Be Careful About Reading Too Much Into the State of the City Address
Posted by Jeff Pruitt - 2/19/10 @ 5:36 pm - Filed Under Featured, Local Politics
Yea, yea, I’m late to the party with this - what can I say? I’ve been busy.
I thought this was an excellent piece of speech writing. The delivery was off, but let’s face it, the mayor isn’t the best public speaker (he’s getting better). I thought last year’s speech was well written as well, but this year’s was by far the best of the three. Although to be fair, there was a little bit more to talk about this year than last which always makes the writer’s job easier.
In general, the speech did a great job touting his accomplishments but I think there’s one particular point that hasn’t been appropriately dealt with anywhere else in the media. There had been some talk about forcing non-profits to pay fees/taxes for their services as way to increase revenue for cities and towns. Henry backed off that position during his speech with this statement:
That does not mean I am not concerned about property tax caps and how they will affect our future budgets, but Fort Wayne is well positioned financially. Other Indiana cities are discussing new revenue streams, but this is not needed in Fort Wayne. Let me reassure you, I will not put any additional burdens on our nonprofit organizations, who are creating jobs and delivering important services.
I would be very cautious about reading too much into this statement. It seems to me that it was crafted explicitly to make it sound like he’s against tax increases without actually saying that. What Mayor Henry says is that new revenue streams are not needed but he didn’t quite go as far as saying that additional revenue won’t be needed. Until he says otherwise there is no reason to believe the mayor isn’t fully committed to raising the income tax if that’s what he has to do to balance the budget…
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3 Responses to “Be Careful About Reading Too Much Into the State of the City Address”
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I took this as a response to Paula Hughes. She wrote in an op-ed piece that Henry was going to tax non-profits.
There is a GROUP of which he leads (The Urban Mayor’s Caucus) that is looking to gain the ability to tax non-profits.
Hughes immediatly says that means it is Henry’s intention to do so. He has clearly spelled out that is not the case.
Henry has an obilgation as leader of the UMC to push the ideasa of that organization- it does not mean he has to subscribe to them.
Maybe Paula Hughes should have asked his intentions before making accusations.
Kevin,
All that is true and I appreciate you elaborating on my post. I’ve spoken to a couple of people that thought the mayor said he wasn’t going to look to raise taxes soI just wanted to make sure people know that’s not exactly what he said.
BTW, charging a fee to non-profits for services they receive from local government is not something I’m opposed to. Although clearly I think I’m in the minority on that one…
Jeff, I agree 100%.
The Mayor DID NOT SAY he wouldn’t raise taxes.
I agree with the rest of your post as well….