Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I received a copy of Jeff Fix?’s prepared statement to council that he delivered on July 1st. It never fails to amaze me how little Mr. Fix knows about our city government and how it works.

He asks in his statement how are we going to pay for the new sewer plant? The very same night he votes for the Waster Water Plant loan. I would think that he should have figured that out PRIOR to voting for the $10 Million loan. May I remind Mr. Fix that with council action we raised the user fees to cover the new loan. Hopefully this will allow new commercial development and the city can pay most of this loan back with commercial tap fees.

As we can see with the sewer plant, future commercial growth depends on investments in infrastructure and in this case a new sewer plant with additional sewer capacity.

As the normal M.O. for Mr. Fix, he must insult everyone before him and try to make the case of ?“now I here to clean up the mess.?” If he doesn?’t understand where the money is coming from to pay for the sewer plant then how does he have any chance to solve the city?’s general fund problems?

Mr. Fix likes to harp on the street paving and that we should arbitrarily pave 10% of the streets each year. Streets should be repaved on a ?“as needed?” basis and not arbitrary like Mr. Fix proposes in his crisis mode of government.

Mr. Fix continues to claim that the city needs more police officers. Public records indicate that the city crime rates has been dropping off the last few years. As a custodian of our public money shouldn?’t we be manning the police department based on need? Not some arbitrary ratio that Mr. Fix likes to promote?

Clearly the city does has a debt of a little over $25 million not the $30 million Mr. Fix says. Of that $25 Million only a little over $11 million is in the general fund debt category and that can be addressed with income tax monies. Two thirds of that general fund debt is under contract and we can?’t pay it off early. The other third is in notes and that could be paid off early. In any event, giving the city more money than they need doesn?’t guarantee that this debt will be paid off any sooner. Because one council can?’t obligate another council. Next year we will have a new council.

In addition to the $11 million general fund debt we also have a TIF debt of around $4 Million. I would hope that Mr. Fix and the financial advisors at the city would work on converting these TIF loans into new TIFS (similar to the Equity TIF). If the city fails to convert those TIFs then what ever is left of the $4 million in TIF loans will be picked up by the general fund. I am confident that the city will find a way to convert those TIFs to better instruments to pay off the loans mainly for road improvements. This should occur starting in 2012. So commercial growth between then and now should be a priority.



By Ted Hackworth

Income taxes and Mr. Fix cont.

Of that $11 Million general fund debt we had a state SIB loan come due this year. This loan is at a 3% interest rate and the principal is currently at $3.1 Million. That has added an additional $400,000 in new expenses to the general fund budget. The debt service payment for this year for that loan will be paid out of the impact fees collected from new development over the last couple of years. Next years we must find new GENERAL FUND money to pay this loan payment because new development has dropped off. Those payments will increase over the years because that debt will raise slightly as the Diley Road project progresses. However we are getting a great interest rate for the first ten years.

I am hearing that we must consider these street Capital Improvement projects (CIP) as mandates. These street CIPs are not mandates and they can be delayed until growth and the impact fees revenues return.

Finally trying the play the role of the great debater Mr. Fix wants to paint everyone else as a politician and himself as the ?“public servant?“. Well Mr. ?“Public Servant?” the decision to raise the city income taxes will be our decision not yours. So Mr. Fix please keep your inflated ego in check. A couple of months ago you and the council were saying that we could do with $1.7 Million in additional revenues, now after finding some mistakes in the figures you are asking for twice that amount ($2.9 Million). To justify that amount you are trying to create a crisis in city government and the only issue we have is within the general fund not the entire city budget.

To get the voters to approve this tax increase you will have an uphill battle to ?“sell?” it even with a tax cut for 70% of the workers let alone a ?“break even point?” currently being proposed. Mr. Fix, I strongly suggest you approach this campaign with honesty and integrity something that has escaped you in previous contests. I would also suggest that you place the credit amount on the ballot along with the tax increase so that the voters can understand exactly what they are voting for. Otherwise this issue is doomed to failure.


By Ted Hackworth

Bravo

Bravo Ted,

nice to see you still do your homework! too bad that attribute was lost by one person when you did not return to council, the voters made a mistake in my view.

thanks

By closet philosopher

Here are the FACTS

I've read Mr. Hackworth's statement here and while I am once again disappointed in his tone, I will try to keep my response to the facts, and the actual statement that I read at council a couple of weeks ago. I grow tired of Mr. Hackworth's attacks on my integrity. I have and will continue to vote for what I believe are the best long-term interests of this city. I will stand on my record. My only wish is that Ted would get his facts right before he attacks me personally. My statement will appear in the next several postings. I encourage, as I always have, an open, honest debate about the ISSUES, not whether or not you like my style or presentation.

Jeff Fix
Pickerington City Councilman

By Jeff Fix