Liberal or Progressive, Same Old Nonsense

George Will has weighed in on Utah's voucher vote next Tuesday.

Liberal or Progressive, Same Old Nonsense

Utahns Can Vote For School Choice Tuesday

FYI, John Stossel weighs in on Utah's voucher vote.

Utahns Can Vote for School Choice Tuesday

Scott Briggs Signs No Tax Pledge

Scott Briggs, candidate for NSL City Council, has signed a pledge not to raise taxes. While a breath of fresh air, I hope that Briggs will not sacrifice the perfect for the good in other areas if he wins. Remember, Ron Paul is considered strong as a fiscal conservative by the Club for Growth, but also ineffectual at getting his ideals implemented.

That said, the gauntlet is down for other candidates to show similar spine as Scott Briggs. My thoughts are that none of the NSL candidates should have any hesitation to sign the pledge.

Joint Press Release

October 29, 2007

Contact: Scott Briggs, 801-699-5758

Contact: Ronald Mortensen, 801-927-7916

CitizensForTaxFairness.org

Briggs Signs CitizenForTaxFairness.org Taxpayer Protection Pledge,

Refuses to Accept funding from Special Interests


Scott Briggs, candidate for North Salt Lake City Council has signed the CitizensForTaxFairness.org Taxpayer Protection Pledge."

Upon signing the pledge, Mr. Briggs stated, "I have constantly told the voters that I oppose taxes so I only found it natural to sign this pledge. Now voters have my word in writing and can hold me accountable if I break it, which I won't."

Mr. Briggs also emphasized that he has refused to accept any donations from special interests. "This puts me at a real disadvantage from a financial standpoint," he said, "but I want to be totally independent to make the best decisions for my constituents in all cases without any possible perception of impropriety."

Ronald Mortensen, CitizensForTaxFairness.org, co-founder noted that Mr. Briggs contacted him and asked to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. "We make the Pledge available to all candidates but during this election cycle we have not aggressively pursued candidates to get them to sign it," said Mortensen. "In Bountiful for example, all candidates have publicly come out in support of tax increases which makes them ineligible to sign it."

When asked what he would do in case of a major emergency impacting North Salt Lake, such as an earthquake, Mr. Briggs responded: "Should a major disaster strike that is exactly the wrong time to raise taxes. How do you raise taxes on families that may have lost everything and are trying to put their lives back together?"

In 2006, when CitizensForTaxFairness.org asked Davis County Commission Candidates to sign the Pledge, all refused.

"Based on our experience with the County Commissioners, it seems that a refusal to sign the P ledge is a good indication that candidates are inclined to vote for higher taxes," said Hugh Williams, a co-founder of CitizensForTaxFairness.org.

Quote of the Day: Virtue and Faith

"I do not think America's condition is hopeless; an alliance in the cause of virtue is still possible. By linking arms with all those who believe in God or adhere to high moral standards, the Saints can help preserve the Constitution and free agency. But it is more important still to nourish the ground from which these men and women of America spring, that ground of faith and conviction from which virtue ultimately grows. The highest kind of political activity, then, is to teach virtue and faith. Ultimately there is no other way to preserve the Constitution of the United States and the freedom which it was established to protect."

Richard L. Bushman --Virtue and the Constitution
"By the Hands of Wise Men" --Essays on the U.S. Constitution

Socialism; Quote Of The Day

I was reminded by one candidate of this quote I had, one time, posted to my blog. It bears repeating.

"Above all, if you wish to be strong, begin by rooting out every particle of socialism that may have crept into your legislation. This will be no light task."

--Frederick Bastiat, 1850 The Law

Suggestion Box: South Davis Candidates

This post is for those who are either running for office, or know someone who is running for office, to get a chance to step up and say why the candidate should be elected. I clearly don't have the time or inclination to investigate fully all candidates that should be under the purview of this blog. It is an unfortunate corollary to living in NSL that I will devote most of my energy to the campaign here.

I do, however, care about the other races. So, if you will leave your comments to this post, we'll see what impact we can have on the election here.

Some suggestions on items you can also leave in the comments include candidate website links, email addresses, and phone numbers for the campaigns.

NSL Meet The Candidates Night Thoughts

After attending the meet the candidates night tonight, I thought I'd be prepared to give my endorsements.

Frankly, I'm not entirely clear on everyone who will get my vote.

