Tax increase dangerous to homeowners and small businesses
Commentary by Cathy Donohue
Now that voters have approved the tax increase
Measure 2A on the notion of trusting the current city administration, it is
critical that citizens watch how the money is being spent.
Passage of Measure 2A allows the city to retain up
to $68M in refunds mandated by the Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR). This revenue windfall, essentially giving the
city a blank check, is the most damaging raise in taxes imaginable. It is a gamble on wispy promises and the
threat of dire consequences.
While voters blithely hand over $68M to those
supposed to be guiding the city, the actual tax
increase may be the final nail in the coffin of many small business owners who
are struggling. Our honorable mayor and the honorable councilmen and
women know nothing about business economics. The only one who has useful
knowledge about business success is District 2 Councilwoman Jeanne Faatz.
We have no idea if Mayor Michael B. Hancock is wise enough
to administer such a huge influx of “play” money, nor do we know if Council is
smart enough to appropriate these funds. Hancock’s record of
leadership or ability to govern is thus far untested. Since he has been
in office, we have had virtually no reviews of his management capabilities. Council
has shown no interest is actually finding out how he is running the city; and
we no longer have two newspapers to engage in the usual political wars.
As an elected and appointed veteran of city
government, I have some opinions about this lack of inquisitiveness.
Prior to 2008, when the city fathers and mothers
oversaw the re-codification of the City Charter, the following
procedures were in effect under Article 3, General Police Powers (of
Council):
...the Council, or a committee authorized by it, shall
have power to investigate any Department of the City and County and
the official acts and conduct of any officer thereof, and may compel the
attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books and
documents.
After the Mayor and Council approved and the voters
agreed to a Charter “Re-codification” the City Charter said:
...the
Council, or a committee authorized by it, has the power to investigate any
departmental official of Denver
In the final version of the newly codified Charter,
all of the former duties of Council to “investigate” any Department of the City
were given to the Auditor and are now called Performance Audits.
Auditor Dennis Gallagher, a former councilman,
approved the change in accounting procedures as recommended by Mayor John W.
Hickenlooper, and made lots of noise about his new duty to do Performance
Auditing.
These audits included reviews of the time it takes
ambulances to reach locations, parking at Denver International Airport
Under the old system, I can think of only three
genuine performance audits that were approved by Council.
One, requested by the Council’s Public Works
Committee of City Council in 1991, examined the city’s development
process. The results were ignored by the
mayor’s office and forgotten.
Another performance audit of county courts resulted
in computerization of the court system.
The public might not like the results, but the audit did what it was
supposed to do.
Greg Romberg, the first mayoral appointee to a new
agency called Regulatory Reform, started an audit of Excise and Licenses. When Romberg resigned in February 1994, Mayor
Wellington Webb appointed me to run the office and supervise that audit. Mayor Webb and Council ignored the
results. About five years later, the
entire inspection staff resigned, and the inspectors were indicted. The audit showed very serious problems with
the issuance of liquor licenses.
Although none of the Councils during and since
Hickenlooper have displayed any desire to delve into the workings of
any part of any of mayoral agencies, there is still a desperate need for
someone to occasionally investigate.
Gallagher also has not displayed any burning desire to see that one of
his minor audits changed any departmental procedures. Performance Audits
seem to have a history of being ignored by everyone except the authors.
These two reasons – lack of interest by a Council
and lack of toughness by our Auditor –do not mean that such an “outside” review
is not needed in all governments. The state legislature has an
Audit Committee and the state lawmakers frequently stick their noses into
the workings of a state agency. The federal government has the
Government Accounting Office (GAO), which takes orders from various
congressional committees to investigate federal agencies.
I am reluctant to hand over such a very large amount
of money without a greater guarantee that the Mayor and Council will spend it
wisely. Vague references to more police and fire officers, longer library
hours, and more pot holes filled are just not enough. There are promises to allocate only $21M and
the reminder of the money can be spent without any strings.
The people of Denver need to learn
much more about Mayor Hancock’s ability to run the city. The city’s so-called performance auditing is
a sham. People need to think critically about
who’s watching the store.
I am deeply concerned that people “on the edge” of
financial failure, such as low-income homeowners and small business owners,
have little idea what is about to happen when the new “taxes” take effect.
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment