What no comment on the New Tax Proposal

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   Group recommends tax hike to fix city streets
Street subcommittee opts for 0.5-percent income tax increase for five years to revert to 0.25-percent permanent tax.
Personally I think this is doomed from the start.  I seriously doubt this will be voted in, come the november election.   the street issue in Middletown cncerns all Citizens not just those that have a job.  The burden to repair the roads needs to be spread across the board to everyone.

I love the fact that the Chairman of this group is a retired city employee who will not have to pay this tax.  The group is made up of City Employees who must justify their jobs.  Contractors that do road paving hey they are all for this and probably a higher tax and private citizens, who according to what I have read were bascially shut out of the meeting and since day one it was Tax, tax, tax. 

Now how does Home Depot get a grant for:

Home Depot road upgrade wins grant
State awards $700,000 for work near distribution facility near Ohio 63, I-75.
The Warren County Port Authority has been awarded a $700,000 state grant to provide road improvements to support the Home Depot project in Monroe.
And in the City  of Middletown all we get is Tax, Tax, Tax.

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Pacman Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 02 2007 Status: Offline Points: 2612	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pacman Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: What no comment on the New Tax Proposal Posted: May 31 2008 at 9:16am
	Group recommends tax hike to fix city streets Street subcommittee opts for 0.5-percent income tax increase for five years to revert to 0.25-percent permanent tax. Personally I think this is doomed from the start. I seriously doubt this will be voted in, come the november election. the street issue in Middletown cncerns all Citizens not just those that have a job. The burden to repair the roads needs to be spread across the board to everyone. I love the fact that the Chairman of this group is a retired city employee who will not have to pay this tax. The group is made up of City Employees who must justify their jobs. Contractors that do road paving hey they are all for this and probably a higher tax and private citizens, who according to what I have read were bascially shut out of the meeting and since day one it was Tax, tax, tax. Now how does Home Depot get a grant for: Home Depot road upgrade wins grant State awards $700,000 for work near distribution facility near Ohio 63, I-75. The Warren County Port Authority has been awarded a $700,000 state grant to provide road improvements to support the Home Depot project in Monroe. And in the City of Middletown all we get is Tax, Tax, Tax.

spiderjohn Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jul 01 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2749	Post Options Post Reply Quote spiderjohn Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 01 2008 at 1:50pm
	Amen pacman JUST SAY NO to the latest attempt at a tax increase. Don't y'all feel burned enough by the sham "Public Safety" levy that went for nothing other than increased wages and benefits? Everyone on the municipal dole immediately recieved an annual 3% for the next three years. Everywhere around is now cutting staff and shrinking departments from municipal to education. Middletown must do the same. WE never stopped paying for infrastructure repairs after 1987, and never had a tax cut. The city govt.simply quit making road repairs or continuing any maintenence schedule(similar to the BOE with building upkeep). Where did our tax $$ go, other than to fund employee buyouts, benefits and perks? We now read the amount of ADDITIONAL tax $$ needed, but still no plan on HOW the $$ will be spent. And exactly WHO IS THIS "STREETS COMMITTEE"? We elected Council to make these decisions, and not to hide behind an anonymous group of hand-picked employee-driven shills. Mr.Becker is a fine well-intentioned Council member, however he never created any road improvement plans during his run as city manager. Our road maintenence crew was so inept, that we had to hire outside vendors just to do the much-needed overdue patching in a timely professional manner. Time for all citizens to unite come November to shoot down this wasteful spending concept(can't call it a plan because THERE IS NO PLAN--JUST A $$ AMOUNT). Then--if this levy is defeated, we will have wasted another year without any continual road improvement strategy. Come on people--enough is enough, and we have suffered through more than enough wasteful bureaucratic spending and non-productivity.

Pixie Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Outsider Joined: Jun 12 2007 Status: Offline Points: 3	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pixie Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 02 2008 at 10:22am
	I agree. The idea of a tax increase at this time is silly and has no chance of passing. Too many people are hurting because of fuel prices and I dont know anyone who would vote for this.

