Below is a quote from the Marion Star from Sunday June 19th.
At the end of the story We are posting a copy of the slide show that was presented at the Commissioners office on Monday June 20th.
We need to take every action by our government seriously. The issue with the pool seems obviously unreasonable to some of us while the incremental increase shared by every person who buys anything at any time in Marion County seems be drawing criticism. No tax is a happy tax. We all want smaller government, but we do not want anarchy do we?
Lets all make sure to make the breakfast on Saturday and make this a point of discussion.
Pictured Above- Republican Commissioner Ken Stiverson.
Ken narrated the slide show on Monday - Link below.
We need to take every action by our government seriously. The issue with the pool seems obviously unreasonable to some of us while the incremental increase shared by every person who buys anything at any time in Marion County seems be drawing criticism. No tax is a happy tax. We all want smaller government, but we do not want anarchy do we?
Lets all make sure to make the breakfast on Saturday and make this a point of discussion.
Ken narrated the slide show on Monday - Link below.
Is an increase in the sales tax reasonable?
"We know by the attention our Sunday coupons get, that many people are happy to find savings anyway they can get them. It looks impressive when you see the notice on the front page that we usually have hundreds of dollars in coupons available to people who purchase our Sunday paper.Those hundreds of dollars, however, come in small increments. It's 50 cents here and 25 cents there. They do add up. Pretty soon we are talking about real money.
Making little things add up to big things is the idea behind a proposed increase in county sales tax.
Currently, in Marion, we collect 6.5 percent sales tax. By law, we can collect 7 percent.
Commissioners have proposed we start collecting that 0.5 percent. That means that a taxable item purchased in Marion County will go up one half penny per dollar.
That's a nickel for every $10 and 50 cents for every $100.
Those nickels and dimes will add up. That small increase is expected to add up to $3.2 million.
It's not like the county has been ignoring the economic crisis. In 2009, county departments cut 6 percent from their budgets, and in 2010, they cut 20 percent.
This year commissioners explored what another 20 percent cut would look like. It wouldn't look pretty.
Here are some examples:
The Marion County Sheriff's Office would lay off 18 deputies, one-third of those to make up the difference for unemployment compensation, which the county pays from the general fund.
The jail would lay off least one-third of its 36 correctional officers.
For essential services to be maintained at a level that makes our community a safe and desirable place to live, looking for ways to increase revenue is not unreasonable.
A 0.5 percent sales increase has nothing to do with competition with other counties. Most neighboring counties have similar rates and, frankly, the increase is so small that folks travelling to escape such a small increase would see their savings eaten up by gasoline prices. The scenario becomes less plausible when you consider the worth of your time.
A public hearing about the increase will be held at 10 a.m. June 23 in the Marion County Building.
Our view is, it is a prudent move with more pluses than minuses. We encourage residents to attend the public hearing to let their feelings be known." endquote...Marion Star...
CLICK HERE FOR THE COMMISSIONERS SLIDE PRESENTATION
