Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

The fallout from the failure of the city income tax increase is oozing out all over. Rumors abound and many of them are taking some very nasty turns that are affecting the operation of our city.

Just reading from the Dispatch article below we can see the tone from the city manager is frustration, anger and disbelief. Clearly those on the city hall staff that promised a passage by a large margin are now trying to back track and find a scapegoat on council to blame. Just as clear, is that our members of council have hunkered down and they, as a group, are hiding out. By the council hiding out they are becoming targets from those on the inside and the outside of city hall. However they continue to discuss personnel levels in public sending panic through the city staff and the police department. I believe they can have these discussions in executive session and legally address the issues out of the public view and not burden the affected staff prior to their decision.

The city manager claims his campaign message for the tax increase to the voters was clear, but I disagree. At the same time, our members of council simply marked time by saying they were doing their due diligence and held endless meetings on expenses and revenues that never resulted into any recommendations until two weeks before the election. For those of us that tried to be informed I found the information coming from city hall and the news media very confusing and contradictory. The campaign literature for this tax increase was very vague and didn?’t tell the story that needed to be told.

I think the council members relied on the city staff to judge the public support of this tax increase and they all seemed to think that the public really cared about their life and their job. Maybe some of the bitterness now circulating around town is a result of that realization that the voters are more worried about their own family budget and not the city?’s and its employees. It seems to me that the council members and the Mayor are the ones that were on the voters door steps and they should have had a better sense of the mood in the community. Why didn?’t that knowledge and sense prevail in the debate to place the ?“it didn?’t affect 80% of the voters?” campaign on the ballot?


Trust is now eroding within our community. It has started with the police department who seems to have the most to lose and is now moving to other staff members at city hall that feel their job is next. This will get ugly and soon. While this is going on there no communication coming from the elected folks and none of us understand what is being contemplated. Its seems that they were so confidant that this tax increase would be passed over whelming by the voters that they didn?’t have a plan ?“B?”. However isolating themselves from the voters has only exacerbated the problem. I sent an email to all members of council and the manager last spring and I have yet to hear anything back about my questions on the budget and this tax hike. Is that how they plan to win support?


By Beanie

Leadership needed

From a voters stand point I doubt I will ever support this tax increase.

Anytime a government needs to ask its voters for additional funds its members must be accessible to the public. Don?’t develop a bunker mentality.

They first must prove that they are prudent with our tax dollars. If they can operate our city government with less money then they should make those cuts BEFORE asking for more money.

There appears to be a rumor running around town and within the police department that if the city fails to increase its income tax that the city will replace the Pickerington Police Department with the county sheriff?’s department. They even goes so far as to name the councilman leading that charge. I am not sure that is the position of the majority of city council. The real question here is if a future income tax increase fails again what will happen to the PPD? Will they there be layoffs or will the city disband the entire force? Make those plans public before the election on the income tax increase. Then follow through with your plans. Don?’t mess with comments like maintaining services. What does that mean? The fact that the police department would go away without new revenues would motivate many to vote in favor. It wasn?’t clearly spelled out in this last campaign. In fact they talked about hiring more officers.

I think the council must give the voters a chance to make the decision on whether they want to keep the police force or not. Give us some numbers.

I also think they need professional help in running a campaign. Some at city hall may have thought the free lunch post card was cute but it did very little to communicate its need for new revenues.

Our elected officials need to come out from the bunker. They must provide a public forum that the citizen can ask questions and the elected people can do their duty and answer to the voters. They at the very least must show some urgency for passage.

They need to limit their needs to one or two items not the whole buffet table. Clearly it sounds as if the police department is critical and needing more funds just to keep what they have.

I think the red light cameras are counter productive to a income tax increase. I include myself in this category. Clearly drop this insane project. If you are going to turn this city into another New Rome with a robot and a camera don?’t count me in. If we are going to receive tickets in the future in mail then why do we need a police department?

