Hours before Willoughby Hills City Council's vote on whether or not to increase pay roll taxes Mayor Wegar seems to have had an relvelation.
Mayor Weger explained to the News-Herald
Weger had explained this meant people who work in other communities with a 2 percent tax or greater will actually be paying less, while those who work in Willoughby Hills but live elsewhere will be paying more to the city, increasing revenues.Hmmmmmmm. Sounds like a bait and switch, or a cleverly crafted plan to raise taxes. What do we mean? Well from the looks of the Mayor's words the legislation would lower income taxes on some residents and raise taxes on some people who work in the City; what resident would not vote YES on the proposed legislation? Essentially Willoughby Hills City Council would bribe voters for their YES vote by giving them a lower tax rate (via a credit) and raising taxes on workers.
Slick.
All of sudden we have Mayor Weger doubling back hours before the City Council meeting. Mayor Wegar said to the News-Herald, and reported this afternoon
However, upon mulling the legislation over a bit more, he decided it wasn’t the right time for it.Mulling over? What? Is this an election year?
Mayor Weger went onto say
“The whole economic situation of the city, the county the state, everybody’s in the same situation and we’ve just gotta try to be smarter and come up with different ways to save money ... like self conservation,” he said. “The storm’s not over yet, but everybody’s going to weather it together. It’s just hard for everyone.”
Let's make a bet: Willoughby Hills City Council stalls this proposal. Why?
Councilman-at-Large Dave Fiebig is running against the more conservative Mike Zuren for the republican party primary. would have a lot of explaining to do this fall when he faces Rep. Loraine Fende. Now Councilman Fiebig can say he is against tax hikes...Rep Fende is a tax hiking democrat...I will lower taxes, etc. (We are hypothesizing here, none of this has been said yet).
WE ARE WATCHING CLOSELY!
your commentary is full of false assumptions, as usual.
ReplyDelete1) nothing just happened "hours before" the vote. there have been ongoing meetings and dicussions nearly daily for several weeks on this issue int he city.
2) "bait and switch" ? "bribe" ? "slick" ? people elect their officials to serve their residents and their city. since when would lowering taxes for over 70% of the city taxpayers not be a good thing to do? do you undertand that the current city tax rate is lower than most adjoining cities where most residents work now, which means WH residents are paying a significant portion of their taxes to fund cities in Willoughby, Mentor, etc.? Isn't it wise that the residents would pay this money to their own city to fund the safety and other services that they receive in their own city???
3) you also overlooked a key component of the legislation which would permanently give the residents control of the tax credit in the future, a right that most cities do not give to their people but keep for elected officials to determine.
4) it is not an election year for the mayor or council members in WH. by the way, in the last election, the mayor received well over 80% of the votes.
5) this legislative decision had nothing to do with Fiebig's run for state office. why do you assume that elected officials are all dirty and out for themselves? Fiebig is his own person and would have voted the way he felt was right, which is what honest elected officials are supposed to do.
whoever the coward is who is writing this blog should come out from under your cloak of anonymity and investigate the facts before you write your misguided assumptions and/or lies. the WH council and administration is very willing to discuss this like honest and ethical people do, not in pathetic and cowardly blogs.
- Ray Somich, WH councilman
do you have the guts to post my comments?
ReplyDeleteCouncilman Somich, Sorry for the delay in posting your comments. It was a long day at work.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, the comment moderation committee decided to assume that this is, in fact, you. If someone chimes in otherwise claiming it wasn't you, we will have to deal with it then.
First off, WE are not ONE person. That has been explained in the past.
Please note at least three monikers have been used on here. That's a fact.
We have posted your legislation AND quoted your legislation directly. On top of that WE have specuated and offered OUR opinion.
As our subtitle states, "News, Views..."
WE have offered OUR views.
As for the coak of annomity, well, read the sub, subtitle"Publius,... Friend of the People."
Do you know whom Publius was and how it relates to our history and politics?
Let me help you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publius_Valerius_Publicola
I am sure you understand why it is necessary to protect our anonymity, and politics is not a tidy business. Furthermore, the truth makes enemies.
You can characterize OUR assumptions as false, that's your "VIEW."
WE respect that.
Last but not least, it just does not make sense: propose legislation after projecting a $500, 000 shortfall, read it three times, and then unanimously kill it?
Fishy.
WE believe our work here and sharing OUR "VIEWS" saved the workers in Wiloughby Hills, that do not have a vote, A LOT OF $.
Mr. Publius (and "Comment Moderation Committee"): First you didn't like putting the proposed tax hike on the ballot. Then, when Council was sympathetic to the taxpayers and decided to go back to the drawing board to find another solution, you didn't like that either. Me thinks if we delivered a truckload of Gold to your house, you'd complain about the ruts it left in your driveway. Why don't you actaully do some homework before you render your "views" so as not to embarass yourself further. Oops, guess that would mean you'd need to come out from under your rock.
ReplyDeleteI hope indeed this was another council member of Willoughby Hills!
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, the home work has been done. You may feel free to insinuate that we don't have the facts if that makes you feel better.
The fact of the matter is we posted the proposed legislation, and quoted directly from AND explained the relevant part. In fact, one may argue we explained more than you did to your residents.
Don't try and direct all your (Councilman Somich and "Another Council Mmeber) anger at this blog!
The blame over how this was handled in the media should start with Mayor Weger and the lack of facts in the original article discussing the income tax increase. Willoughby Hills City Council can thank Mayor Weger for this debacle; the back lash over the tax hike.
Back lash you ask? What else caused the 180 degree on this issue.
Two things probablly: 1) backlash from residents and negative press (this blog), and 2)Councilman Fiebig's campaign. Deny that all you want; anyone knows Councilman Fiebig needed this to go away.
Now, back to your mishandling of this situation. City Council members keep saying we don't present the facts and offer false assumptions. Facts? City Council has presented hardly a fact to the public; facts presented at City Council meetings? Yeah right. That's laughable, who goes to those. Just telling like it is!
How about a few town hall meetings and asking the News Herald to do a story or two on your cuts and strategies to deal with the projected shortfall??? Is that too much to ask?
This way the facts are known and the mean, evil blogs can present the facts.