Ward 5 Councilman Donnie Peters is now championing a .3% Massillon City income tax increase, coupled with elimination of the 100% tax credit on the proposed .3% increase.
A tax increase without the 100% tax credit on the increase.
Even though, according to Peters, by eliminating the 100% tax credit, you "ruin your chances of ever passing an income tax increase,” (Donnie Peters, The Independent, September 5, 2012).
Why is he pushing this?
Doesn't he realize, using his own logic, his tax increase plan won't pass?
Doesn't he realize that his plan, when it fails at the ballot box, won't actually generate any money for our cash strapped city, trying to recover from the fiscal wizardry of our former Mayor for Life?
Yes.
And Yes.
And that's the plan.
It is believed that certain members of City Council, like the Japanese soldiers of yore, who hid out in caves on remote Pacific islands, refusing to believe that their Emperor indeed surrendered, waiting to be called into the next battle, actually don't want the financial problems resolved.
Because to them, worse than actually fixing the problem, would be that our current mayor could take credit for turning things around.
And that would be bad.
Especially for the Once and Future King and his faithful supporters.
The problem City Council started to face was the perception that they were unwilling, or perhaps incapable, of helping to fix the budget mess.
That they had no solutions for the problems plaguing our Fair City.
Or worse, that they were starting to be recognized for what they were.
Do nothings.
This was borne out in a September Editorial in The Independent;
"It is clear new revenue must be generated and city council — for all of its pontificating about fairness on the tax issue — hasn’t come close to proposing a workable alternative to solve the city’s revenue shortfall..."
"If council doesn’t come up with anything and continues to reject the mayor’s proposals, they are going to have to answer to voters who are wondering why safety and services have been decimated and the city is facing fiscal warnings from the state." (The Independent, September 5, 2012).
"pontificating"
Ouch.
Harsh words from the local paper.
Council's solution to dealing with the "vat of red ink," and the extraordinary debt left by our extraordinary former mayor was to shoot down any revenue generating proposal the new mayor had, without offering any proposals of their own.
Council members Manson and Peters, for their part, would always put out the hope that Council would put an income tax on the ballot, some time in the future, and that the people would pass it, and the City's budget problems would be fixed, and that would be their plan.
Some day.
Except they never did it.
When Donnie Peters, a generous contributor to our former mayor, and Auditor Jayne Ferrero, the past mayor's 'Loyal Defender,' hatched a plan to raise the City's income tax at a special election in February, they forgot something.
The deadline for placing the issue on the ballot.
They missed it.
So now they are shooting for May.
With a proposal that Donnie Peters states "won't pass."
And he, and others, know "won't pass."
Because it is questionable that they actually want it to pass.
But they have to look like they are trying.
They have to look like they are doing more than just "pontificating."
