Tax Abatements?

The minutes of the most recent County Council meeting show two things happened made me wonder how each could happen in the same meeting.

1. Auditor Dawn Coverdale discussed a forecast of tax receipts being down 8.9% over one year.
2. Tax Abatements were approved for four business properties.

I've never been a fan of tax abatements. Government shouldn't pick a select group of favorites to get a discounted rate or even have their taxes eliminated, while others pay the full load. Offer a competitive, low rate, and business will want to come to you. Abate their taxes, and they may want to leave you when the abatement period ends.

But, this when tax receipts are down? It's as if the Councilors who voted for the abatements were sleeping through Coverdale's earlier presentation.

Budget Struggles

It has been interesting to see the County Council and County Commissioners struggle to get the budget beast under control. In my opinion, they are doing many of the things that need to be done, looking for costs to cut, and beginning to require that spending be justified. Link: Minutes of May 18 joint meeting of Hamilton County Council & County Commissioners.

That's all well and good, but Libertarian candidates for County offices had been saying that these bodies should be doing this when they ran in 2002. How much better off in terms of fiscal health would our County be if some of them were elected then, and the belt tightening had begun when tax receipts were up? A great deal better.

While I see provisions to reduce overtime, and even consideration to reduce the work week, I did not see any evidence that staff sizes have been reduced. Especially as the County has seen a curtailment in growth, it cannot be possible that as many regulators and inspectors are needed now as when growth was astronomical. More staff cutting can, and should, be done.