Comments on Advance Indiana™: Ballard Proposes Tax Increases For Preschool Education Spending And Calls It Public Safety Spending

Once again our alleged newspaper is touting anothe...

2014-07-31T17:32:24.751-05:00

Once again our alleged newspaper is touting another increase, there are at least three articles in today's paper singing the praises of duh Mayor's new proposal. We hear from the editorial board, Matt Tully and a CEO of a local nursery about what a grand plan this is and then there is the front page headline Mayor Tragets Crime.
As others have stated this is just more of the soso bait and switch tactics of this administration. Everytime a new tax or fee is proposed to "hire officers" or "increase public safety" the money is spent elsewhere. So we eliminate the homestead property tax credit and some of the money goes to pre-school and some will go to poublic safety. And the city-county isn't responsible for public education so what authority does the mayor have to divert those funds to schools? As to "some of the money" going to public safety we all know that when the mayor says some he really means none.

I agree funding Pre-School is not the responsibili...

2014-07-31T15:09:00.468-05:00

I agree funding Pre-School is not the responsibility of City Government. I suspect there will be Charter Schools and Churches waiting to dip their hands into the Pork Barrel.

This is a "Free-Day Care Program" that Mayor Blowhole can use if he decides to run for Mayor. He can sell himself as Friend of the Poor. Even if a Democrat is elected Mayor, the scam will still work for the financial benefit of the connected.

This tax increase has nothing to do with hiring ad...

2014-07-31T11:26:31.043-05:00

This tax increase has nothing to do with hiring additional police officers. That's the classic bait-and-switch these corrupt pols pull to convince taxpayers they should live with higher taxes. I can go down a laundry list of things that will consume these additional revenues before that first new cop is hired because the priorities of the mayor and council are not what they tell the public. He's already telling you upfront that part of the tax increase that was supposed to be used to hire more cops according to the IMPD staffing proposal is going to instead be spent on an early childhood education welfare entitlement for low-income, single parent mothers. Assuming that would actually help reduce crime, which it won't, it would take more than a decade to see the results.

There are a couple things that need to change in t...

2014-07-31T11:15:47.115-05:00

There are a couple things that need to change in the way IMPD is funded. 1) when an officer retires, their salary is not left in the budget and then passed onto the officer hired to replace him/her. That money goes back into the general fund, then IMPD must beg for the money to be returned to hire the new officers. At the rate he is saying he wants to hire by 2018, those new hires will just barely get the numbers above where we are now due to attrition.

2) when an officer is involved in a crash that was not the officers fault, the insurance money received for the damage does not go to replace the car or repair it's damage. It too goes to the general fund and the replacement or fixing of the car comes from IMPD'd budget.

Both fixes would go a long way in helping ease the pinch in both areas.

"I had to say 'I told you so,' but I ...

2014-07-30T20:57:36.264-05:00

"I had to say 'I told you so,' but I told you so."
-Bart Peterson

“This is the only place you will get straight talk...

2014-07-30T14:13:04.088-05:00

“This is the only place you will get straight talk on what's really going on with your public finances.”

You aint whistlin’ Dixie on that statement, Gary!

I thought voting for members of the Democrat Party would be a way to block the cronyism rampant in the local GOP when it comes to City affairs. I learned real quick this was faulty reasoning; elected “officials” sure don’t take long to show themselves for what they really are made of and that brings me back to Mr. Ballard.

I heard the teasers about the mayor's purported big "public safety" announcement and that right there was a tip off some type of tax money scheme was in the works. Just how stupid do Mr. Ballard and the MCRCC and all its connected politicos (save Counselor Christine Scales) think we taxpayers are? Mr. Ballard should be ashamed to come before the people with the scheme he presented.

In fact, just about all Marion County Republicans should be ashamed of how their party often works against the best interests of the taxpayers as is being done in this case. And the MCRCC wonders why many walked away from their organization and washed their hands of them.

All the current signs point to the probability that the next Mayor of Indianapolis is going to be a Democrat. While I am sure Indianapolis will be better off without this "incompetent, self-absorbed" mayor, I am not sure that the City will be any better off with a Democrat mayor.