Comments on: Understanding Government Finances Is Taxing Situation

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:23:15 +0000

And all I want is one police officer posted around the clock in my emergency room for our safety…….is that too much to ask for your healthcare workers who save lives in our community?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:44:01 +0000

Thank you for finally posting information on this issue. I have personally tried, and failed, to convince a friend that the financial resources used to build the Forum could in no way have gone towards the city schools/ education, repaving roads or sidewalks in Raleigh or anything else in the never ending list or worthy projects in Memphis. Taxes are a complicated matter, and like all issues plaguing this community, a little education would go a long way in helping the masses understand how the city actually works. I often read “simple solutions” that begin with phrases like “why don’t they just…” and it’s obvious if they would…”. However, the reality is these matters are far more complicated than many know and thus solutions and changing these fundamental financial support systems can be equally complicated and difficult.

By: memphisj

memphisj — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 13:49:06 +0000

It’s also interesting to note how much of that money goes to sport venues/arenas. I recently read a piece indicating that U of Maryland sports economists have studied stadium funding over 30 years and failed to fine an example of a single sports franchise lifting or stabilizing the local economy.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-zirin/how-sports-attacks-public_b_486639.html

The piece indicates that in the last generation some 30 billion dollars in public funds has been spent on stadiums.

Having been in Memphis for about 20 years and hearing the promises of what the Pyramid, FedEx forum and Liberty Bowl renovations will do for the city (at what cost), one has to wonder if we’ll ever learn this lesson.

By: Zippy the giver

Zippy the giver — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:39:07 +0000

A public audit of MCS might reveal as much as $300 million in overcharging, waste, employee bloat, and corruption annually. Maybe even $200 million more.
Right now, per student, you pay ivy league prices for substandard education at MCS,
Our peer cities comparison revealed that we have more than double the city employees than any peer city and get less than 1/2 the service for more than twice the price. Is civil service considered a charity job?
Since the economy has contracted 56% so should the burden.
Memphis was already 100% too high.
How about reducing the citizen’s burden by 156%?

How much would fixing all that reduce the tax burden.

Begin the blame-storming and flamewar for the unpopular post.

By: Gene Pearson

Gene Pearson — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 16:40:52 +0000

Admittedly tourism (conventions, tour groups, families, individual visitors) is an important part of Memphis’ economy; and even though the mass of tourism jobs are low income, some pundits say such jobs are the best fit for Memphis.

When the 1980 Jobs Conference set tourism as a high priority for spending $20 million from Governor Lamar Alexander, many people questioned an emphasis on minimum wage jobs in the tourist industries (restaurants, hotels, gift stores, etc.). Pitt Hyde, who chaired the Jobs Conference responded by saying that these jobs were “resume builders” for young people who would use the entry level jobs as stepping stones to higher paying jobs.

Maybe this is true sometimes, and we certainly can find successful managers/executives who started out in the “mail room”. However, a college degree or advanced vocational skills are usually necessary for advancement, and Memphis has a dearth of adults with the necessary education.

Thus, it seems logical that we would annually spend $35 million for a few years on education (not necessarily at MCS) before we spend it on debt service for a new convention center.