In the Mayoral election, I'll be voting for Schaefermeyer. That, despite the fact that she could not attend tonight. I've paid attention to what she's done as Mayor, as well as her opponent since his unsuccessful run for the county commission. The fact is that the current Mayor is a firebrand and has proven to be a great advocate for this city. She's been in the minority of mayors in this county to oppose excessive taxes and measures that don't benefit North Salt Lake specifically.

I have no doubt that I'll be voting for Ron Gordon. I think his leadership experience, and grasp of logic will be an asset to the city. I don't view him as much of an ideologue-rather, he's someone that holds judgment until he has enough data to act. (Full disclosure: I've had one individual close to Gordon guest blogging for me here on Davis County watch, although they were specifically chosen because they often hold a contrary positions as myself. Guess who?)

I'm also leaning towards Stan Porter. I think we should pick his brain, win or lose, regarding the layout of the city website. For my reasons for this check out his campaign website. If you like parks and trails to be done right, he's your man. He's chairman of the Parks, Trails, and Recreation board. I think he'd be responsible about how city money is spent in this regard. I think it's important to keep the city beautiful, but not to break the bank in the process.

My third choice is the most difficult. I'm shying away from the two retired police officers, Kelly Davis and John Herndon. My impression, I hope is coincidental. (I don't think I have anything against law enforcement.) My initial thought is clouded by the way a question was answered that by each candidate tonight. It was, 'what should the city council do regarding home owners who won't maintain their own property'? The two candidates mirrored each others response stressing, I thought, a bit too much that local ordinances should be enforced, and perhaps enhanced. The other candidates seemed to have a different tact that respect more the property owners prerogative to keep their own place. I think this is an area in which the government should have as light of a touch as possible with respect to individual rights.

More importantly, I don't think Davis or Herndon have enough leadership experience to be effective in their term. Davis described his career in West Valley as being that of a 'worker bee'. I have respect for the work that he's done, and he was quite charismatic when I spoke to him, but I still have doubts. The pamphlet that Davis distributed tonight had a photo of him in his police uniform. It rubbed me the wrong way because I recall Sheriff Cox getting chastised once for campaigning for Sheriff in uniform. I've heard from two individuals that Davis has also been caught inappropriately placing campaign signs prior to 30 days from the election.

That's a violation of city ordinance, by the way.

The youngest candidate was Scott Briggs, weighing in at age 28. I'm quite impressed with his enthusiasm, and charisma, but I wonder if he is going to leave enough of an impression on the electorate to win. He shares the name of a recent, effective, and popular mayor. That could put him in by default, except that I don't think he has put his own name out there enough. He has self-funded his campaign, accepting no donations. If he ever pulls this stunt running for a larger office, then he'll be toast. Donations are one way of demonstrating a candidate has support, although it might give the impression of a candidate encumbered by special interest. That is the cost of running, however. I think politicians can counter that by being virtuous in their personal lives.

You might have guessed that it was Briggs that had lauded Ron Paul, and had led me to worry that Briggs actually thought Paul could win. I really don't think that Briggs is deluded about Paul's chances for the Presidency, but his idealism does give me pause.

Lastly, my first impression of Brian Horrocks was that of a deer in the headlights. The only reason that I suspected that he was a candidate was that he was wearing a suit. When I approached him and introduced myself, I wondered if he was going to slink away after my introduction. He did, however, thoughtfully answer my questions. I think he is plain spoken, I hear he is very conservative, and I sense he is very stable. Predictability is a plus in my book. Some of his activities on the Planning commission are available via google.

Announcing: NSL Meet The Candidates Night

The North Salt Lake Youth City Council and the Adelaide PTA/Community Council will be hosting a Meet the Candidates Night on Thursday October 18th at 6:30 p.m. at Adelaide Elementary.

Election 2007: Local Candidates List--Rough Draft

North Salt Lake

• Shanna Schaefermeyer (mayor)

• Lynn Ballard (mayor)

• John Herndon

• Kelly Davis

• Scott Briggs

• Ron Gordon

• Brian Horrocks

• Stan Porter

Woods Cross

• Rick Earnshaw

• Jill Evans

• Cory Green

• David Hill

• Gary Sharp

• Ryan Westergard

Centerville

• Ken Averett

• Paul A. Cutler

• Lawrence Wright

Bountiful

• John M. (Marc) Knight

• Richard L. Higginson

• Scott C. Myers

• Beth Holbrook

---Some of the below candidates have been whittled down via a primary.

