Leadership From Mayor Henry
Sometimes leadership is taking a stand and mayor Henry has done just that in regards to bridge financing. According to a local paper he refused to take part in the recent bridge summit:
What was most notable during Thursday’s meeting of the Bridge Task Force wasn’t the discussions over raising taxes or changing state law. Instead, it was the absence of Mayor Tom Henry or anyone else from his administration.
Commissioner Nelson Peters said it was disappointing the city would snub the discussions and draw such a hard line on the issue, sarcastically saying, “Well, that’s true collaboration.” Peters added he hoped this wouldn’t be an omen for future collaborative efforts.
A comical response from Peters considering the county commissioners wouldn’t even sign a memorandum of Understanding about consolidating city and county 911 services.
Readers will no doubt remember that for the first time since the state of Indiana was founded, a county government body has decided they are not going to fund bridge maintenance. The county’s decision was to completely abdicate their historical responsibility and place the citizens of this county in danger. Their only proposed solution was to double the wheel surtax but they wouldn’t even do that unless the city council asked them to - a cowardly proposition.
Readers should also remember that the county is in the position they are in because they, and they alone, decided to eliminate the cumulative bridge fund despite numerous warnings about the consequences. The county needs to step up and atone for their poor financial decisions of the past and stop trying to pawn the responsibility off onto the city.
Mayor Henry is 100% right when he says this is a county problem and there’s absolutely no reason for him to get involved…
Hell Freezes Over
Remember the people suggesting that voters would never approve any school building projects via referendum?
Well they were wrong. Voters in Indianapolis just approved a $278 Million project for IPS with 78% of the vote. A reasonable project for FWCS could pass here as well…
Editorial Staff Refuses To Print Candidate Letter
An editorial board is supposed to be in the business of opining. However, there should be some basic level of fairness. For example, one local newspaper editorial staff came out against Jon Olinger as a school board candidate but then refused to print his rebuttal letter. (You can read the rebuttal letter here)
This really gets to the heart of what makes the blogosphere so much more interesting than traditional print media. Here at FWP we take on all comers. If you have a dissenting opinion then you are always welcome to post it. If you want to challenge something we write then we would encourage you to do so. We never refuse to post other comments simply because we disagree with them.
In the blogosphere, ideas win out. In print journalism some editor with an ax to grind decides whose thoughts get put into the public domain. They don’t understand free market journalism and frankly they aren’t very good at it - all of the local media blogs are essentially worthless.
The reason is that they want to control the information and moderate the public debate. That’s why they won’t print certain letters or even acknowledge the existence of the blogosphere (and I’m not talking about reporters here - there’s a distinction between them and the editorial staff).
The amount of information available can no longer be easily contained or manipulated. Now even newspapers have to compete just like everyone else. And if you ask me they are woefully behind the curve and losing ground every day…
Fort Wayne pension costs
Due to some discussion on this blog with a commentor I talked to Fort Wayne City Controller Pat Roller about the outstanding liability for the old police and fire pension plans.
Last year the city had an outstanding liability on these pensions of almost one quarter of a billion dollars. The Indiana Legislature changed the rules and took over this outstanding liability this year. This was one of the many changes that occurred with the changes in property taxes.
Per Pat Roller this is not going to benefit the City financially because at the same time the State lowered the amount that could be appropriated by the City to make pension payments by about 8 million dollars per year. The State basically lowered the amount that the City could pay via property taxes by this 8 million dollar figure.
Per Pat Roller this has a net effect of close to zero. She feels that the City most likely will have a small pension liability for these older pension plans (Maybe one million dollars) due to the death benefit and the administration costs.
So while the State of Indiana did take esponsibility for paying the bulk of these old pension plans; at the same time they lowered the amount the City could levy via property taxes by eight million per year.
The net result is close to zero.
Mike Sylvester
YLNI Candidates Night Tonight
From YLNI newsletter:
Be informed about local candidates before heading to the polls Nov. 4 (or before for early voting happening now at the City-County Building).
When: Monday, October 27th (TODAY) starting at 6 p.m.
