The above phrase means embracing two conflicting ideas at the same time.
Seems like Ark City voters did this in approving two sales tax increases but at the same time electing people whose main campaign platform was lower taxes and less government spending, Kasha Kelley and Steve Abrams. Alan Groom, the new county commissioner, could be thrown in there as well.
One explanation is that the sales taxes are local initiatives, while Kelley and Abrams are state representatives.
But this conflict os one of the dilemnas of government and elected officials - people want services but they don't want to pay for them.
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3 comments:
Sounds like you are trying to cause problems as Mr. Abrams and Ms. Kelley are both republicans. You didn't get your way of having all democrats elected.
I think the reason people passed the tax issues is because they will see a real benefit from it and the funds are restricted. When we are taxed in Topeka or Washington DC sometimes we, as taxpayers, feel that the money is not being used as wisely. By electing Mr. Abrams and Ms. Kelley we know we are sending two people to Topeka that care about how much money is collected and how it is used.
I think your blog here is a nonissue.
I think it's an issue. I think it is not an attack, as the first poster is so quick to declare, against either of those two candidates. The comment is not about partisan candidates but is about we the people.
It is an indictment of the mixed message that we voters do send. Even when, in DC or Topeka, the government announces spending cuts, the people who are affected by it holler foul while others applaud it as elimination of waste. We tend to want stuff without the price tag assigned by government.
The local sales tax is a local assessment for local initiatives. However, we don't collect and spend. We collect and submit to Topeka who, then, returns it to us by their own formula.
Over the past few years LAVTR and CCRS both are vivid examples of how the state does not do so well at sharing back with local. You may recall Messrs Archer and Baugher both mentioning some $250K per year withheld by state
It's an issue! Excerpts from Traveler archives below:
http://www.arkcity.net/stories/110904/com_0003.shtml
The county is still struggling to function without the state monies they formally received. Over the past two years, Cowley County and its two largest cities, Winfield and Arkansas City, have lost $1.5 million in state revenue sharing funds. Called demand transfers, the funds are used for street and road repairs and to support police and fire services.
http://www.arkcity.net/stories/072006/com_0002.shtml
Some questions from the audience were a bit skeptical. One person asked if Barnett would restore demand transfers from the state to local government.
The candidate said that process was underway, and he would continue it.
http://www.arkcity.net/stories/101408/com_0001.shtml
The city has suffered a loss of state funding for streets, too, Archer said.
A state program called demand transfers was stopped four years ago. It provided an extra $250,000 a year to the city for street maintenance funding, Archer said.
What people aren't getting through their heads is that we are in a recession and everyone needs to tighten their belts, instead the city seems to think that we can afford more- the school bond, higher taxes, higher water bills, etc. Now, I can no longer take my kids out once a week for dinner- something we love to do together but instead I have more expenses that I cannot control.
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