Another response to lake issues
Steve or Patty Smith
I don't think we are saying that Ross is doing a bad job…not at all.
I believe the state/fed gave us money for additional cars so why not buy them???
This is not always a good idea to buy if the on-going expense may be an issue or maybe even use that expense other needed places.
I don't think we are a high crime area and I don't think it is because we have a police force that reduces it down to very little crime.
It has always been a low crime area such as no banks being robbed !!
Take a look at the list of crime activity in our monthly newsletter.
I think the biggest excitement to this city was when our own police car was stolen.
In fact, there were issues with that policeman that tried to shot the person in the stolen police car was not up to regulations required by the state??
I heard that is why the person got away with stealing the police car (he had a good lawyer?)
And why are we trying to increase our city revenue by giving out tickets.
Well, the state law says we are making too much money on tickets and to stop or send that extra money to the state.
The state law was made to stop the small towns from making there revenue from giving out tickets and we were one of them.
My opinion is to go back to contracting with county sheriff and maybe have a part-time policeman like we use to do it.
Ross was doing a great job during that time.
So much for police as I don’t think this is our main problem.
I think everyone in our city government is trying to do the best they know how.
No one is trying to embezzle money or get big city contracts.
We depend on local people in our town to run a business, our city and may not know the best way to do that.
They are not government experts. They work other jobs for a living.
So when they switch money from one budget to another budget to pay bills, it looks like a good idea.
But it caught up with us.
No one really had a long range look at expense such as sewer & water.
We are too small of a town to have the experience people to run a city the correct way.
Take example: why did we not pay our city (employee) taxes to the state/Feds.
Most people go to jail for that.
I think it started to get out of control when the city was trying to act like a big town rather than just letting it be what it had been.
I cannot afford the increases to our utilities and city taxes to cover our debt and mistakes.
And what happens if we do it again?
My thoughts are looking at dissolving the city and letting the county or Blue Springs taken it back over.
We keep our association to control everything within the lake area.
We don’t loose much control but allow more experience government staff to manage within a budget which we are not able to do.
Thanks for letting me state my opinion as I am not an expert ether.
But I hope this email would be passed around and get other people opinions.
(Creative Re-Engineer, junk to jammin'!)
Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!
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© www.tut.com ®
Steve or Patty Smith
I am NOT out to get Chief Ross, but I will follow up on any reports he offers as a solution to retain his position and department. This community does not deserve to be mislead by the biased and deceptive tactics he employs to misinform residents about alternative measures.
(Creative Re-Engineer, junk to jammin'!)
Thoughts become things... choose the good ones!
®
© www.tut.com ®
Patty,
I really hate writing this. It is really hard to keep smiling.
I am not making anything a “legal fight.” You are trying to be the prime mover in all this.
I quote you: “And with all due respect, John, there IS a legal avenue by which the citizens of this city can become involved in the process of annexation. It is called a petition.” Sounds to me like you are trying to start a “legal fight” that the Lake Tapawingo taxpayers will be paying for to defend against. The curtain is pulled back; all is revealed now. Thanks a lot. You are the one to say the city could take action to silence me.
“What is the BACKUP PLAN???????” (Love the seven question marks.)Glad I could entertain you with punctuation, but what IS the alternative?????????????????????????????????????????????
It was made quite clear in the letter requesting contributions, and in the newsletter, that the contributions were a one-time request for help until a property tax levy increase can be put before voters in April (and it is hoped approved), and collected next December.
If you cannot read, please ask someone to read them to you.Petty and small of you.Just look at this next line. I DID address it.
You say, “If we pass a bond issue with our water and sewer system intent, the assessment that you threatened Blue Springs would assess is a moot point.” Well, then WE would STILL BE PAYING to repair our water-sewer problems – Blue Springs would be doing nothing to help us on that count. Those who think they would escape paying by running to Blue Springs are delusional.YOU are not listening. The moot point comment means, we would still have to pay! It would still be administered by a Trustee, *****!
“Annexation is a viable option if the inevitable does come to pass.” “Inevitable” is defined as “incapable of being avoided or evaded.” People in positions of responsibility do not ascribe to your view as to what is inevitable. That is why they are working very hard to get this city on track despite your sideshow. You sound like you want it to be inevitable and are mounting a campaign against the effort to save our city. The city is counting on ALL residents to pony up another $500 per household. So I am just asking what happens when THAT doesn't happen? What YOU call a side show I call alternative planning, without the rudeness.
“Has anyone asked why the funds are short?” Where have you been? If you cannot read, please ask someone to read the several explanations to you.I have been to many meetings and understand that we have been short funds because none of our past Mayors and Treasurers gave a flip about costs! Just be sure and bring Champaign and Margaritas to all the parties!! My concern is the daily operations of spending a $734,377.00 budget and accounting for it properly! I can read just fine and I can also BALANCE A CHECKBOOK which seems to have been a missing element in our city hall. It is STILL done by a volunteer and not an employee. Why does that NOT bother anyone? What are we paying these employees to do?
“Cities are always happy to expand their voting base.” Let me point out to you,
“student of city governments” – cities don’t care about expanding their voting
base. They care about expanding their TAX BASE. Blue Springs will be happier to
tax us than Lake Tapawingo is.
Nobody is “opposing any investigation.” I can speak for no one else, but I’m opposed to you parading around Blue Springs spreading your patented brand of misinformation to all and sundry.You are free to oppose what ever you don't agree with, but before I brought this option up, it was brought up to me in many conversations. You are just one person, as I am just one person. And any misinformation in this exchange seems to have come from city hall.
