Gorman's Grab Bag

The Tax is Here to Stay

There are several reasons for this, and the 2 3/4 income tax is one of them. The city has the highest municipal income tax rate in the state, which was made higher when residents passed a measure in 2003 to stop the layoffs of police and firefighters the last time the city said they would need to trim jobs.

Mayor Jay Williams has said in the past that he wanted to knock that tax down, maybe by as much as a half percent, because it does not entice people to live or work in the city.

Fat chance of that happening now. With talking of laying off 60 workers, the city needs every penny it can get its hands on. I doubt very much the city will be able to make a move to lower that tax during the remainder of Williams' term.

And this issue of cutting back on travel or cars and overtime is wishful thinking. The number one expense in government is personnel costs, and taking a car off of someone is not going to make up the deficit.

Cutting overtime is also wishful thinking. A city is a 24/7 operation, and emergency repairs to water lines or standoffs with murder suspects do not always happen during regular business hours. There are controls to make it harder to use overtime, but one major incident and it all goes for naught.

I wonder if the belt tightening includes eliminating the saturation patrols in the police department that worked so well last year. Residents liked them, but the one constant I always heard, was ``if we have the money.'

Now may be the time when the money isn't there.