Police Beat
Posted on Wednesday, October 1, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/gentry/Opinion/2914/
Welcome Again Readers,
Today, Iím going to attempt a little humor ó probably very little ó before I let you know how I feel about something near and dear to all of us ó our tax dollars.
These are ìthe top tenî ways you know the government is going to fix the budget and financial problems facing our country:
1. Theyíre going to borrow half your pension to pay for more bailouts.
2. The F. B. I., C. I. A., fire departments and EMS, state, county and local police departments and the DPW will be merged into one. Hopefully, someone with overdue books committing a crime on trash day will have a heart attack and you can score the elusive ìtrifecta ! î
3. Donít worry about a pay raise. Oh, and your cost-of-living raise paid the electric bill.
4. Government advises city and county police departments to avoid being featured on the show ì Armed and Famous II î to raise funds for equipment.
5. Instead of interoperability communications upgrades the government is giving five-dollar stipends to first responders to pay for its part of their personal cellular phone bills.
6. A new policy is governments telling police to use gas only while responding to calls. If youíre on patrol, find a hill, coast and hope the bad guys canít afford gas either.
7. Taser purchases put on hold. Report to the duty sergeant to pick up palm-held joy buzzers.
8. The new public services health plan is provided by Wal-Mart.
9. Thursday is ìbring your own toilet paper dayî at the office.
10. The government isnít sure about anything specific yet, but they know itís coming out of your pocket.
I always try to smile even when times are tough. Hopefully, that brought a smile to many faces who need it.
Now, we have a problem right here at home. Many of you have phoned in or talked with me on the street about the tax issues facing Benton County voters. Many of your Benton County residential taxes have been increased about 15-20 percent and raw lands 20-25 percent yet again. Real estate values have declined and continue to do so. The assessorís office knew this while doing your assessments, yet inexplicably raised your values anyway.
Call a bank appraiser over and theyíll tell you just how much your property is really worth. There is about a $ 50, 000. 00 difference between the two when comparing both to my property.
I know, I know, you heard about this already. How many of you tax payers are miffed about the inexplicable rise in your property values ? All of you ? Some of you ? Any of you ? Me ? You bet ! Did you ask why ?
I wonder, good citizen, if you filed to contest your tax appraisal ? If you saw your tax bill for next year and it went up, as did the bills of most property owners in Benton County, and you didnít get a little hot under the collar, then you are one of the few.
While talking with citizens, one came to me and said, ì You know, if you want something changed you have to start at the top. î What a stroke of genius. Start at the top. This wise old sage told me to start at the top in this situation. You have to go to the highest level of government in this region, no, not the county judge, the governorís office.
I think our governor, the Honorable Mr. Mike Beebe, should hear from you tax payers. Some of your state legislators are already aware of the problem and are working on it. Many legislators in Little Rock donít care because it doesnít affect them, except for more money in the stateís coffers. I can hear them laughing at us in Little Rock right now.
I would urge all of you to contact your state legislator and tell them how you feel. I know Kim Hendren is certainly waiting on your call. He is as upset about what is going on here in Benton County as the rest of us.
While I am urging all this citizen activism, it wouldnít be right to leave out the contact information to the Governorís office. Here it is ó use it wisely and well ó 501-682-2345; e-mail: mike. beebe 2 state. ar. us
The county assessor may have got away with stealing from the poor this time and I canít yell loud enough to be heard all the way to Little Rock, but all of you will certainly be heard. What do you think ?
Until next time, have a great day.