Pickerington Area Taxpayers Alliance

I think if one was to look at all of the issues facing this council you would try to prioritize them and this council seems to be a failure in that regard. They seem to have a shot gun approach and many things are just hit and miss.

You do not need to talk with anyone on council, just reading the local papers and the minutes of these meetings will show you that they are addressing everything but what is in front of them.

I am interested in the business of our council. At one time, we had three local newspapers reporting on the meetings and occasionally they would do an in-depth story. With the filing of Chapter 11 by Suburban New?’s parent company it appears we will be down to one local newspaper.

I think the highest priority from a citizen?’s standpoint is how does this council plan to raise additional revenues over the next few years? Clearly a tax increase no matter what they tax, will affect most of us taxpayers. I think in most cases the voters will need to approve how they want to be taxed. The duty of the city council is to show the voters the need for new revenues and the reasons why one method of taxation is better than another. They also must show that they have been prudent with the existing tax dollars and right now none of that has been done. They go about there business like Alfred E. Newman and saying ?“what me worry?”?

I believe that Councilman Wisniewski indicated that the police budget will increase by over $300,000 this year alone. Have the normal increases in revenues increased enough to cover those pay raises/benefit increases to just the police department?

It has been six months since the last time since the voters said no to the city administration on income tax increases. Yet NOTHING has been done to address the revenue shortfalls and I am wondering if they have time now to get it on the November 2009 ballot? Even if the tax issue was on the November ballot the city could not collect anything until probably 2011.

In those si

I think you're mistaken

I think much has been done to address budget shortfalls by staff mostly by what I read about not hiring any general fund employees. Since the majority of the GF is spent on salaries and benefits, leaving positions unfilled is, IMHO, cost savings.

What you want to see is something big with a lot of impact to be cut. Well they tried fireworks but ''I'm always seeking reelection but I am still your watchdog'' Sauer refused to save that money. He instead dug into the carry over to ''find'' money for his pork barrel project and then had Fix make deals for him to keep it alive.

What you want to see is police officers laid off. You want to see the city bleed before you'll notice anything. If they lay off cops, we'll bleed all right. You need to talk to some of them and see the types of crimes they are dealing with. Do you think we are employing only traffic cops? Granted, there are a few on the force, but we mostly have crime fighters. Go ask. Don't wait on any reporting because there isn't going to be any.

What media is left has only their reporters left who haven't found a new job. they are covering several meetings in several areas all week. the editors I suspect are doing most of the printing so they will print what they think will sell.

Fortunately or unfortunately depending on your point of view, I think the work ethic of 99% of the city staff is keeping you from seeing the blood you want. but like the kid and the dike, they will run out of fingers long before the hole stop appearing. You'll get your blood next year.

Clear message

You say I am mistaken. You say I want to see blood. You are dead wrong.

All I want is to hear and see a clear message come from our council.

In 2008, this council asked the voters for $3,000,000 in additional revenues. They gave very vague reasons why the city needed that money and it failed with the voters by 65%.

I understand that they proposed cuts for the 2009 budget. Apparently that has corrected the budget short falls (according to you) for the city and they didn?’t need the $3,000,000 in the first place. They cut the fireworks then reinstated the fireworks.

I think most of the voters in this city are very concerned about their future and how they are going to feed and house their families. Clearly we all must be frugal with our personal budgets. We are not going to vote for a tax increase based on some vague requests by the city.

Look what Columbus is doing. They ask their firefighters to not take pay raises. They threatened to lay off the police training class. They are clearly laying out what will happen if they don?’t get more revenues. Oh did I mention they are asking to increase the income tax to 2.5%. The point here is that I understand Columbus budget problems better than I understand Pickerington?’s. What angers me is they will raise my taxes and I won?’t get to vote on it.

At this point the only collective message I have heard from the Pickerington City Council is we got the money for fireworks. The questions is do they have money for the police department? When will they tell us? Will it be too late to save half the police force?

If the four up for re-election this year don?’t have the guts to be truthful then they shouldn?’t run this fall. They are kicking the can down the road so they don?’t have to deal with it until after the election.

As for the staff and the police department I think this council is responsible for the anxiety that exists within the PPD and the City Staff. It isn?’t the voters that are not being told the