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A Disaster For The City

Printed From: MiddletownUSA.com
Category: Middletown City Government
Forum Name: City Income and Property Tax
Forum Description: Discuss Tax issues, current, past and upcoming.
URL: http://www.middletownusa.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=4913
Printed Date: Apr 19 2024 at 2:23pm


Topic: A Disaster For The City
Posted By: VietVet
Subject: A Disaster For The City
Date Posted: Dec 06 2012 at 6:28am
Today's Journal....

City may lose $600,000 a year in lost income tax revenues
Bill attempts to create uniformity and streamline the state’s income tax code

MIDDLETOWN —
The city’s finance director said if House Bill 601 is approved as written, it could cost the city $600,000 a year in lost income tax revenues.

attempt to create uniformity and streamline the state’s income tax code, something many cities, including Middletown, have been requesting to see happen.

But the proposed 129-page bill that its sponsors say will create “simplicity” in the tax code is “a disaster for the city of Middletown” as written, said Finance Director Russ Carolus. City Council voted unanimously to oppose the bill, an act several other cities in the area have done

SO, WE WANT THIS CHANGE BUT NOT THE CHANGE THEY ARE PROPOSING BECAUSE.......

“This particular bill as it is presented has numerous issues with it that will continue to effect our ability to collect, our ability to manage and our ability to just maintain our own sovereignty in terms of income taxes.”

IE...

IT HINDERS THE ABILITY TO COLLECT AND BLEED THE TAXPAYER DRY AND MONITORS HOW THE CITY DOES THE COLLECTIONS AS THEY .....I LIKE THIS...."MAINTAIN OUR OWN SOVEREIGNTY (CONTROL/OVERSIGHT) IN TERMS OF INCOME TAXES" CHANGE IT TO SUIT US, BUT WE DON'T WANT ANYONE WATCHING THE WAY WE COLLECT AND JUGGLE THE MONEY AFTERWARDS.

Though he didn’t say how to City Council Tuesday night, Carolus said this bill would cost the city’s general fund upwards of $600,000 a year. He said the city cannot afford to lose any additional revenue.

SURE YOU CAN RUSTY. JUST APPLY FOR FED GRANT MONEY OR MAYBE A LOAN OR TWO TO FEED THE LOSS. YOU'RE GOOD AT THAT....DO IT ALL THE TIME.


“In the most recent year, they took away our estate taxes, they took away our local government funds, they reduced our personal property taxes. We’ve lost almost $3 million worth of annual revenue from the state of Ohio in an effort to balance their budgets,” Carolus said

YEAH, BUT THAT AIN'T STOPPED YOU FROM BORROWING TO FILL THE PIPELINE. LOSE IT AT THE STATE LEVEL AND RECOUP IT AT THE FED LEVEL. NO BIGGY. CALL YOUR BUDS AT HUD. THEY'LL SEND THE CITY MORE MONEY. JUST KEEP TAKING ON MORE SECTION 8 AND REDIRECT THE MONEY TO SUIT YOUR NEEDS.


“We have over 600 different cities treating income taxes differently,” said Beck

YEAH, AND I BET MIDDLETOWN IS THE LEAST EFFICIENT AT IT IN TERMS OF BIGGEST BANG FOR THE BUCK. BLEEDING EVERY LAST DOLLAR HERE FROM THE INCOME EARNER AND JACKING THE RATE UP BECAUSE THEY REFUSE TO GENERATE REVENUE STREAMS BY BRINGING MORE EMPLOYERS TO TOWN AND COLLECTING PAYROLL/CORPORATE TAXES LIKE COMPETENTLY RUN CITIES DO.




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I'm so proud of my hometown and what it has become. Recall 'em all. Let's start over.



