They Are At It Again - - - The Spin Meisters!

Not Really New

No, it is not really new, but it seems to have worked in the past so why not continue. With what you may ask?

It is the old story where during early days of budget discussions city staff and council parade out the possibility of a large tax increase, let's say 6% as an example. Then after much deliberation and pencil sharpening and soul searching they get that down to say 5%.

Then a few months later, just before the budget needs to be finalized - - - - miracle of miracles they are able to shave another point or two off of the increase. The final tax increase turns out to only be 3.6% and everyone breathes a sigh of relief and the local press sings the praises of city council and staff for such a well done job.

They even go so far as to declare in headline form "property tax hike reduced to 3.6%" making it almost sound like city council and staff have reduced taxes. Of course they have done no such thing, in fact they raised them by nearly another 4% this year, and don't forget that your user fees aren't going down anytime soon, unlike the ever reducing garbage pick up service.

Ahhhh spring time and the hills are alive with the sounds of spinning spin-meisters. And the sheep once again didn't noticed they just got fleeced.