West Bountiful

• James Bruhn

• Alan Malan

• Kenneth Romney

• Jeff Tingey

• Brad Hansen

• Troy D. Larsen

• Joseph Child

• Valerie Shaw

• Roger Wray

10/10 Updated links.

Ron Paul: Beacon Of Fiscal Discipline

I spent more than an hour last night on the phone with a candidate running for city council in North Salt Lake. All considered, I was quite impressed. That is up until he began to cite Ron Paul as an example of what philosophy should be taken in regards to the cities fiscal discipline.

Ron Paul?

"You do realize that Ron Paul doesn't have a chance of winning this election?", I asked. I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't nuts.

He told me he might vote for Paul, but the state was going to vote for Romney anyway, so it wouldn't matter.

True enough.

Quote Of The Day: UTA Tax

"I just feel like UTA is already a tax-generated agency, and here we are creating a county tax that supplements something we're already taxed for, which in general, is something I think is bad government."

North Salt Lake City Council Member, Matt Hardy

Hat tip: Deseret News

Abolish Property Taxes: Reap The Whirlwind

I've heard it suggested that maybe it is time to replace the property tax with a sales tax, or something else. I haven't favored this because it would leave local governments powerless to control revenue. I don't want everything in the hands of the state because then I have to direct all of my ire to the legislature to lower taxes.

That said, Davis county government hasn't shown yet they are qualified to control spending either.

Now the Tax Foundation has sided with me on this.

Before I see property tax abolished, I'll vote the local bums out.

More Property Tax Increases

Legislators may soon require counties to increase their property taxes to increase funding for county health departments. This because federal dollars are getting reduced, or are tied to specific programs according to Dr. Gary House, of the Weber-Morgan County Health Department.

"At the federal level, we're seeing a shift in their funding priorities. We're getting money for things like bioterrorism."

I've heard this argument made before by the Davis County Health Department. They suggest the federal dollars are the reason we should increase funding. I get reimbursed for certain expenses by my employer, so should I be asking for a raise because of how I am paid?

I think that we should have funding for bioterrorism, and for things like pandemics. Is House suggesting otherwise? In my mind the county is perfectly situation to arrange the stockpile of vaccines in a way that the individual cannot. If bird-flu strikes my town, I can't be expected to have a personal supply of vaccine.

The Salt Lake Tribune implied in its reporting that it is the state lawmakers job to "control health spending." This could not be more wrong. How many of our recent property tax increases have come because of the legislature? How many because of the county commission, or school board? Part of the blame for this misconception lies with those who are asking for the mandatory tax increase, however.

Dr. David Blodgett, director of the Southwest Utah Public Health Department asked for a property tax increase, but if not given that, he suggested a tax on cigarettes which could be earmarked for anti-cigarette campaigns and treatment. Is anyone else catching the irony implicit in this suggestion? In fact, the better job the health department did, the worse their funding would get. It would be a completely self-destructive tax if the campaign to eliminate smoking were to succeed.

Clearly, the folks asking for this money haven't thought it through enough.

And, Davis county has already increased funding for the health department, and we can see the results of that increase this year. If the legislature steps in, we'd see another increase next year. This despite the fact that we have a $242 million surplus. Less money than last year, but more than enough to match the $30 million dollars in infrastructure spending that health departments need this year.

"We will have the money to fund the essentials," according to Representative Ron Bigelow.

The Deseret News is reporting that there are $200 million in unspent funds this year from state departments and colleges. From the article.

"It is alarming, some of these large carry-overs, especially two years in a row," said House Majority Leader Dave Clark, R-Santa Clara. "Why do we do this?"

Hat tip: Citizens For Tax Fairness.org

Property Taxes: On Rate Caps

The poll that is currently on the sidebar asks.

"The amount of revenue that the county is allowed to collect is limited by law, but municipalities are not limited. Should the tax revenue that cities are allowed to collect be limited by statute?"

On a closer inspection, I can't figure where I got this idea that municipalities have no cap on their revenue. I was sure that I'd read it in an article, but I can't find the source. I got five responses in favor of capping revenue that flows into city coffers, but my question is not factually based so those are useless results.

