"Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, champion of sweeping progressive initiatives, is focusing on basic services and holding taxes down in a proposed 2009 budget."Brown. Nose.
What job is Dean Mosiman looking for in the Mayor's office?
Cieslewicz today will propose a $237.9 million "share the pain" operating budget that raises city taxes $53 on the average $247,974 home.Awesome. Tax the successful, feed to welfare class.
The proposed budget, a 6 percent spending increase — the largest Cieslewicz has ever offered — delivers new money for police, fire, the library and Metro Transit, but freezes or cuts spending in many areas.
"You'll find no extreme cuts to any one agency, but many small cuts," Cieslewicz said. "We did manage to keep long-term commitments."
The 2.9 percent increase in taxes on the average home is among the fifth-lowest in 30 years, but overall tax collections are up 8 percent, the biggest increase since 1993.
"I was focused primarily on taxes on the average home," Cieslewicz said. "That is what people experience."
The mayor was able to keep taxes on the average home far lower than overall tax collections because the city has closed some Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, which put a lot of new property value on the tax rolls.
The budget, he said, "is a realistic, practical response to the challenges we're facing."Did he get the idea from Obama/Biden? Oh so practical and "champion" like.
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