“Recently questions have been raised about the April ballot – on behalf of the City Council and staff I would like to respond to the concerns we have heard.
This week we heard concerns regarding question 2A and 2B. If these ballot questions pass, the tax rate will be .25% in 2A and .5% in 2B. The concern expressed is about the part of the ballot language that attempted to illustrate how the tax increase would impact a purchase; the language has raised questions. It was written with the intent to add further clarity; however, it has done the opposite. There is a mathematical explanation to the language; however, we erred in believing that would be the only explanation required. Only reading the verbiage, which is the same in both questions, (WHICH IS AN INCREASE OF ONE QUARTER CENT ON EACH TEN DOLLAR PURCHASE in 2A) and (WHICH IS AN INCREASE OF ONE HALF CENT ON EACH TEN DOLLAR PURCHASE in 2B) without doing a calculation, does result in an error. The City Council and staff had no intent to make the questions less clear or to purposely deceive anyone. This error was inadvertent and for that, we apologize.
It has also recently been brought to our attention that question 2C states $79,000,000 MILLION and $150,000,000 MILLION. In both of these instances the word MILLION should not have been included and therefore is in error. The numbers and the words are duplicated. It should simply read $79,000,000 and $150,000,000, respectively.
The City Council is concerned that the recent discussions about the form of the questions will take away from the true and important public discussion about content or why the questions are being asked. The City Council trusts that voters will decide these questions based on their own convictions about the importance of City services not the errors in the form of the questions that you may have read about or heard reported. The City needs an engaged citizenry and we welcome your input through the election process. Please carefully consider the substance of each question with your vote.”
The right thing, done the wrong way!!!
I don’t agree with the estimated costs to build and run the Rec Center.
And……
The No Sunset clause means a TAX THAT NEVER ENDS, so that means a NO VOTE from me on 2 C!!!!
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When the “guardians” of our Republic can’t perform simple math, how am I to trust them to handle millions (or trillions in the case of 2C) of dollars in my money? That’s not my only concern: a sales tax rate of nearly ten percent would dampen the local economy. While we’re still riding high on the crest of the current economic wave, we can handle that. What happens when the wave is no longer there? Can our fragile economy withstand this kind of hit? And, what happened to the money we voted to let you have a few years back for roads and infrastructure? I’m voting no on all these ballot measures and I encourage all reading this to do the same.
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As David Letterman used to say to Paul Shaffer.
“You have crystallized my thoughts succinctly!”
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Is Barbara saying that there is a mathematical explanation but that wasn’t enough for us? Hmmm. So she still doesn’t get it?! It’s a quarter of a cent on a dollar and if you move the decimal over one place, it’s 2.5 cents per TEN dollars, 25 Cents per $100.
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Ohhhh, and again, also,
No Sunset on 2 C,
means No Vote on 2 C!!!
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Exactly. Thank you.
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