
The Bread & Circus crowd marches merrily along, subsidizing their own demise/loss of freedom through the many taxes they/we are forced to pay. REDISTRIBUTION.
Will the 1 Cent street/sewer tax be extended? Absolutely! Replete with a new name. Will the 3 county (Crawford, Leflore, Sebastian) trail system be authorized? Absolutely!
Gosack and his consummate enablers will celebrate another of their tax victories by clanking their champagne glasses behind closed doors while the Bread & Circus crowd will celebrate in the streets by Callin’ them Hogs!
Manipulated and subverted powers by government, enabled by the Bread & Circus crowd who are more than willing participants are glad to go along for the ride.
We, the Republic, have long since descended into a totalitarian morass called COLLECTIVISM.
Joe McCutchen arkansasfreedom.net