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skyler the weird
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Public Safety Theater
You have to absolutely appreciate the Machiavellian timing on the release of a task force report that finds the city’s public safety plan “financially unsustainable without large budget cuts or increased taxes,” coming as it does well after elected officials, city government and the uptown media and power structure successfully convinced voters that we could positively afford $204 million in new city bonds without a tax increase. No. Problem. Whatsoever.
Neanderthals warned at the time it was the classic bait-and-switch; that of course there wouldn’t be a tax hike to pay for the bonds. The tax hike would be required to pay for police officers and firefighters. And sure enough, with the bonds safely in the bag – 3..2..1: we all of sudden need a tax hike to pay for public safety.
The task force, chaired by Lee Institute President Cyndee Patterson, lays the brunt of the problem on the city council’s decision to dole out 2-percent pay increases for city employees this year, along with similar hikes for public safety employees – a decision the council’s Democrat majority approved and cost about $6 million to fund. The report also cites a loss of federal stimulus money, which is helping to pay for 125 new police officers, as a contributing cause to the crisis.
The pay hikes were a mistake, to be certain; not because some city employees didn’t deserve them, but because the city couldn’t afford them. Ditto the decision to accept federal largess to pay for cops the council knew the city couldn’t afford. But it borders on comical to imply, as the task force does, that these are the driving reasons the city faces a financial meltdown that threatens public safety. The punchline, from the report:
Overall, the Task Force is impressed after our review of the City’s budget. The City uses strong financial policies, conservative financial decision making and excellent budget structures to protect the City’s fiscal position.
Yet we need a tax hike or draconian cuts to other core services to pay cops and firefighters.
Where to start? The $12 million that the city council’s Democrat majority plunked down for the 7,920-feet-long Foxx Faux Streetcar Line to Nowhere seems old hat at this point. So how about the $2.1 million the city is shelling out this year for tree removal and tree replacement. Or maybe the $2.8 million tapped for the Arts & Science Council. Or the nearly $3 million flowing to the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority, a $19 million spy-chip recycling program, and $7 million for a turbo-charged 311 call center. Or maybe the $600,000-plus in so-called business incentive grants and $25,000 that was added to the mayor’s and council’s travel budget.
Small potatoes, one and all, compared to the nearly $24 million the city will hand out over the next five years – about $2 million this year alone – in tax increment financing gifts (i.e. property tax rebates) to connected developers and uptown power brokers. And, lest we forget, the $204 million in bonds that voters were hoodwinked into approving.
But the city needs a tax hike to pay for police and firefighters. Yes, of course, we do. This follows the template county officials have been pushing for months, that additional revenue is absolutely needed to pay for libraries, parks and schools. And now we have a property reval looming on the horizon to grease the skids.
The message is clear: you want basic services, citizen, while the gilded class continues to play in its uptown sandbox, you will foot the bill for a tax increase – one way or another.
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Don’t forget that this gambit worked back when Pam Syfert needed more money for the then-Wachovia Arts Tower synthetic TIF and the council hiked the property tax rate — ostensibly for more police officers.
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For folks who missed it at the time or need a memory jolt – this from The Rhino Times Year In Review, circa ’06:
Car Grease & Arts
The Charlotte City Council lamented that the 9-percent property tax rate hike it approved this year was regrettable, but councilmembers insisted there was no other way to pay for better roads and more police officers needed to keep the public safe.
So, naturally, councilmembers approved the mother of all bait-and-switch tax schemes later in the year, which allowed them to siphon money from the city’s general fund and use it to help pay for $158 million worth of new museums and cultural arts facilities.
Councilmembers aggressively lobbied state legislators for the authority to increase the local car-rental tax and use the proceeds to pay for transportation projects that previously had been funded with general fund revenues. In turn, the city would be able to use that money, up to $7.5 million a year, to pay for new arts facilities that were part of the giant Wachovia Tower currently under construction uptown.
“It’s a shell game they’re playing,” Councilmember Don Lochman, a Republican who opposed the pricey arts plan and tax increase, said at the time. “It’s designed to confuse the public and make it, politically, more palatable.”
The arts package and its accompanying tax hike, approved by both the City Council and the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, included a new Mint Museum, a new Afro-American Cultural Center, a new modern art museum and a new theater, along with renovations and a new exhibit for Discovery Place.
