I think the city should look at better spending it's money. I don't want to sound like a W clone just spouting off that statement for the heck of it. But a $1.2 billion dollar budget and we were looking at a budget that meant cutting nine officers? The strib did a decent job of raising some questions on ways it can make better use of those funds. Let us work on that before we enact a PERCENTAGE based increase on the sales tax. I emphasized the percentage aspect of it because, since the sales tax is formed that way, as overall sales in the city increase so does the amount of revenue from that tax. I don't like seeing officers unable to use vacation time, which is happening right now because more often than not, because staffing for butts on the streets is too low. But simply spending more money is not a silver bullet.
And I'm glad that Eva mentioned the idea of a tax dedicated for a Twins stadium. At a time when the MPLS school district is closing schools and cuttings staff do we as a city want to make finding funds for entertainment a priority? A big enough of a priority that we enact a tax for that? Allen Graetz Lowry Hill -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Eva Young Sent: Tuesday, December 21, 2004 10:29 PM To: mpls mn forum Subject: [Mpls] Sales Tax Increase for Police I read in the Strib that Ostrow is proposing a sales tax increase to fund police and fire. What do folks here think of this proposal? If Ostrow wants to raise Minneapolis Sales tax .5 percent for Police/Fire - and then add on top of that a bar/restaurant tax increase to pay for the Twins stadium, it's going to mean Minneapolis Sales taxes are a percentage point higher than elsewhere in the metro. Eva Young Near North Minneapolis [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lloydletta.blogspot.com REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls REMINDERS: 1. Think a member has violated the rules? Email the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
