Sunday, May 10, 2009
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Full Investigation
This is a copy of an e-mail letter I sent Chairman Rick Metts and all councilors on 5/8/2009.
Rick,
I am asking that you immediately contact the Attorney Generals Office for them to look into this matter. I look forward to sworn testimony from many parties to put this issue in its proper place and to allieviate the many rumors that are being orchastrated by a political faction. I trust you will do this right away.
Rick,
I am asking that you immediately contact the Attorney Generals Office for them to look into this matter. I look forward to sworn testimony from many parties to put this issue in its proper place and to allieviate the many rumors that are being orchastrated by a political faction. I trust you will do this right away.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Had to pass this on.
What a great way to explain socialism…had to pass this on.
A simple analogy
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had
never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire
class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be
poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class
on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive
the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied
little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had
studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a
free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all
resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of
anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that
socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great,
the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the
reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
A simple analogy
An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had
never failed a single student before but had once failed an entire
class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be
poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class
on socialism. All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive
the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A.
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied
little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had
studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a
free ride too so they studied little.
The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all
resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of
anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that
socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great,
the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the
reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.
Could not be any simpler than that.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Taxpayer Rebate?
Councilors are winding down on this years 2010 budgets and at this point we await the publics input into the budget this Thursday at Municipal Center 3rd floor meeting room. We as a council as of this writing are .24 cents UNDER last years budget. The big question will be will that number be the final number or will some councilors go on a spending spree?
I am on record as stating that I would like to give that .24 cents/1000 of assessed value, BACK TO THE TAXPAYERS!
What will this mean for the average home owner in Derry. The home owner with an assessed value of $250,000 would pay $60 less property taxes this year vs. last year. ( yes virginia there is a santa clause! ).
$60 Sixty Dollars is a big savings! But hold on ! I need to get 3 more Councilors on board. Easy you may say? We shall see.
You need to pay close attention to the next few budget meetings to see if this can be accomplished and which councilors may agree with me.
Of course, my regular political opponets will not say one nice thing about my thoughts here because, well because they would have nothing to pick-on would they.
Most want to focus on the Negative and its pure politics and I understand that.
So, what are your thoughts?
I am on record as stating that I would like to give that .24 cents/1000 of assessed value, BACK TO THE TAXPAYERS!
What will this mean for the average home owner in Derry. The home owner with an assessed value of $250,000 would pay $60 less property taxes this year vs. last year. ( yes virginia there is a santa clause! ).
$60 Sixty Dollars is a big savings! But hold on ! I need to get 3 more Councilors on board. Easy you may say? We shall see.
You need to pay close attention to the next few budget meetings to see if this can be accomplished and which councilors may agree with me.
Of course, my regular political opponets will not say one nice thing about my thoughts here because, well because they would have nothing to pick-on would they.
Most want to focus on the Negative and its pure politics and I understand that.
So, what are your thoughts?
Monday, April 27, 2009
Solutions are needed
Solutions are needed in our Town and we need them right away. Economic Development has come to a grinding halt and we can't be happy with our results in the last two years. I feel that we did not get what we should of when we hired an in house director and it was a costly mistake. Also, we are looking at people who just don't want to give any money to the DEDC to help in this arena, and in the end, the people of Derry are "missing the boat".
Derry once had the medical field niche with Parkland Medical and the doctors who associated with them and that was something Derry could be proud of, however while the powers that be argue about $20,000 to bring business into this town ( a very small amount and one which we are way out spent) Londonderry is now attacking this very niche with Elliot moving in and making their business friendly environment pay-off. Derry will again, come out on the short end of the stick and if we don't turn it around soon, will NEVER recover from higher taxes.
The issue and the question is simple: What does Derry offer for businesses and how can we use our positive attributes to attract business and help lower taxes in our town.
Lets hear some thoughts.
Derry once had the medical field niche with Parkland Medical and the doctors who associated with them and that was something Derry could be proud of, however while the powers that be argue about $20,000 to bring business into this town ( a very small amount and one which we are way out spent) Londonderry is now attacking this very niche with Elliot moving in and making their business friendly environment pay-off. Derry will again, come out on the short end of the stick and if we don't turn it around soon, will NEVER recover from higher taxes.
The issue and the question is simple: What does Derry offer for businesses and how can we use our positive attributes to attract business and help lower taxes in our town.
Lets hear some thoughts.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Budget Time
Councilors just finished up their 2nd round of budgets with a whole Saturday marathon meeting. We started the budgets last Thursday on April 16th with both the Derry Library and the Taylor Library. Right out of the gate, councilors looked to trim back a budget that was presented with both increases in salaries and benefits in some cases and putting money aside for capital projects. Both were either trimmed way down and/or eliminated all together.
For instance, Library staff were looking for a 2.5% salary increase and those were trimmed to a 1% increase instead. To my surprise, Councilor Coyle did not Zero line those increase but instead compromised instead.. This was a fair way to handle it.
However, I tried to take out the legal line which had $200 in it. My questions was what kind of legal advise can one get for $200. Besides, The library if need be could use town's legal council if need be..I doubt that it would get used.. My motion failed though, so $200 stays in for legal. I then made a motion to cut $12,000 for a security camera. I thought it could wait until next year. That item was flagged for now meaning we will bring that back up a little bit later.
The Taylor Library also had their salary increases knock down to 1%. They wanted 3.5% over last year. We also took out $20,000 which was to be used in a capital fund for Taylor Library Expansion.. Looks like that will need to wait until better times.
Yesterday we had the Saturday Marathon day and we took out more that $4 million out of what was in the budget. A bond to build a rec facility was motioned out by me because in this economy, the town must keep its spending in line.
I'll post more about the budgets in upcoming posts. Lets hear some of your thoughts about the budget and what should be done for this year.
For instance, Library staff were looking for a 2.5% salary increase and those were trimmed to a 1% increase instead. To my surprise, Councilor Coyle did not Zero line those increase but instead compromised instead.. This was a fair way to handle it.
However, I tried to take out the legal line which had $200 in it. My questions was what kind of legal advise can one get for $200. Besides, The library if need be could use town's legal council if need be..I doubt that it would get used.. My motion failed though, so $200 stays in for legal. I then made a motion to cut $12,000 for a security camera. I thought it could wait until next year. That item was flagged for now meaning we will bring that back up a little bit later.
The Taylor Library also had their salary increases knock down to 1%. They wanted 3.5% over last year. We also took out $20,000 which was to be used in a capital fund for Taylor Library Expansion.. Looks like that will need to wait until better times.
Yesterday we had the Saturday Marathon day and we took out more that $4 million out of what was in the budget. A bond to build a rec facility was motioned out by me because in this economy, the town must keep its spending in line.
I'll post more about the budgets in upcoming posts. Lets hear some of your thoughts about the budget and what should be done for this year.
Friday, April 10, 2009
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