Student Loan Debt?

[two_bit_score]

I said rich not satisfied

I don’t equate satisfaction completely with money. If you do, that’s sad. They are not mutually exclusive.

 

[two_bit_score]

The tax situation to pay for these programs in Tennessee is pretty bad. Especially when moving here from Illinois

Do you want to pay more taxes so you can expect more government services or do you want someone else to pay more taxes so you can have more government services?

Neither makes much sense to me.

 

[ultrarunner]

I didn’t get much traction when I spoke at city council about reducing services and taxes.

It’s kind of ironic open space parks and beaches are the first to close due to budget where social programs often slightly reduced if at all.

A friend works for the sewer department and years ago he said if you want stable employment with overtime hire on at the sewage department and he was right… no matter what there is always money for sewage.

You would think police and fire but not here… both will have tons of publicity for any budget issue and not shy about letting public know.

 

[paulsharvey]

I didn’t get much traction when I spoke at city council about reducing services and taxes.

It’s kind of ironic open space parks and beaches are the first to close due to budget where social programs often slightly reduced if at all.

A friend works for the sewer department and years ago he said if you want stable employment with overtime hire on at the sewage department and he was right… no matter what there is always money for sewage.

You would think police and fire but not here… both will have tons of publicity for any budget issue and not shy about letting public know.

Ultra, only gonna comment about the water/waste water aspect; those actually affect public safety. Fire department and police have very little affect on anyone's true safety. Get a whole town sick from bad water, or a sewer discharge. I'm not saying fire department doesn't help people, but in the grand picture it is a Very small number per year.

If you live in/near even a medium sized town of 10k, they will probably have dozens of breaks per year, upgrades, ect; and the general public doesn't have any idea how expensive underground water/wastewater work really is. Sure directional drilling, pipe bursting, CIPP, and slip lining have helped keep the prices from climbing faster than they would, but trust me, it's climbed. Also, you Can defer some maintenance for a few years to a decade, but with that, a minor repair can/will turn into a major rebuild, and there isn't a cost savings.

Look at the Jackson Mississippi case. Something like 200 days out of a year they were unable to provide treated drinking water to significant parts of the rate payers. That's a Dang serious public safety problem, and yes, it was caused by 50 years of corruption, incompetence, poor planning, deferred maintenance, and bad decisions.

 

[FPGT72]

Ultra, only gonna comment about the water/waste water aspect; those actually affect public safety. Fire department and police have very little affect on anyone's true safety. Get a whole town sick from bad water, or a sewer discharge. I'm not saying fire department doesn't help people, but in the grand picture it is a Very small number per year.

If you live in/near even a medium sized town of 10k, they will probably have dozens of breaks per year, upgrades, ect; and the general public doesn't have any idea how expensive underground water/wastewater work really is. Sure directional drilling, pipe bursting, CIPP, and slip lining have helped keep the prices from climbing faster than they would, but trust me, it's climbed. Also, you Can defer some maintenance for a few years to a decade, but with that, a minor repair can/will turn into a major rebuild, and there isn't a cost savings.

Look at the Jackson Mississippi case. Something like 200 days out of a year they were unable to provide treated drinking water to significant parts of the rate payers. That's a Dang serious public safety problem, and yes, it was caused by 50 years of corruption, incompetence, poor planning, deferred maintenance, and bad decisions.

Disagree. If an area has a reputation of being "hard on crime" the bad guys know that and will avoid that area. For roughly the next 50 days I am working at a Sheriff's office, and have been for 20 years. Retirement is around the corner. People know when they cross into the county I work in we will chase you to the ends of the earth, even today. The result is people will avoid this county if they are running this way from another county. They want to stay out as they know there is no sweet heart deal down here.

But that takes more then just LE, it takes judges and such that will "go after" these people.

 

[Torvy]

I didn’t get much traction when I spoke at city council about reducing services and taxes.

It’s kind of ironic open space parks and beaches are the first to close due to budget where social programs often slightly reduced if at all.

A friend works for the sewer department and years ago he said if you want stable employment with overtime hire on at the sewage department and he was right… no matter what there is always money for sewage.

You would think police and fire but not here… both will have tons of publicity for any budget issue and not shy about letting public know.

This was a known phenomenon way back when I got my Poli-Sci degree. When faced with pressure to cut spending, officials will target the most popular programs. The hope is that the populace will relent and cough up more money.

School cuts? Band or sports are on the chopping block. People freak and agree to higher taxes.

Cities? Police and Fire (or garbage when that is a city function).

The root problem with spending is less about which programs and more about a lack of institutional frugality. In the private sector, there is constant pressure to do more with less. If you don't, someone else will. In the public sector the pressure to be efficient is absent.

 

[plowhog]

When faced with pressure to cut spending, officials will target the most popular programs. The hope is that the populace will relent and cough up more money.

The opposite is also true when raising "new" money.

I have seen ballot initiatives for new municipal bonds that claimed it would "help Police and Fire agencies." But after approval, Police and Fire got nothing. Then the cycle repeated.

It became such an entrenched way to hoodwink voters that a local law enforcement agency began threatening to sue the bond sponsors unless the (false) claims were stopped.

 

[Pixguy]

Ultra, only gonna comment about the water/waste water aspect; those actually affect public safety. Fire department and police have very little affect on anyone's true safety. Get a whole town sick from bad water, or a sewer discharge. I'm not saying fire department doesn't help people, but in the grand picture it is a Very small number per year.

If you live in/near even a medium sized town of 10k, they will probably have dozens of breaks per year, upgrades, ect; and the general public doesn't have any idea how expensive underground water/wastewater work really is. Sure directional drilling, pipe bursting, CIPP, and slip lining have helped keep the prices from climbing faster than they would, but trust me, it's climbed. Also, you Can defer some maintenance for a few years to a decade, but with that, a minor repair can/will turn into a major rebuild, and there isn't a cost savings.

Look at the Jackson Mississippi case. Something like 200 days out of a year they were unable to provide treated drinking water to significant parts of the rate payers. That's a Dang serious public safety problem, and yes, it was caused by 50 years of corruption, incompetence, poor planning, deferred maintenance, and bad decisions.

If you don't think the fire and police depts are needed I'd suggest you eliminate those depts and see how it affects your safety and property values. My town has neither water or sewer depts and yet we do just fine with property values very high.

 

[CloverKnollFarms]

Drill a well, build a septic. It works for a lot of us. Unless you live in the urban jungle, then you have to crap in the streets.

 

[Eagle1]

Us rural folks are used to no public water, sewer, garbage and minimal if any road services. We do just fine. I maintain ~1 mile of water and sewer lines along with the treatment system with out government help, except I get to pay the state fees to operate "public" water and sewer systems.
Volunteer fire is in the next county 6 miles away and the sheriff office is 28 miles