Mayor Matt Tuerk kicked off his 2025 mayoral campaign with an announcement that there would be no tax increase for 2025. Considering his administration's plumpness and agenda, the reason can only be pure politics. It is intended to take the wind out of any potential adversary's campaign.
Tuerk is providing no details on how his fat ship runs with no increase. Will he be leaving vacant slots open? Some of the positions in Tuerk's administration I have no use for. It's no reflection on the person, just the position. As I have written before, if mayor for life Daddona didn't have the position in his administration, you don't need it. The news about declining crime rates is also nonsense. By my scorebook we need more policemen, but with no tax increase apparently that isn't in the cards.
Could Tuerk be planning on diverting Community Block Grant funds to the city's infrastructure, freeing up more for public safety? I jest, Tuerk counts on those non-profits to hustle votes for him. I don't know what else Tuerk will be promising, but I do know that much of it will be in Spanish.
Whole the no tax hike budget might be intended to take the wind out of any potential adversary's campaign, those sails were quickly refilled when council approved the Mayor's new trash contract with a 78% tax hike built into it (including 46% in Year 1).
ReplyDeleteSpecial thanks to the usual flip-floppers on Council (Affa, Mota), who just last meeting helped to vote the trash hike down. They joined the mayor's reliable rubber stamps/enablers (Napoli and Hendricks; who seldom have an original thought between them) in voting against the taxpayers.
Back to Tuerk:
While the trash fee is separately stated on the tax bill, few will make that distinction and will only remember that they paid more. They'll also be reminded that Tuerk once again failed to control costs or think of a creative way to re-bid the contract that would result in a lower cost to taxpayers.
There is also evidence that the Mayors Spanish schtick is wearing thin in the city, and not just on this blog. As quoted the WFMZ article on the trash hike, Karen Ocasio said "You can't just concern yourself with what happens to the Hispanic community during election, say three words in Spanish, and then be like, 'Hey, give me your vote.'"