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May 19, 2013, 10:02:40 AM

Live today like it is your last....it could be.

57693 Posts in 1275 Topics by 123995 Members
Latest Member: anntonioo

Just wanted to welcome everyone to the new home. This is where I look forward to your comments and questions. If I do not respond in a timely fashion, please notify me of the topic at mayor@cityofdanville.org and I will be sure to pop on and catch up. As always, look forward to talking to everyone. Have a great weekend.

Scott

Thank you Mr. Mayor; good luck in your performance this weekend.

Scott:
Someone asked what the result would be if the meal and gas taxes were raised. I believe that I can give you an answer on that.

A few years ago, the difference in sales tax between New York City and New Jersey was only 2%. People from the city were crowding the bridges and tunnels to do their shopping in New Jersey. In towns on the border (including ours), people who smoke flock to the neighboring states to purchase their cigarettes. Many of them fill their fuel tanks up at the same time and place that they buy their cigarettes.

The proposal to hike the meal tax to 10.75% means that with a $50 meal for 4, (or 2 if it is a special occasion) means that $5.38 is added to the bill, many times causing a smaller tip to the server who depends on the tips. If a restaraunt outside of the city limits can save a diner money, many will go to that restaraunt.

When government imposes new taxes on people, it is normally under the mistaken idea that taxes act as a static, rather than dynamic influence on people's purchases. Officials tend to believe that folks do not change their behavior in response to monetary pressures. This has been proven time and time again to be false. The anti-smoking crowd knows the truth when they press for higher taxes on tobacco. They do not expect revenues to increase, the results that they want is to change people's behavior by using the taxing policies of the government. By and large, coupled with education and the dying off of a generation of smokers, this has worked. Smoking has been reduced by over 50% since the late 1960s/ early 1970s. People in California, in response to unreasonable property taxes, took the taxing power of the legislature away from them and set their own property tax rates. The fastest growing states in the country are those with no state income tax, becoming a haven for those who earned their money in high taxation states such as New York, Mass, and Illinois. Folks are moving to Texas, Florida and Nevada to enjoy the weather and so their pensions will go farther.

Years ago I bought a summer lakefront cottage at a tax sale in Lake Champlain in New York state. Being young and dumb, I did not consider the fact that the very fact that I bought it at a tax sale might have been a problem. I soon found out that my $19,000 cabin had a tax rate that was so high that I ended up selling it at a loss.

There used to be (I am not sure if it is still there) a large billboard at exit 4 in Indiana which read, "Last exit before high taxes!". Over the years, I have seen many people take that exit to fill up their cars before crossing into Illinois.

Jack
I see that you are against raising taxes but you give no suggestions on how the government can maintain and fix the roads. This is the reason that the Finance committee, not the mayor, is looking into ways to generate revenue. This is why we are looking to raise the restaurant tax. Please give us constructive criticism not just the idea that it won't work. What will work?

As I see it the city may just tax themselves out of having any out side visitors if our parks and history are a attraction to tourist but our entertainment tax is to high then we loose. Make our city more interesting invest in the fisher and other attractions bring things to Danville that people want to come find out what they are about at this point and time with Gas as high as it is people are going to cut down on their travel and their eating out because that have to buy gas. the owners of the gas stations now are saying their retail items bottom line has dropped due to the high gas prices they sell much less snacks and pop that cut into their profits. don't you think a fast food increase will do the same. I stopped smoking almost a year ago when the last tax on cigarettes went into effect. There has to be a point in time that we need to learn to manage our money better if i cant live on my income I cut out things I don't have the luxury to sent a letter to everyone in Danville to sent me five dollars to pay my bills because I need a new roof or car because my is 20 years old I have to save to get it cut out on other things that are not necessities. Just like the new position of a deputy director fire chief. Was that a necessity just now We can get by with out such thing for now there has to be other things that can be cut or changed. there is always fat and if your not in the daily running of the government you don't know what it is. I suggest that all our officials dig into the budget and find what is a need not a want. get rid of the fat all the fat then after that is done then lets talk tax.

Dont see any reason to buy smokes or gas in danville, with the way its going all the industries will move away and the mayor can have danville for himself. ALLEN

Nice to see you Scott!

What is the population of Danville now? Has it ever been considered that possibly asking the people of Danville to donate money for street repairs would generate enough revenue for the street repairs? I would rather donate than continue to pay more and more on taxes. Wouldn't donations be tax deductible as well? If one considers the administrative costs of donations as opposed to taxes then I think it would be obvious that the costs are very low for the paper work. Maybe?

bob

Hey SCOTT: It's great to have you on board here.

Glad you're with us. I still think you're doing a great job. It was great to see you at church last week too. I hope you enjoyed the services. Come back again sometime.

Grin

Bill:
All that I am doing is pointing out the fact that raising certain taxes has an effect on behavior that is directly opposite of what the folks raising the tax intended. Team Player has proven that point when he states that he quit smoking when the last big tax hike on smoke went through.. BTW, TP...congrats! Cheesy

Now the anti smoking crowd knows that this is the effect of pricing something out of the market. The legislators never seem to get that idea. In the business world, corporations and business owners realize that budgeting is not static, it is dynamic. That is why stores have sales where they sell at a lower price in order to increase sales and revenue.