Replies:
Posted By: darcy1969
Date Posted: Jul 05 2013 at 7:34am
I am not happy with the movie theatre decision and other decisions. Why would we choose a low revenue movie theatre over our own city's health future? Danbarry was offering a free service to children in our community who could not afford movie tickets, how wonderful was that? Why would we move forward with 3-9k versus 30k in tax revenue from a health focus area distraction?  Everyone on council voted YES on this. I am being disheartened. Talk about crazy and desperate. The council says yes to this but then gives our fire fighters argument for reaching the 4th floor of a building when the city building has 4 floors. What? I have to say I am very concerned. We are also demolishing our heritage at the price tags of 100k or higher, when rehabilitation is cheaper (2/5th the cost in many cases) and could be part of the housing solution and business solution we need our heritage protected for things that would draw tourist and increase pride such as our paper industry and steel industry where we could convert historic sites into museums. We face 1/3 Americans being poor, more than that in Middletown, many on fixed income, we have the ability to change but these decisions are not reflecting that at all. We need to solve the 5 neighborhoods most in need, and it is not to refurbish old trailers like in Riverside, it should be to use FHA/HUD/VA loan capabilities to provide permanent homes for people and eliminate the two mobile home parks, potentially turning them into garden areas for the schools nutrition program.
 
We could build an environment that focuses on children, and draw recreation, education, and tourism to our area and increase sales tax while fostering the needs of children and their families through this new environment. A statistical report evaluated 38 neighborhoods in Middletown, through this data you can see what assets are missing from what areas and which areas are most in need of attention. Clearly the city does not have enough integration to focus on these efforts appropriately right now. Yet we waste 20,000 hours of volunteer time to pick up trash every year instead of putting trash containers around town in these areas and educating (rainbow trash containers for recycling, wood/metal trash containers for trash) along Breiel Blvd, in parks, in school playgrounds, throughout our small business areas. If we put trash containment in place, education can take place with community members of where to put it thus removing the two root causes of littering: education and no trash containment resources available. The poor neighborhoods could then be focused on with volunteer efforts to rehabilitate and apply for FHA/HUD/VA loans for the many permanent home structures available in the city right now. We don't need section 8 when we have permanent homes available for sale and rehabilitation for the targeted poor areas.
 
The environment that we could create other than these areas include small businesses focused on morals and education that will draw tourism from other areas where people make more money and can come here to spend it on their children.  We can do things like have a shop for scholastic resources, bicycle repair, perhaps houses of varying exposure such as a house of science, house of insects/buzzito, house of mirrors, African folklore to respect earth, storytelling, Aesops Fable shop, and about 100 more small business opportunity ideas I have focused on bridging the gap between commercial, education, and community enhancement.


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Darcia


Posted By: Bill
Date Posted: Jul 05 2013 at 7:46am
ConfusedConfusedConfused


Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Jul 05 2013 at 8:46am

Well as granny said "numbers don't lie".
City Hall tells us one story however the numbers tell us a different story.
I believe the numbers.



Posted By: over the hill
Date Posted: Jul 05 2013 at 9:49am
This has always be council's MOO (mode of operation). Ask them a guestion they don't want to answer in front of the masses and they say: "we'll get back to you on that". The council meeting last Tues. Mr. Smith had asked for imformation to be answered at this meeting, what did they tell him, No we don't have that imformation, but we'll get back to you.Same broken record.They have always told only partial imfo. Only the part that suits them, but when you check the whole story, that's when the numbers don't jive.Thank you VIV


Posted By: Vivian Moon
Date Posted: Jul 05 2013 at 11:05am
DARCY1969 - A statistical report evaluated 38 neighborhoods in Middletown, through this data you can see what assets are missing from what areas and which areas are most in need of attention. Clearly the city does not have enough integration to focus on these efforts appropriately right now.
 
Darcy
we have several reports concerning different areas of our city and the needs of each.
However the areas of greatest need are not receiving the needed funds.
As per HUD...CDBG funds can and should be used in the areas of greatest need.
This is a failure of City Hall and Council Members


Posted By: Perplexed
Date Posted: Sep 20 2013 at 7:40pm
Miss Vivian -
 
The facts you present underscore the indifference of senior city staff insofar as older residential neighborhoods are concerned.  Keep up the good work.  Someday, very soon I hope, more concerned citizens will see the light.


Posted By: Neil Barille
Date Posted: Sep 20 2013 at 8:49pm
Nelson, you were absent for months and now on here all the time.  What gives?



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