8 Comments
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Rosemary Siipola's avatar

The citizens of Longview must decide what the future of their city will be. This is work. Complacency is what the council majority is banking on. Show them you care. Show up at the meetings. Email them. Send a postcard. March in the protests that are ongoing. MAGA has crept down into local government. It has happened. Time to root it out. Let these two city councilmen know you give a damn about the future of Longview.

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Roger G's avatar

Nobody enjoys sending that home or auto insurance premium in, but it would be very foolish to deny the necessity. Likewise, it costs a lot of money to live in a society. A stable tax base is what makes a society possible. Young and Halvorson need to realize that grandstanding will not pay the bills.

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Tom's avatar

Once again, these councilors actively promote the adage “The beatings will continue until morale improves.” It’s hard enough to attract new business without taking away services that make the city livable.

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Michael R.'s avatar

They don’t seem to be able to connect the dots. Or they (mostly Halvorson) just don’t care. It’s an ego trip for him.

Andre’s last paragraph is powerful.

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Gina's avatar

They have no common sense. How do you finance a city without income?

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Michael R.'s avatar

Halvorson made a comment at last night’s council meeting that they balanced the budget without using the 1% property tax. Then why did staff have to be laid off, services cut, and utility rates increased? And why is all this fuss about codifying that necessary when they aren’t being good shepherd’s of OUR money? Something is very wrong here. Care to comment, Mr. Halvorson?

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Biggest Al's avatar

One point you didn’t mention is that real estate prices increase in inflationary times as well. This would increase city revenue even if the tax rate is constant.

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MJ Berry's avatar

Would it be possible to only change the value of a property when it is sold? This way the only way to increase property tax would be through the levies.

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