We hear shrill claims from wounded local government budget facilitators and sponsors, that if you and I do not keep feeding it as we have for so many years, terrible things will happen. They will have to cut police and fire services first and crime will escalate making us all, less safe and less protected. Well that is not the only course to chart and in fact, it is time to break the learned behavior of City Staffers to always demand more, as the only way forward. Critical needs must be defined and strategic priorities set, over free spending and thoughtless actions.
The tyranny imposed by taxes taken from the citizenry is both real and does harm the individual, but such harm can be offset if it is done to meet the common good. The real question is: What is that common good? If I cannot afford to live in the community is that equation in balance? No…
It is time to see if a critical juncture in time has come for our leadership to set priorities and take strong action to reduce government. Accept nothing less than the protection of your fellow citizens that look to you for leadership and deliver. It is your time to come forward and resist the easy methods, because not all can afford it any longer…
Roger A. Leonard
24 comments:
Mr. Leonard, Very to the point and true. I only wish you were more involved as you were in the past. Are you planning another run against Mr. Milteer? I do hope so and we all must support you this time. We do need new leaders that understand and will act!
I agree. I cant afford this much more. My budget it shot. How is it we get these people to vote for? We need a change.
Leaders in city management have no problem suggesting a property tax hike, since many of them STILL do not live in the City. City Council members swallow every "fact" and figure they're given without questioning much of anything. Duman, I thought you were going to bring some business sense to this City? How long until the next elections? We need some serious change, pronto!
I was at the meeting downtown and I could not believe the comments of the Vice Mayor Brown. He was either asleep or is stupid.
We can not live with a increase in taxes. My wife lost her job about a year ago and has not found anything since and we just don't have more to give to Suffolk for taxes. We can't move because no one will buy our house for what we owe. So Vice Mayor you are wrong. I clearly heard ideas for not raising taxes and for making cuts. If you can't do that then quit so someone smarter can. Maybe Mr. Lenard who wrote this article can replace you, he is definetly smarter than you.
I have lived in Suffolk for many years in fact all my life and I predict that the Coucil would like to raise taxes to support more spending, but they will not. They will bend to the cry of the people and not take a chance that they will be sent packing at the next election, as they are creatures of power and influence.
They tried and want too raise taxes we will find, but they know that if they step over the line and take more the people will not tolerate it and they will be on the out. They may be stupid, but the are not foolish.
Does anyone recall how many times the city's debt was refinanced with the help of Davenport? Is it the price of having to service the debt what is causing the problem or is it the price of gas?
Now the city is following ther old game plan of former City Manager Herbert's 15% cut list Police, Fire, Social Services, etc.. Okay go ahead cut them and let's see what happens. We can live very nicely with the reduced services. In less than two years we will have four new city council members that understand how to manage a city run amok.
Mainstream Americans tend to trust the wisdom of the crowd more than their political leaders, and are skeptical of both big government and big business. In Suffolk it is no different. Only 6 percent support the Political Class—voters who “tend to trust political leaders more than the public at large.” Does this sound like our Council?
“The American people don’t want to be governed from the left, the right or the center. The American people want to govern themselves,” according to Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports. The American attachment to self-governance runs deep. It is one of our nation’s core values…”
Suffolk is a conservative community with liberal attitudes towards the Christian values of charity. The problem is that our local leaders have used this virtue for their own agenda, against the people to grow government and the taxes that feed it without end.
I do agree with the statements that this must be corrected and maybe, just maybe the impetus will be the carnal call by some on council to raise taxes, again, and so may they perish at the polls. We need new leaders with new ideas, because this constant attack on the home owners of Suffolk for ever more dollars from them has gone on for to long and is too costly.
I have disagreed with Roger in the past, but he has this one right to a TEE. Next time I see him I will provide my regrets for not supporting him in the past. HE had the road-map for where this all was going down pat, unfortunatly I did not see it that way, but do so now. Is it too late to admit my wrong?
With a recomendation to borrow over $300,000,000 in the next six years for Suffolk, does anyone know how much Davenport (Mr. Rose)will make on bond fees when they manage this borrowing for us? Remember they don't work for nuthin! I bet it is a lot and that is an incentive to create the means to pay that bill (taxes)and service that debt (from taxes)and sell us down the river (by higher taxes)at great cost to us all (where they take our homes)! Who would have someone advise on taxes, that support huge borrowing, when they make huge fees for their own pocket on that borrowing, but a bunch on nin-com-poops. This is really more stupid than it seems when you "follow the money" and who gets that money!
how about the City of Suffolk respond to the simple question of... how much has David Rose and or his firm been paid for all consultant work and commissions over the past 5 years. That will tell the story.
My guess is the City will NEVER provide this information.
please remember that Roger Leonard got less than 4% of the vote when he last ran for office. No doubt that fact peaks volumes of how 96% of the voting population thinks or votes about Mr. Leoard.
how can 96% of the voters be wrong??