.308 Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Resident Joined: Aug 17 2007 Status: Offline Points: 192	Post Options Post Reply Quote .308 Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 02 2008 at 4:59pm
	An income tax to fix the roads would most likely work as well as a property tax to fund our schools. And yes that's sarcasm.

VietVet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008	Post Options Post Reply Quote VietVet Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 03 2008 at 7:16am
	I was on the Streets Committee for three meetings. I suggested downsizing city government, asked why there were so many managers for so few workers, suggested using asphalt research companies to use Midd. streets as test roads for their asphalt projects and questioned the streets supervisor as to why they were putting patch in a hole filled with water and not draining the water beforehand. No time, he said.The arrogance of some of the committee members was unbelievable. I saw Marconi and Becker pushing the income tax levy from the very first meeting and they never seriously considered any other suggestions. The rest of the bobbleheads on the committee just sat and agreed with anything Becker and Marconi wanted, including Gilleland. Scott-Jones was the only one who put up any resistance and was ignored. Decision was made as to how to fund this before the first meeting. Just a token committee to appease the public. An income tax levy is discriminatory as it taxes only the working people.Vote NO in November.

VietVet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008	Post Options Post Reply Quote VietVet Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 05 2008 at 10:58am
	Middletown Journal- Middletown City Message Board- Mr. Marconi states that we all need to work together because we all care about Middletown. That's a great idea. The problem is that this town is divided into two opposing camps- the council people/city government people/school board-admin-teacher people/good ole boy business people versus the regular citizens that are out of the loop and influence of the above mentioned people. It will always be confrontational until the regular citizens start seeing their requests from city officials/city schools listened to, acted upon and not ignored. Until the city folks realize that they can't/shouldn't ignore the people, the two camps shall not meet in agreement.As long as the city is run for the benefit of the few and not for the majority, the situation will continue to be one of distrust, anger and fighting within the city, resulting in no progress and a deterioration of city morale.Doesn't need to be that way. It's their choice to do what the people want them to do. What is your choice, city leaders- business as usual or will you start listening?

Pacman Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Jun 02 2007 Status: Offline Points: 2612	Post Options Post Reply Quote Pacman Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 05 2008 at 3:13pm
	VietVet according to Marconi and Becker everything was wonderful on the Tax the Citizens Out of Middletown Road Committee. I doubt seriously that this will pass. I think Ms Scott-Jones is seeing Council for what it is and is disappointed with it to tell the truth. This is just my observation. Marconi sure seemed more worried about the Section 8 housing issue than the Road tax issue. Find it strange what seems to tickle their fancy. He seems to want to spend a hell of a lot of time on an issue that affects maybe 10-15% of the population, than one that affects 100% of the population. More Taxes will not solve this issue. At 2.25% you would basically be one of the highest taxed Cities in OH along with one of the highest Property Taxes. Hey lets go for the Trifecta and raise the Sales Tax as high as we can and lets not forget the Gas Tax. This is what you call a good Economic Incentive for companies to re-locate here? Of course the City will wave their magic Tax Abatement Wand and leave the citizens to suffer footing the bill. VOTE NO.

Middletown News Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Prominent MUSA Citizen Joined: Apr 29 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 1100	Post Options Post Reply Quote Middletown News Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 06 2008 at 3:13pm
	I have to say that the city manager is against any tax incresase. That is one sharp lady down there in the city building. How can we increase our tax base, if we have the highest business taxes in the area? Answer, we can't!

VietVet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008	Post Options Post Reply Quote VietVet Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 09 2008 at 7:12am
	I have no problem with the new city manager. I have spoken to her a few times. She strikes me as a person who certainly wants to do the right thing, however, she also looks, at times, like a deer caught in the headlights. I think she realizes that there is a severe lack of agreement/cooperation in this town pitting the citizens against the council, school board and the city building attitude toward the citizens. She knows by now, that she walked into a storm of resentment between the citizens and their government and will soon know that the problem is so large and has been going on so long that solving it will probably not happen in her tenure as city manager.

