Last night Allentown finally got a budget for 2024. The saga between the mayor and council involved a veto, and threats of no Christmas in 2024, if there was no tax increase. Although the new budget has no increase, a holiday sustainability position was created to insure that holidays continue.
If this report seems a little flippant, it's because Allentown once again failed the Molovinsky Civility Test. Once a month I drive Tilghman Street, from Cedar Crest Blvd. to Front Street...That drive tells me everything I need to know about the state of the city. When you have drivers still double parking on Tilghman Street at 5:00pm, the Administration continues to fail the test. A few $500 tickets would cure that condition. It's appropriate that there is no tax increase... City Hall is preoccupied with making everyone feel welcome, except for the taxpaying homeowners.
The cover shown above was created by Osorio Canas, a senior at William Allen.
One thing seems clear in the budget debate, there was a lot of showboating on the part of council. In my opinion, Matt, a true believer in big Government, sincerely wanted it to be expanded to fund all the programs and employees we little people need to get our lives in order and succeed. I am sure almost everyone on council shares that belief. So why did they not join Matt in his mission to provide benefit to the city and its residents? Because before they are liberals, they are crass self serving politicians.
ReplyDeleteWell done by a majority of Council on the budget vote.
ReplyDeleteFirst, kudos to Ed Zucal for leading the effort and forming some unlikely alliances to do right by the taxpayers.
While I’m not usually a fan of Gerlach, Mota or Santos, they were right on this issue and should similarly be commended.
Last of all, a big lump of *@+*, I mean coal, for Hendricks, Affa and Napoli. They managed to prove how out of touch they are with Allentown homeowners and were willing to approve an unnecessary tax hike on the people they supposedly represent.
You would think that after three different budget proposals (first a 7% hike, then a 5% hike, then a 2% hike) that they would have been smart enough to realize that the tax hike wasn’t needed, but they still voted for raising taxes.
Finally, the biggest lump of… coal goes to Tuerk, who first threatened cuts to popular events if his budget wasn’t approved with a 7% tax hike, then somehow managed to cut his own budget two more times. That’s the work that should have been done in October before he ever proposed the budget the first time. By failing to do so, he proved himself to be the weak, ineffective leader that he is.
One wonders how long this writer has been paying attention to Allentown politics? It doesn't take long to realize it's safe to assume the least of their concerns is for what's best for us. You can take that to the bank.
DeleteMr. Armstrong... you said the key word... BANK... whether it's the city's account or a personal account... just follow the money in this horrendously corrupt courrptocracy administrated by a bunch of whinny crybabies that generally get their way in spite of we the people that bankroll this mess!!!
DeleteScott @ 12:46: Been in Allentown long enough not to care about the “why” as much as the “what”.
DeleteYou can speculate all day as to why they stood up for a no-tax-hike budget, and find fault with them no matter what they did. I do hope you’re not among those who wanted their property taxes raised.
I will celebrate the fact that they came to the right decision (however they got there) and will enjoy not having MY property taxes go up.
While I’m not truly sure about any of their motives, having a democrat council vote against a democrat mayor’s tax hike proposal doesn’t happen that often. If this is also a small acknowledgment that Allentown residents are overtaxed, it take it as a win.
Did you know Matt has held numerous discussions of public policy on his private page so as to exclude taxpayers asking inconvenient questions? Something called the First Amendment says scofflaw Tuerk can't do that, but Comrade Matt "L'il Che" Tuerk is doing it anyway.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't Allentown deserve an *American* Mayor?
Jeffrey, my comment policy "gives signed more leeway", thus your comment. However, I have seen your comments on the city page, and they're pretty aggressive and repetitious. I'm not surprised that he declines to host you on his personal page. The legality of his decision is beyond my legal background.
DeleteBy the way, to those who are saying that they would accept a “reasonable” tax increase now and that a small tax increase now would head off a larger tax increase later, I just heard that Easton passed their budget last night with no tax hike FOR THE 16TH YEAR IN A ROW.
ReplyDeleteTo me that means one of two things. Either:
1). Easton taxpayers are one day going to get clobbered with a 5 million percent tax hike, or
2). Those saying we need a small tax hike now to stave off a larger one are lying to us.
Take a guess which one is true.
Yes... the "MORE" rule will ALWAYS apply when it comes to revenue. The same reason our politicians feel they are entitled to an additional 35K for expenses while the SS folks get 3.2%... should be the other way around, except they use very creative math to make their determinations!!! What's wrong with these pictures???
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