The fact is that there is a rate cap on certain things and not on others. For example, flood control has no limit, on the county level. The recreation(???) rate on the city level also has no cap.

Most taxing entities have caps in the code that limit the rate at which we can be taxed. Which ones do not?

More information is available at the state website.(pdf)

Hyperbole Of The Day: 'No Brainer'

"This is the biggest 'no brainer' in the history of the Earth."

--Steve Handy, spokesman for the Northern Utah Transportation Alliance on the proposed transit tax hike.

Setting aside the possibility of exaggeration, Is there anything about taxes, or tax increases that should be a 'no brainer'? This should raise a red flag about the proposed transit tax hike.

Vouchers: On Out-Of-State Money

I'm seeing a lot of anti-voucher ads on television. You might be asking, where is all this money coming from? You see, some months ago, criticisms of Parents for Choice were prolific about out-of-state money going into the organizations coffers.

Now, it is Utahn's for Public Education (anti-voucher) getting all of the out-of-state funds. (i.e. 1.5 million dollars from the National Education Association.)

Where are those critics now?

Cities Not To Blame For County Tax Increase

Was your vote for local incumbents affected by the County tax increase?

Via The Standard Examiner

Calculation Error: Higher Assesments For Bountiful, NSL

Interesting.

"In that process, appraisers made some data-entry errors, Ivie said, and Bountiful's new growth rate was set at 8 percent - as seen in other parts of the county - rather than the city's actual 4 percent. "

Via SL Tribune

From The Comments: On Incrementalism

This comment from the Utah Taxpayer deserves more daylight than what it is currently getting in my comments section.

"The Davis County Clipper has almost always defended local governments on tax issues, and they are one of the biggest defenders in Utah of incrementalism in which "small" tax increases are consistently passed.

Regarding the 138% property tax increase of a couple of years ago that Koecher is trying to dismiss, the magnitude of the increase wasn't the only problem. The county wanted to impose a permanent tax increase to fund a one-time capital project (jail). Normally, counties issue voter-approved general obligation bonds for capital projects. Once the bond is paid off, the tax increase disappears. However, if the county had prevailed, they would have kept the tax increase even after the jail was paid off.

You can imagine what would happen if every school district, county, city, and special service district raised their taxes PERMANENTLY every time they built or expanded a new building.

Moreover, the county wanted to raise taxes to cover the operation of jail TWO years before the jail opened.

In his role of defending Davis County elected officials, Koecher is hoping that over time Davis County residents will have forgotten what happened."

Koecher To Stephenson: Comments Made Years Ago Unfair

Rolf Koecher has an interesting take on what is an appropriate tax increase.

He begins by saying that he was "personally upset" with the Utah Taxpayers Association President, Howard Stevenson, for targeting Davis County some years ago with a criticism of our tax increases.

Stephenson said that our elected officials were "out of control" Koecher says,

"It wasn’t out of control then, and his statement was vastly unfair.
This year, however, I wouldn’t be as quick to challenge him if he made the same comments." (italics mine)

Of course, Stephenson, in 2003, was talking about the attempt made to increase our taxes by 138 percent.

Unfair?

Koecher goes on to say that some taxes are fair by virtue of being small. The corollary is that large taxes would be unfair. Koecher says he can see why residents would think taxes to be unfair in the last two years, but, somehow he doesn't see the increase of 138 percent as a problem. In fact, he doesn't even acknowledge that Stephenson was talking about a huge tax hike in 2003 when he made his comment.

Koecher lets us know that he favors the RAP tax because it would be "so small".

Here is what Mike Jerman, also of the Utah Taxpayers association, has to say about "small" tax increases.

Mike Jerman, vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association, said
the gamut of new taxes ranging from the mosquito abatement tax in
Salt Lake City to the fire district tax in Park City represent a growing
Utah trend toward hitting residents with lots of small fees and taxes.
The smaller taxes, he said, are easier to pass because they meet less
opposition from residents than do single, large taxes.
Jerman equated the tax levying approach to the old boiling a frog
analogy: Throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out. Put a
frog in a pot of cold water and bring the heat up slowly, "the frog
doesn't realize it's being boiled," he said.
The trouble with that method, Jerman added, is that people notice the
heat of being nickeled and dimed eventually.

In the interest of full disclosure, Koecher hasn't said a single nice thing about me, and I have both opposed and agreed with him on separate occasions.