Where: Meeting rooms in the downtown branch of the Allen County Public Library. Parking is free with a library card.Open to the publicMeet candidates appearing on Allen County ballots that evening, and listen to their ideas on how they want to make northeast Indiana a better place to live, work and play as your elected official. National races get plenty of attention, but often local and statewide races can come down to just a few votes, so get yourself informed about the candidates’ positions at this important event. It’s designed for the political junkies and political novices alike. Your vote is your voice so come out tonight to find out more.
My 10 minute talk with Mayor Tom Henry
In my opinion the best item that Mayor Henry has implemented is “Mayor’s night in.” Basically the Mayor meets with citizens for ten minutes each and discusses their concerns and opinions.
Earlier today I met with Mayor Henry and we discussed my concerns with the Fort Wayne Budget. Here is what I took from this meeting:
1. Several enterprising readers of this blog had already sent my proposed budget to the Mayor so he had already seen it.
2. The Mayor feels that our City Council is the fiscal body of Fort Wayne and that if they want to cut the budget; they will have to cut the budget themselves.
3. The deadline for an approved budget is December 1st, so the City Council needs tomove quickly.
I enjoyed talking to the Mayor. I re-iterated to him that I would be happy to volunteer my time to helping with budget cuts.
We briefly discussed the shortfall in the fire and police pensions from the old pension plans. He stated that it was still “pay as you go” and that no provision has been made for the current liability.
We also briefly discussed the recent property tax cuts. We both agreed that all the recent property tax decrease did was shift taxes from one group of taxpayers to another group. Mayor Henry said that he thought the Indiana Legislature would address this in the next session.
I enjoyed talking to Mayor Henry
Mike Sylvester
GOP Chairman On Kelty Plea
After the Kelty plea agreement was finalized I asked Allen County Republican Chairman Steve Shine for a comment:
I’m am thankful that an unfortunate page in Fort Wayne’s political history has come to a conclusion.
Aren’t we all…
What is Mr. Montagano thinking?
As anyone reading this blog knows I will not be voting for Mark Souder in the upcoming 3rd Congressional race. I will be voting for Libertarian BIll Larsen.
That being said, the Democratic candidate, Mike Montagano, does not seem to have a strong grasp of politics. Please read this piece in a local newspaper.
Please realize that this bill as passed will increase the National Debt; possibly by as much as 850 billion dollars. It likely will increase the debt by at least a couple of hundred billion dollars. The bill also gives the Secretary of the Treasury unprecendented powers and authority to spend 700 billion dollars of tax payer money. This is a very big deal.
Mark Souder voted the wrong way on this bill. He voted in favor of socialism.
Mr. Montagano has backed away from the bill and does not want to second guess Mark Souder.
Why not?
Mark Souder voted wrong on this bill and should lose his seat in Congress.
Mike Sylvester
Kelty = Liar = Guilty
I have said for quite some time that Matt Kelty was in violation of campaign finance laws and had a basic aversion to telling the truth. I can’t even believe this was debatable but the large number of pseudo-hate mail I received would suggest otherwise.
Here’s the thing, I never thought Matt Kelty should go to jail. There are plenty of scumbags that deserve to be behind bars but Kelty is not one of them. However, he was absolutely wrong to do what he did in regards to his campaign finance report but even worse he consistently lied throughout the entire ordeal.
Kelty has a problem with the truth and let’s explore the details as they are related to this guilty plea. From the grand jury testimony:
New Evidence Delays Kelty Trial 24 Hours
Jury selection, which was supposed to start today, was delayed 24 hours because of new information received from the Kelty campaign that his attorney, Robert Gevers, needs to review.
“It’s evidence that goes to the foundation of proof in the case,” Special Prosecuting Attorney Daniel J. Sigler said this morning. “It will speak for itself in the case.”
Can anyone decipher this next statement from Sigler? I’m trying to read between the lines here but I just don’t get it:
So why wasn’t a deal cut?
“I know exactly why it’s gone on this far, and I’m not going to tell you and not out of disrespect, but because it’s irrelevant,” Sigler said. “I know why, and unfortunately I know why has to do with why the case started in the first place.”
Uh? Ok…