VietVet Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: May 15 2008 Status: Offline Points: 7008	Post Options Post Reply Quote VietVet Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 09 2008 at 7:29am
	I haven't been able to log in to the Middletown Journal opinion/blog site for a week now. Yesterday, I was able to log in but could not post as the site refused to take my message. I wanted to respond to Mr. Marconi's comments concerning Section 8 and his involvement. All of the posts stated "IF" he was involved, implying that we didn't know for sure. Apparently Mr. Marconi can't decipher the implication factor to a comment. He also stated that "if you were there at the street committee meetings". I was at the meetings , Mr. Marconi, and I found out quickly that having members of the community on the committee was to passify the public. Suggestions offered were ignored and, as I predicted weeks before the tax decision, an income tax was proposed. Surprise, surprise!! Mr. Marconi also mentioned to contact him if we had issues and talk to him rather than post. Why? Council members don't listen to the people at meetings, why would they respond at home on the phone? You can't talk to people like Becker and Marconi. They don't have open minds and are locked into the idea that taxes from the citizens is the only fixative for the blunders of this council and past councils.We are in this mess because of past/current incompetence.The schools are the same way. Sad but true saga of Middletown since the 1970's.

Mike_Presta Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List MUSA Council Joined: Apr 20 2008 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 3483	Post Options Post Reply Quote Mike_Presta Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 15 2008 at 7:37am
	I attended the first street committee meeting that you did not attend, Viet Vet. After about ten minutes, someone said Lets get started. Becker said that we cannot, because we dont have a quorum. I looked around the room at about 15 people and asked How many is a quorum? Becker replied: At least two of the three city council members on the committee. I whispered to Marilyn Reedy: Im pretty sure that that is illegal. Shortly, Ms. Scott-Jones arrived. The next order of business was to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, even though the minutes had not yet been prepared. I objected, asked how anyone could possibly even suggest that such a thing be done, and offered a motion to table the approval of the last meetings minutes until after they are prepared. Mr. Becker informed me that only the committee members who were also members of city council were allowed to make or second motions. I thought about leaving at that point, but was so flabbergasted (and not many people get flabbergasted in this day and age) that I decided to remain, at least until the state of shock wore off. As you mentioned, they would hear of nothing besides a tax increase. Ms. Scott-Jones did raise the point that this subcommittee was supposed to devise a plan for street rehabilitation, and that the Finance Subcommittee was the one charged by council with the task of coming up with a way to pay for the plans implementation. Mr. Becker said that theyve been over everything and there is no other way, so why waste the groups timeif someone wanted to get with Mr. Corolus one-on-one they should feel free to do so. I was pretty much ignored when I asked if any of their schemes (Schemes is my term--the others called them plans) considered a regular maintenance plan. I tried to follow up by explaining that the average life of a city street is about 20 to 25 years, so without regular maintenance, even the BEST of their schemes will be never-ending because by the time the last street is rehabilitated, the first streets will be at the failure point again. I guess that no one heard me, since my point was ignored. Further, that point did NOT make it into the official minutes that were later submitted to city council. (Nor did the minutes did reflect my attendance at the meeting, although I made it a point to sign the sign-in sheet!)

John Beagle Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List MUSA Official Joined: Apr 23 2007 Location: Middletown Status: Offline Points: 1855	Post Options Post Reply Quote John Beagle Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: Jun 20 2008 at 11:26am
	Dang, that is either a mistake or someone is tring to ignore you. I think we should assume a mistake. I appreciate your attending the meeting and reporting what was said. Seems the people have to do their own reporting to get the facts. Please keep us up to date on this vital city issue.
	John Beagle Middletown USA News of, for and by the people of Middletown, Ohio.