When you raise taxes on something that people can avoid just by leaving the jurisdiction, then you do not increase revenue, you decrease it, and all of the Shop Danville ads that you can run will not get that increase in revenue, you will just waste more money on the ads.

We have the same problem on the county side, but this time we are addressing it. For years our budget got bigger, we added employees and programs. We were not raising property taxes at near the rate we were spending, rather we spent down our reserves in order to cusion the blow and avoid the condemnation of the taxpayers. This year the finance committee chaired by Bruce Stark has demanded a budgets from the departments that are 5% lower than last years. Even with this, we are going to have to raise property taxes to avoid spending down the reserves. Right now, our "rainy day" funds cannot even deal with intermittent showers. Yes, we are losing employees, cutting programs and generally making everyone unhappy.

We need to face the fact that Danville's biggest problem is that it is located within the state of Illinois, a place which does not have a business friendly climate. We have lost business after business to places which are friendlier to business. Our unemployment rate is higher than the state average and much higher than the national average. Property values are in the toilet because the people who should be working in the higher paying jobs have either had to take lesser employment or leave. What were once thriving factories paying high taxes are now vacant warehouses paying a much lower tax rate. Shopping centers have closed, to be replaced by churches which pay no taxes at all. Or the stores sit vacant.

Another part of the problem is that we seem to have lost sight of the responsibilities of government. Just what are the responsibilities? Police, fire protection, streets and sewers are the basics. Government does best as the cheerleader for private efforts. Garbage collection should be privatized, as well as some other services. The most successful cities are those who keep the burden light and encourage a sense of community. When you have that sense of community, residents will go out of their way to contribute to the well being of their neighbors, their neighborhoods and their city.

Another example of a city doing too much is the Danville Housing Authority. While it is a valuable safety net for people, it was not too long ago that many of the units were without tenents. Instead of declaring victory, consolidating residents in the remaining units and closing down the vacant ones, possibly to be sold off or coverted to owner occupied housing, we invited people in from cities such as Chicago that had the sense to close some of theirs. The result has been increased crime and people with no real ties to the community coming in expecting to be cared for by the taxpayers. Just ask some of the officers on the DPD how many drug dealers are in Fair Oaks sometime. Look at the murder rate in Danville and compare it to the rate in Champaign on a per capita basis.

Heck, I don't have all of the answers, if I did then I would be either the Mayor, or God....whichever came first. I just say that we should look at successful cities and see what they are doing right, then see if it can work for us.

Just to elaborate on jacks point. Not only have I quit smoking due to higher taxes.I eat out less now (Ate out 3x per week now maybe once a month if that). I don't got out to bars ( went out to bars about 2x a month b4) cut back on my use of my car since gas went up I don't drive unless it is a necessity. I cut my grass 2 a month now instead of 4 times a month. I know it doesn't sound like much however,enough is a enough. More people are going to do the same each person will find there point where they just wont want to pay or just cant afford to pay. I would rather give things up change my habits to keep some of the little money I have. I still think there is more ways to save money in the budget If all involved in creating the budget can say we have cut all the fat out completely the budget is as lean as it can be and we still have to raise taxes then so be it. Then I will dig down in my pocket again and look at what I can do with out so i can pay towards another new tax.

Quote from: Team Player on September 18, 2005, 04:27:07 AM

Oh, don't I know it...........with the recent gouging at the pumps, it has changed our life style dramatically.........

I was always very organized on how I did errands, but now, we are even more so............I try to save all the errands for one day of the week, usually on a Saturday, and of course I plan the trip, so to basically go in a circle, and not cut back and forth across the county...........

I have been able to cut my fuel consumption to almost half........instead of filling up every two weeks, I can now stretch a tank of gas to almost a month......................

Eating out is a luxury..we try to eat about once every two weeks, but when it costs over $20 to eat out at a buffet, and with our daughter returning, that will jack the price up to about $30 plus for a meal..........we can get a box of burgers which will last a whole lot longer.....

We have to look at the whole picture.............now, how does this relate to the topic at hand...........

we look for the cheapest prices, the cheapest gas, the cheapest restaurant, loyalty has nothing to do with it any longer..you have to go where you get the biggest bang for the buck..........

You have to be careful where you raise the taxes.........taxes at the pump....people will drive across the state line to get the cheaper fuel, raise property taxes, people will move out of town, there by forcing the burden on less people...........

I have always wondered...........what would happen if you lower the taxes, that's right, lower..............

Think about it, people like to shop around....if you actually lower the prices, then more people will shop/buy, and that might even bring in more revenue in the end......

I agree tuck but i think its past the point of no return and the mayor or whoever has to have money now not later. ALLEN

I think when you guys do fix the roads and streets you should be a little more choosy about which streets to fix , last year you fixed a street out in Bien Dville across from Danvale, whats up with that. About the only thing that I could see was wrong with that street ahh I don't really know and I have been building streets for about 30 years.

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I think I agree with Tuck for sure...people usually go where the prices are cheaper and the taxes....I spend my money in
Danville tho...where I'm at now here in Oakwood I'm closer to Danville and that's where I go...I lived in Danville most or all
my life...had to move here and the circumstances were out of my control...so Danville is still my home really...but would like to
see or be able to see the taxes down...but there's more that goes into that than just lower....

>:(So far we don't have any answers to the question how is Danville going to fix streets, well keep raising taxes and gas keeps up won't need any streets just sidewalks Undecided