The bulk of the new arts facilities will be located within a stone’s throw of the new NASCAR Hall of Fame that Charlotte landed this year, courtesy of yet another tax hike, this one to the local hotel/motel occupancy tax.
Charlotte beat out Atlanta, Daytona Beach and Kansas City for the privilege of building a $155 million racing museum for the multi-billion-dollar industry that is NASCAR. The deal also included a ballroom expansion for the Charlotte Convention Center and a sweet $1-a-year lease on some prime, city-owned property uptown where NASCAR will build an office tower.
The deal left NASCAR with virtually no financial risk; the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority will own and operate the hall of fame and will be responsible for any operating deficits it might incur. At the same time, projections call for NASCAR to receive nearly $1.5 million a year in royalty payments from proceeds the hall of fame generates, and NASCAR has the right to veto any decisions regarding everything from building design and exhibits to merchandise that will be sold at the hall and advertising used to promote the facility.
“There are only a few times in public service when you have the opportunity to establish a legacy,” Republican Councilmember John Lassiter gushed at the time the NASCAR deal was struck. “This is a legacy-defining event for the City of Charlotte.”
Assuming, of course, that NASCAR will let Charlotte label it as such, providing it doesn’t conflict with any pre-existing NASCAR legacy-defining events, logos or venues, and certainly not if it will cost NASCAR any money
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Once again the Observer presents only half the facts in its first story, then publishes some of the rest a day or two later. The first impression that firefighters and police receive 5% plus an additional 3% is false. This hasnt happened in years. Former council person Cyndee Patterson, who also chaired the $204 million Bond committee, is helping to use the firefighters and police as scapegoats to confuse the citizens as to the real reasons a tax hike may be necessary.
The years that there were no pay increases for fire and police in terms of retirement, will never be recovered. I remember years (plural) when friends who worked for BofA, Wachovia, received pay raises and bonuses in the thousands. I also remember my 2% market adjustment that was gobbled up by increasing health insurance costs.
Remember this, we’re considered blue collar workers for a reason.This economy has been just as tough on us, and we are NOT getting raises and have NOT gotten raises as they were presented for years.
But whenever the need arises, we are used as pawns by politicians whether we like it or not for their own personal agendas.
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Andy Baudo, Jeffrey Hopkins. Jeffrey Hopkins said: Police and Fire to blame for Cities budget shortfall in the future??? http://pundithouse.com/2010/12/public-safety-theater/ [...]
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Big words to scare the uninformed by using “Machiavellian”.& “draconian”. If you don’t like paying for public services, next time you need police officer, fire truck or ambulance, do not call 911. I want my tax dollars going to those who appreciate my contribution to our city and county. If you want to cut taxes and get rid of government, then let’s do it. No schools, no first responders, no traffic lights, no road signs, no repair of pot holes, libraries, no sidewalks, no street lights, close all the parks, no anything. Get rid of all of the civil amenities to reduce taxes. You fools with your pin-head mentality!! Shame on you!!
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Arthur,
You are misinterpreting our desire for small, efficient, government as some sort of call for anarchy. I don’t know a single conservative calling for eliminating first responders and road signs. At issue is the blatant misuse of resources on one end, followed by a chorus of “we’re too broke to pay for the necessities” on the other end.
Mark clearly pointed out examples of irresponsible spending in this post.
It’s a classic bait and switch to rile people up over a “lack of funds” for the noticably important things while taking money from the other pocket for things that are clearly not needed.
If government would responsibly fund the basic services we need as a community and cut out the fat and the “shiny toys”, we would all be better off…including you.
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@Taylor: I take it that you’re either a cop, firefighter or paramedic. Many thanks for your service. Give the post another read and I think you’ll find we’re both on the same page about how the city/county should best use our tax dollars – i.e. for core services like public safety vs. baubles like art museums, whitewater centers and arenas. The city/county’s SOP, however, is to spend on the “civil amenities” and then cry poverty and declare they need more revenue – higher taxes – to pay for public safety. Shameless.
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[...] manner of firestorms — the city of Charlotte “Task Force” on public safety being the best, most egregious — indicate just how badly Charlotte and Mecklenburg County are [...]
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