The current council increased garbage collection fees over 500%, from $2.00 per month to $12.35 per month. It is estimated the increase in fees will raise $5 million. They did this before reviewing expense reductions. So in addressing a deficit of $6.8 million, $5 million, or 74% of the deficit, was addressed by raising taxes before even looking at expenses. See "Spending Reduction Sleight of Hand" for how $823,000 (45%) of the so-called spending reductions were a gimmick, which reduced current year spending but actually increased total costs to the taxpayers over several years.Shouldn’t the process be reversed?
Shouldn’t all possible expense reductions be identified and made before taxes are raised?
