Council Roundup: I’m officially disappointed

Another year of the regressive $6/month garbage fee.

Another year of understaffing at Fire Station 11.

Another missed opportunity by the council as they voted 8-3 essentially to finalize a budget that once again does not address two of the biggest issues of the past several years.

I thought this “new” council was supposed to be different. But it turns out the only ones to vote against this budget plan were the vererans: Sandberg, Grayeb, and Gulley.

Evidently, from the discussion last night, it’s a virtue not to raise property taxes, even if “holding the line on taxes” means compromising fire safety in one of the most densely-populated areas of town and hitting the poor and elderly with regressive fees. Yeah, they really took the moral high ground last night. It will look good in political ads anyway.

I was willing to give the council the benefit of the doubt last year. The rookie members needed time to get their bearings, understand the budget process, etc. I bought it. I was willing to wait until the next year for the revolution. But “next year” has come, and things haven’t changed. What’s their excuse this time?

What does it take to get representatives who will do what we elected them to do?

4 thoughts on “Council Roundup: I’m officially disappointed”

  1. If I were Vonster, I would say “Vote Republican!” What a bunch of typically conservative Peoria political crap.

  2. Everyone claims to be different until they actually get there and see it’s a lot harder to balance a budget than they thought.

    At-Large elections are coming up. Give it a shot. See if it’s as easy as you think it is.

  3. Ryan, no one — certainly not I — ever said that being a councilman was easy. It’s full of tough decisions. But that’s their job. They ran for the office; they were elected to the office. They have to make the tough decisions — not me.

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