Paul,
Thanks for posting this; it is something that slipped by me completely.
In light of the budgetary shortfalls the city (like most cities in MN) is facing, what courses of action do you think the city should pursue? Increasing property taxes? Raising fees? Eliminating services? I am not nearly as well versed in city finances as I should be.
My family re-located to MN almost 15 years ago. After an initial adjustment to the city size and to the differences in the kinds of services offered (for instance, in our city in MI, the city collected all garbage weekly, and would pick up furniture and used appliances for free if you called in advance), I have felt the city services to be quite good and city and county officials quite easy to deal with. I have been very impressed with the Park Rec department, etc. and the library, to name only two. I guess I am saying, I would hate to see us lose any of these services/amenities that make Winona such a pleasant place to live.
I am interested in hearing what others think and how others feel we should resolve the conflict between what we need, what we want, and what we can afford.
Terri Hyle
From: "Paul Double" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "On Line Democracy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Winona] City to raise your energy tax 25% Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 20:26:32 -0500
It came to my attention this morning on the radio that the City of Winona
council is scheduled for Monday night to raise taxes 25% on your utility
bill. One of the most played down taxes in the city is their option to
force Xcel to add a 4 percent tax onto our bills. Monday night they want to
raise that to 5 %. While it doesn't sound like much the media should do
their homework and release to the public the "total dollars" this important
jewel generates to the city's General Fund. My guess the new money could be
about $250,000 or one forth of the dollars they indicated they are short in
the paper today. If my number is off what is it?
While "the thought behind this tax is logical" as everyone including non profits and government entities will get tagged whereas property taxes only hit those who pay them. It is one way for city taxpayers to also get some more state money from the University and College. My point is this tax generates significant revenue and the number, like cable fees, is often not given the media attention it should get. It cost the city nothing to administrate and is pure revenue. If the city is unwilling to provide it Xcel has the numbers since they write the check back to the city.
As a side note, I believe, the City of Goodview has still not elected to charge the tax, which is a municipal option they also have available. In light of the fact that they got a more dramatic hit on LGA than most it may be something they need to reconsider. It could easily generate significant revenue for them and fall outside the formula of the property tax increase limits.
The ball is now in the court of the media, the numbers are public and people
have the right to know where the make up funds are going to hit us. We have
had media coverage of the proposed reductions now we need to see the rest of
the story.
Paul Double
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