“Peoria Park District cuts levy,” the Journal Star headline reads. The article starts, “Taxpayers will be glad to hear the Peoria Park District just adjusted this year’s levy – down – by $63,000.”
That sounds pretty exciting… until you realize that the levy is still over three-quarters of a million dollars more than last year. The Journal Star reported on November 20, 2008:
A $41.4 million budget for 2009 was cleared by Peoria Park District trustees in less than 17 minutes Wednesday. That budget includes a $14.5 million tax levy, which is $821,000 more than the amount in the 2008 budget.
So, it appears to me that instead of the levy going up $821,000, it’s now going up “only” $758,000, or $63,000 less than originally planned. It’s better than a sharp stick in the eye, but not quite as exciting as the paper makes it sound.
We have a representative government, right? This is how our public officials “represent” to us.
This issue is twofold:
1. The levy is going up. Whether that’s a good thing or bad depends on circumstances. We have the right to vote out the board if we don’t like it.
2. The fact that the PJS is writing inaccurate headlines. It suggests that the reporter and/or editors don’t understand taxation OR that they lack the ability to perform critical thinking. We’re stuck w
This issue is twofold:
1. The levy is going up. Whether that’s a good thing or bad depends on circumstances. We have the right to vote out the board if we don’t like it.
2. The fact that the PJS is writing inaccurate headlines. It suggests that the reporter and/or editors don’t understand taxation OR that they lack the ability to perform critical thinking. We’re stuck w
Get real, Billy, we had no chance to vote that Board out. There were no new candidates running. If Peorians had any sense they would dissolve that little empire, and the Park Dist. would become part of the City. Bad as the council is, at least we have some compeitition for seats there.