A Few Minutes with the Mayor – July 2018

One song I remember growing up was sung by a very sincere June Allyson in a movie called Good News. The song was The Best Things in Life Are Free. The words went…

 

Ah the moon belongs to everyone

The best things in life they’re free

Stars belong to everyone

They cling there for you and me

 

Flowers in spring

The robins that sing

The sunbeams that shine

They’re yours and they’re mine

 

Love can come to everyone

The best things in life they’re free.

 

These words were going through my mind recalling those days growing up in a time when most people we knew had little in wealth or property and less to spend on entertainment or material possessions. The movies were our source of entertainment and relaxation, or the radio with its free shows such as Jack Benny or Red Skelton. Our generation understood the value of free things to be had in life… a trip to the beach, a stroll along the avenues for window shopping, a picnic by the lakeshore, or perhaps just sleeping late in the morning when we didn’t have to go to work. Simple things that all can enjoy where people live in freedom. Alas! Freedom comes at a price.

Our entire way of life, the very fabric of our existence as a free people, able to live each day as we wish to, is conditional upon one thing… the presence of an armed police force that protects us from those who would do us harm. This was true yesterday and is still true today, and given human nature, it will always be true. However, this protection is not free. It comes at a cost. Most people will agree the cost is worth the benefit. The argument comes in how to pay for it. The moon, the stars and the sunbeams that shine may be there for all to enjoy, but not all are willing to pay for the security to enjoy them.

The idea of a meals tax proposed by a very, very small group of citizens who, unwilling to pay, would prefer to pass along the cost of our police services to people who don’t even live here! And how small is very small? Stay tuned here.

Your Budget Committee took up the subject of funding the police department. After exhaustive and comprehensive studies, it came to the conclusion that a meals tax was the worst choice for raising money. It is no coincidence that in the entire Rogue Valley only Ashland has a meals tax. Only Ashland…one city out of ten.

There are 36 counties and 357 cities in the state. Only two cities adopted a meals tax, Ashland and Yachats. 2 out of 357. Why so few? Most municipal governments view the idea as a bad choice. And your Budget Committee wisely voted 13 to 1 against such a tax! One dissident member in this decision, unwilling to abide by the decision of the Budget Committee, proceeded to promote a meals tax as an alternative to the surcharge recommended by the Budget Committee and ultimately approved by the City Council.

And there you have it. That is how we got here. The truly sad part about all this is that a lot of business people will be hurt if this tax is adopted. By the way, lower income residents living on $25,000 or less are exempt from the surcharge. With an income between $25,001 and $30,000 these folks pay only half. These people will NOT be helped by passage of a meals tax.

A meals tax will accomplish one thing. It will change Jacksonville forever. Gone will be that friendly love-thy-neighbor town where…

 

The moon belongs to everyone

The best things in life they’re free.