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On “To Tax or Not to Tax”
A final word from Commissioner Mike Stegall on the Conveyance Fee
Bob, good article! It brought back memories of when my mom would say
the same to me about jumping off a bridge. I learned the lessons
of not being a follower.
With that being said, I would like to take exception to a few of the
statements in the article. Bob, we are not following everybody
and “jumping off the bridge”. I don’t think you or other people
in your generation, and some in mine too, realize how the game has
changed.
We held the public hearings so we could get a feel of what people
thought. In the old days, yeah, they probably would have just
raised it as quietly as possible. That won’t happen as long as I
am here. WE ARE GOING TO BE OPEN AND HONEST AND LISTEN TO
PEOPLE! Nothing was decided until Monday morning. The
Commissioners were waiting to hear a good argument against the raise in
the fee.
I think even you would admit that most of the arguments were “Great
economic development guys, go get em, bring in jobs, make us all
better, Just do it on someone elses dime”! The only other real
argument I heard was “we should get jobs on our merit, we are Darke
County, people should want to come here for that reason.”
My gosh wouldn’t it be great if that were how the game was
played! But, you and I both know that is not true anymore.
It is fun to re-visit the way things used to be, but we have to deal
with what it is now. Now, companies want more. They want
money to help them expand, re-locate, train the workforce, buy
equipment and such. If we say “Come to Darke County, we have a
great workforce, land, water, and other resources, you need to be
here!” that is fine, until someone else says “Come to our county, we
have a great workforce, land water, and other resources, PLUS we will
give you $2 million to help out!”, where do you think they are going?
Well my friend, IT AIN’T HERE!
Those are the rules now, we don’t have to like them, but we have to
play by them. I also heard that by doing this we were “hurting
the businesses that have been here for a long time, and they will feel
cheated because we didn’t help them”. More news for you, my
friend. Right now, it is several companies that have been
here a while and are asking for our help, not just the new ones!
We are doing everything we can to keep our businesses here, and if that
means we play by the new rules with them, we will.
What do you want us to do? You talk about being between a
rock and a hard place! If we try to raise money to help retain
and attract business, some people like yourself scream “NO NEW
TAXES!” If we don’t keep the business we have and don’t attract
new ones people like yourself scream “THERE ARE NO JOBS! PEOPLE ARE
LEAVING! YOU’RE NOT DOING ENOUGH FOR US OR OUR CHILDREN!!”
I am willing to accept all criticism for our raising the conveyance
fee. That’s part of this job. The biggest part of this job
is not worrying what some people will say about you but doing what is
best for everybody. Right now, it is best we get in the jobs game
and do whatever it takes to win it!
I wish people would stop and observe what we have accomplished just in
the last year. We are progressing! But like in any battle,
we need more ammunition to win the war. The good old days are
past us my friend, and we need to look forward. Things change,
and if we don’t, we wither and die. I am not going to allow that
on my watch!
You mentioned that Greenville was laying people off while we were raising taxes.
Do you have any idea how long the commissioners have been laying off
people and cutting out unnecessary spending in the county? Talk
to Terry Haworth or Mike Rhoades, they will tell you that they saw this
coming right after 9/11!
We have already asked our people to give up too much now, and if you
check any other county, you will find that we are operating more
efficiently than most others. Mike Rhoades and I attended a County
Commissioners meeting in March, and I was amazed at all the
recommendations the experts made on how to be more efficient and get
the most for our dollars. What amazed me was we have been doing
those things for years!! We are at minimum staffing levels now,
and our people, God bless them, are putting in a lot of extra hours,
most without complaint or pay, to get it done.
Think I’m kidding? Go up to the courthouse any weekday at 6:30 to
7:00 a. m. and see how many department heads are already at work.
They aren’t getting paid for that dedication either! We have made
our cuts, and there may have to be more, I hope not. Thank the people
before me for doing the tough job of thinking ahead and saving taxpayer
dollars. They deserve it. My job is to continue down the
path they have started for the overall welfare of the County, and not
be distracted by each and every minority complaint.
“Go get us jobs, just don’t gore my ox” and “We should get jobs on who
we are”, and “you need to cut more people and services” are not viable
arguments. The argument “this gives us one more tool in the
toolbox to use”, is.
Which would you choose? Remember the good old days, stand pat, and do
nothing, or fight like hell, no matter how unpopular, to make things
better? I chose the latter, and I always will!
Mike
“It is not enough that we do our best, sometimes we must do what is required”- Sir Winston Churchill
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