Why do we continue to push forward on this JEDD agreement? It goes against the argument of being prudent with our tax dollars. The council is obligating our tax dollars to bail out the township if a legal issue were to arise in an annexation into proposed JEDD area. It seems the message coming form council is you are very willing to do away with our police force in exchange for some swamp land down along US 33.

Finally I should say that I am part of that 80% that supposedly would not be affected. I work in Columbus and my spouse doesn?’t. Our total family tax bill would increase. I understand that we can still make it by giving Columbus workers a full credit on our earned income and that would balance our family budget. Truly a free lunch.



By Beanie

Dear Beanie

Beanie,
What a well thought and articulate pair of postings. Some of your points are easily dealt with by the simplest method possible ?– go ask! I attended a couple of meetings and I also asked questions to staff members and councilmen and got the answers. I?’ll try to address what I learned point by point from your postings.
City Manager?’s frustration, anger and disbelief? I don?’t think the manager is angry at all. I think that given his many years of holding positions like this, he, like many of us, thought the message was very easy to understand. No new taxes for the majority. Now he has learned his lesson in just how unpredictable voters in Pickerington are. Certainly mayoral and council candidates of the past have learned that. Most evidently the schools have learned that, but more on schools later.
No one predicted a large passage that I talked to. Their best estimate was 55-45 passage and that was optimistic. When you consider all that happened in the last two months nationally, no sane person predicted a large margin of passage.
Council hunkering and hiding? Look how many politicians make up council. Of course they?’re hiding. They don?’t want to lose votes. If you cut cops, that is certainly not as visible as, say, cutting the Violet Festival now is it? Snow plows versus jazz and rib fests? Simple choice really ?– unless you are a politician.
Executive sessions??? Seriously? I thought everyone wanted business conducted in the sunshine and not a dark back room. I won?’t even debate that with you except to say that much of council?’s business and the method several of those politicians conducted it were cramped by the loss of the Stonecreek Diner, but hey, the Grapevine is still open. Try and remember the personalities and politicians you are talking about here.
For you and those of you that tried to be informed, you never looked at the city website. While I am sure that decisions had to be made as to what could be afforded to be mailed out, the city website was jam packed with data to make your decision base on.
You think that the politicians relied on staff to judge public support? I think council relied on staff to run the entire campaign. Great strategy in my opinion. How long have you lived here Beanie? If I had to make my decision based on what the politicians told me, I simply would not check the boxes for the city issues. Come on, Jeff Fix is vilified in this forum so often that he could literally polarize the voters. What if former mayor Shaver told you to vote for it, would you. If he told me to vote for it I would know something is wrong.
No, taking the politicians out of the campaign was a good move. The people that have to do the jobs with what we give them are the ones who tell the truth. I am disappointed that I never saw nor heard of any cops out on the campaign trail. Sort of a snobby approach if you ask me. They bleed the coffers dry but are too good to campaign for money they will mostly get? Here?’s the thing, they know, as you allude to in your message, that council doesn?’t have the cajones to cut them. End of story.
Let me skip around in your postings a little so I can make page 2 of mine specific.
Prudent with our tax dollars? Considering they have made do with a 1% collection for over 30 years tells me they must have been prudent. When you think of growth here versus income, I think they have done a remarkable job. Staff I mean, not the politicians.


By Cecil

Dear Beanie 2

Rumors with or in the police department? My uncles and cousins are all mostly in law enforcement or fire departments. I can tell you and they will admit that they are the single biggest source of rumors and gossip in existence today so why talk about that?
Professional help in running a campaign? Of course that would have been the smart thing to do. But consider this. My sister lives in Westerville. They spent $80,000 to pass their income tax issue. What if Pickerington spent $80,000 and lost? You?’d be advocating a recall right now. That $80,000 could have hired a police officer, or saved the Violet Festival or?….. on and on. No, you would never have tolerated that expense win or lose.
Red light cameras? AMEN BROTHER or SISTER!!! What a waste of time.


By Cecil