It's somewhat amusing to read the NEVER TAX bunch, and to listen to Belling screech the same old song that he's screeched for ......what..........40 years? At least he doesn't have to write original material, and listening to his show on occasion lately proves that beyond a doubt. But we digress.
Since the screaming commenced, we called our Supervisor and asked what the Hell is going on.
And we got a perfectly rational answer!!
The County can NOT impose a sales tax of less than .05% by State law, and none of our Leggies think that they can change the law to give counties flexibility--i.e., a .01% or .02% tax. The Leggies may be wrong, and they may be lazy, but it is what it is. Light a fire under Robin Vos' ass and maybe you'll get somewhere. Maybe. Robin exacts a big price for his Imperial Favors, ya'know.
The County is at its levy limit for property taxes. Cannot raise those, either. So on the revenue side, there is one and only one solution other than "fees" (which have not been discussed). More on that later.
Spend side?
The Sheriff can operate with less people, of course. Maybe only 2-3 deputies. But since the Sheriff is also the local LEO for (among others) the City of Pewaukee, and provides services such as 'check on good old Sam who fell down/hasn't been heard from/may be having a coronary' for Waukesha County as a whole, you get to pick: help the local cops stop the Milwaukee Kia boy driving up Brookfield Road blowing past the grade school there (still at 90)--or check on 'good old Sam,' who could be your father? You say your kid walks home from that school on Brookfield Road? Oh, well.
We invest a lot of money into training those deputies, but not into paying them later on. They find better pay elsewhere---they go. You "capitalists" can't complain about that, can you?
Like paved highways and roads? So do we. Check asphalt prices lately? Bidenomics did a number on that, just like Bidenomics did a number on the price of gasoline and diesel. Now then, the County's diesel trucks plow the roads.........but hey! Let's cut back on that silly stuff. You all have snowblowers--so get out there and use 'em. Look at the pix from the Milwaukee blizzard of '47? ( '48)? Yup. Those are Milwaukee citizens shoveling the streets. (Belling's City of Milwaukee will take care of his street in the meantime--and if they don't he'll have another Old Chestnut to pull out of his archives.)
Want to cut back on the parks? The programs offered in Adult Ed? OK. You pick the park to turn into a subdivision and/or which program to cut. See how that plays. Maybe that's a good option.
The "tax committee" did what they could, but their essay does not mention fees. Were they considered? For what services? How much could be raised by--say--tripling the County Parks sticker fee? Or hitting residents for $200.00 every time they're in contact with a Deputy (other than a crime-scene?) How about a wheel tax? That can be fine-tuned to hit the revenue required, right?
Or is this just a bunch of bitching because there is NO GOOD TAX. EVER. ANYWHERE.???
Look far enough back on this blog, and you'll find we don't like taxes.
But we're not .......ahhh........idiots about it.
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