« July 2005 | Main | September 2005 »

August 28, 2005

Suppose I need to post something

I've been too busy recently to even keep up with the news, let alone post something. An editorial in today's paper caught my attention though.

City-county merger won't benefit many I would like to thank the writer of the letter "Income disparity between Knoxville, suburban area," Aug. 6, for clarifying the true purpose of a proposed city-county merger.

The writer's argument is a classic us-versus-them argument. While politicians may point to a noble goal of combined and streamlined services, their true aim is the confiscation of tax money from more people. Oh, I'm sorry. I meant to say increase the tax base to improve inner-city services.

Unfortunately, the ideal desired effect — improving all city and county services — will not happen. What will happen under consolidation is the lowering of living standards in the rest of Knox County as more taxpayer money is sucked into the downtown Knoxville area.

It will not benefit Farragut. Or Karns. Or the people living in the unincorporated areas.

If Knoxville's mayor and City Council cannot set their fiscal priorities and work with the money they now receive from taxpayers, I guarantee that things will not get better under a combined metro government.

JOHN APERANS

Knoxville

A merger of the city and county governments doesn't have to work the way this gentlemen describes. Done properly it would allow those currently outside to city to keep paying taxes at their current rate. Right now we have a rediculous duplication of gov't offices for no reason other than the fears of people like this.

I bet the guy couldn't even drive through West Knoxville and tell me which parts are city and which are county.

Posted by Paul Witt at 06:02 PM | Comments (5)