Ignorance at its peak. Mr.Leonard ran against only candidates from his borough, not the entire city. And those who had a chance to elect him for their Borough instead kept the incumbent. That was progress? Tells you a lot about the brain power in that part of town.
Anon 6;41 in case you weren't aware Leonard ran in the last mayoral election. He was the most qualified and knowledgable of the issues. However as exemplified by those warming seats in DC the best do not always get elected. Johnson had deep pockets padded by developer money and the assistance of a democrat party fundraiser. The cash funded mailings, television commercials signs and a political machine. Parr's sign crews did a great job as did politicos looking for a table scrap from Johnson's table. The commonwealth officers were in lock step for Johnson and most importantly there were too many candidates watering down the issues. Powell, Nixon, Debranski, Damiani and Leonard competeing for votes easily handed the election to the imcumbent Johnson.
Hey 98% of blacks voted for Obama. Does that make them racists?
The real issue is what would have happended if there had been fewer running for mayor that the cast of six? I know in my neighborhood many would have voted for someone else if there had been only two running and it would not have ben Mrs. Johnson. I also agree that the smartest was Lenard, but he was not out there enough or advertise enough and that hurt him. I do believe in the next run he could take his council seat in Whaleyville were he is popular against Milteer, especially if Mr. Faulk runs too. A tree way race would work in his favor. That would be a good race!
With Virginia Beach asking for 2 to 5 cent rise in the real eastate tax and now P-Town asking for 6+ cents and maintaining the highest rate in the area, our little Council will bend, whine and put at least 2 to 4 cent rise on us if they can. The question is will we all let them? Unlike years past, this year the poor families of Suffolk realy are tapped out and need some protection from the big bad blowhard budget officer that would drain us all dry and drive home to live outside Suffolk as she does every night. What a mess we have.
What a surprise, after leveling a penalty on homeowners with burglar alarms, during the past two months there have been over 50 mid-day burglaries in Suffolk. Johnson licked her revenue chops when VA-Beach instituted the fee-penalty. Budget Officer Seward acting as her surrogate proposed the penalty-fee and was immediately accepted by council. So after three years exactly how much money has the city milked from homeowners and what are the savings by the reduced number of police calls responding to burglar alarms? Suffolkians go to work and hope for the best, you got the city you deserve.
It seems to be the going conclusion that raising taxes is going to happen and why not? Who on council even speaks for the regular guy? Not parr, gardy or the rest of the gang and most especially our wise mathmatical Vice Mayor charlie brown. He is as successful at playing politics as charlie brown is at kicking the football with the mayor pulling it out when he tries to kick it. What a mess we have and deserve.
Naturally if someone robs me I want to be able to call the police and get help and if my house catches on fire I want to call the fire department to put it out. Having said that I still think the police and fire departments should not be exempt from cuts. If the front line fireman or the patrol policeman were asked how their departments could reduce cost and still maintain service I think you would get some very good ideas.
I agree that this all is shades of good, not necessarily all bad. I want to return to affordable services, not the BEST at huge cost and higher taxes.
Suffolk like most cities seems to always be stuck at gold-plating services, because the staff needs duties to support the big salaries they collect. Just look at what we pay for the manager, the pw director, the foia director and so on. We do not need the best of everything, rather just like an average family we need what we can afford. That is something that our leaders have somehow missed or just convienently fogotten. The question is, can we afford their ideas any longer if they raise taxes, which seems like what they are planning.
Just look a the Virginian Pilot today and you will see all the shopper, oops I mean Burglers, shopping at Suffolk homes and robbing us all almost a blind as our local government types. One take outside the law and the other uses the law to take even more from us all.
I have not really been keeping track of what has been happening with the tax issue lately, but I just watched the video of the work session of City Council and was really concerned. I was totally agust at what was said and I would pose the question, if we have the right financial advisors? The advisor, Mr. Rose seemed to think that taping the main vein of real estate taxes was always the way to go and could be done at liberty and at any level needed.
Roger, you are exactly right in your questions here and I want to hear more of your insightful ideas. As a local business owner and employer, I would propose that a meeting/debate/symposium be set to have Roger and others debate the spenders like Mr. Rose and do it now. Does anyone know how to get a hold of Roger, he does not have a listed number from what I have found? He is about the smartest person we have had in Suffolk to run for office and has always seemed to be honest and forthright. We do need that now.
If the person who wrote the comment just above this comment of mine would send his email address as a comment on this Post I will forward it to Roger. No one will see the address except Roger.
Well said, but not realistic with the bunch in charge. They only know spending and that will not change. The only way to chane it is to ge them out and that not gonna happen.
I read many comments Mike Duman made to get into office, now I hope to see him fight for those promises made. Will he, or will he roll over and play nice with our spending Mayor and her boys? I am begining to think that Ms Martin may have been a better attack dog on this issue of taxes than the poodle Mr Duman may turn out to be. To make the point we will soon see if Mr Duaman's only attach was a bunch of ads saying one thing and doing another, like most poiticians.
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