Monday, December 18, 2006
Don Ness, Watching Out for the Business Community
Oftentimes at city council meetings you will hear: “people in my district are saying…” The upshot of that statement is that councilors use the statement to justify a particular vote. That is all fine and good but rarely does any city council district collectively speak, and when it does speak, it speaks in an election. Witness the recent congressional midterm elections wherein George Bush was scolded by voters in the US by eliminating his stranglehold on both houses of congress. So it is with our own city council – when they stray too far from what voters want they lose their seats in the next election. Tonight Councilor Ness will please the electorate when he attempts to roll back the proposed tax and utility increases slated for January 1st. Ostensibly these increases were approved as a means to help solve the retiree health care crisis. It was thought that there was more than enough pain to go around and the taxpayers of Duluth have to shoulder an added burden to help solve the crisis. There are three problems with this thinking. First, government does not operate like a business. They have little incentive, other than upcoming elections, to save money. They are not bound by market forces that make them find the lowest price and highest value. They operate on a budget that simply demands balancing. If it is balanced then they are successful. Secondly, only a portion of the proposed utility rate increases will be used to solve the problem. Almost two thirds of the rate increases will be used for other purposes. In other words the city cites one problem to raise revenue for another. And lastly, if the problem cannot be solved before the tax and rate increases are fully enacted there will be little chance that the city would ever rebate those increases to the taxpayer. In other words, without a solution higher rates become higher cost of government – without any increased value to their customers. In this circumstance Ness understands how the taxpayer thinks and feels. He will be rewarded if he is successful. Certainly citizens of Duluth are experiencing retiree health care issue fatigue. Yet if we fail to get this crisis under control we’ll have little more than a high cost local government and that is bad for business. Send your thoughts on Councilor Ness’s proposal to council@ci.duluth.mn.us. Isn’t it time we heard them saying, “we heard from the business community…”
posted by Andy Peterson www.duluthchamber.com at
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