If you like Blue Springs so much, I’m sure there are many Realtors who would be happy to speed you on your way there. I know people who would help you pack.As rude as you have been to me in this exchange, I still feel no ill will towards you and thank you for your work on the news letter. At this point I will not be leaving, just advocating.
I really hate writing this. It is really hard to keep smiling. And some of us really don’t have time for this.Perhaps the lack of interest and time in running and reporting on this city's actions has always been the problem. You don't have to smile, it is not a smile if it is not from the heart, just a stupid attempt to look like an idiot if you don't mean it.
John Braden
45 Anchor
The newsletter insert was drafted as a result of the Dec. 19 City Council meeting in which several residents asked for more information on the implications of not being able to pay the city’s bills.Chief Ross only wrote that part of the City’s newsletter insert titled “Question: Why does the Police Department have three cars?” So it is incorrect, and unfair, to try to make some kind of scapegoat out of the chief just so you can make political points. “Ooo, Chief Ross wrote it. Let’s get him!”
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The part not written by the chief was compiled after much research by Tina Feldheim, with technical support from City Clerk Paul Blixrud and Court Administrator Tricia Glines, with oversight and approval by the mayor. The last two pages were copies of correspondence direct from the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office. John Braden proofread the final product.
Where do you come by your opinion that “we can no longer reasonably generate the amount of sustainable income to run a city, without driving out half the residents…”?
Right now, the city levies only 35 cents per $100 of assessed valuation for general operating expenses. (This is separate from water and sewer, which is paid for by utility bills.) That raises only $55,939 a year for general operating expenses. For 20 years, the city also levied property tax to pay off a water and sewer general obligation bond. That rate was $1.51 per $100 of assessed valuation as recently as 2012. It was REDUCED to 75 cents in October and that tax rate disappears -- is ELIMINATED -- in 2014 because the old bond is paid off. That currently leaves a levy of ONLY 35 cents.
The city IS taking “the grown up approach” and trying to make it possible for us to “live within our means.” Just because the city was not doing that before does not mean it cannot do it now. The city finally is facing up to the need to make some changes – not to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The “grown up approach” is not to go running to “the elders of Blue Springs” to try and kill our city. As a community, we do not need people, who have no authority to speak for us, out spreading rumors to Blue Springs or anybody else that we are begging for their help.
Going to Blue Springs would reduce our level of police protection. Park in any neighborhood on the other side of Woods Chapel Road and count the number of times you see a police car in a month. Bet the number is zero. If we gate our entrances as you propose, Blue Springs could not legally patrol our streets.
Going to Blue Springs would not reduce your water and sewer costs. The grinder pumps would still be there and I suspect Blue Springs would turn them over to individual residents to maintain (and replace at $3,500 a pop when they fail). (And your previous suggestion to go back to the old gravity sewer system – built for half the number of houses we have now – would carry an astronomical cost to completely build new – and the rest of Blue Springs would not subsidize that.) The rotting water pipes would still be there. And you would get little sympathy from Blue Springs when they assessed you to pay for upgrading the system.
We’d still be getting our water from Independence for the same regularly increasing costs unless new infrastructure was built to get it directly from Blue Springs, which would also cost more, and the rest of Blue Springs would not subsidize that. And Blue Springs already gets its water from Independence, Kansas City and the Tri-County Water District, so it’s unlikely they would go to the trouble and expense to change the supply lines – we would just continue to pay whatever Independence demands.
When Independence took over a separate area that had been paying Little Blue Valley Sewer District $68,000 a year (plus flow costs), the sewer district made Independence continue to pay the separate $68,000 – the cost did not go away when the area merged with Independence. So a Blue Springs takeover likely would not eliminate our $68,000 a year sewer bill (plus flow costs), and Blue Springs is not likely to ask its other residents to subsidize that – we would still pay it.
Blue Springs’ building codes are unlikely to be as protective as ours. The assumption that the Country Club would expand its building codes is erroneous. After many years of consideration, the Country Club turned over building codes to the city because the only way the Country Club could enforce building codes was by filing extremely cost-ineffective lawsuits against the offenders.
Blue Springs’ current property tax levy is .7489 – nearly 75 cents – per $100 of assessed valuation. The first thing that would happen with a takeover by Blue Springs is our current 35 cents would more than double and the money would go to Main Street in Blue Springs. Granted, Lake Tapawingo hopes to raise our rates more than that, but that is because we have not been levying enough to cover our costs for some time – and there are fewer of us over whom to spread the fixed costs of operating. However, Blue Springs is unlikely to merely absorb the additional costs of Lake Tapawingo. More likely, we would be the subject of one or more special assessments by Blue Springs – currently used within Jackson County for clearing of noxious weeds, demolition of dangerous buildings, or maintenance of sidewalks and sewers, etc.
Even if we were taken over by Blue Springs, we would still have to pay for our costs. There is no free lunch. If Blue Springs could not make us pay for our Tapawingo-specific costs, I’ve no doubt it would say “thanks, but no thanks.” There is really little attraction to Blue Springs in annexing us, unless they are going to increase our property taxes beyond the meager amount we now levy. Let’s cut off our nose to spite our face.
It is not helpful for people, who have no authority to speak for us, to blather about us in Blue Springs. Let’s see what that does to our property values. And, if this is pressed further, the City Council has a legal responsibility to the citizens to continue to exist, and to incur the legal bills to fight attempts to dissolve it. We would get to pay for those, too.
John Braden
45 Anchor