in the land of the stupid, the village idiot is king..
UPLOAD THIS MAP FOR LOCAL REFERENCE POINTS:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Fort+Wayne,+IN&aq=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=33.352165,53.876953&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Fort+Wayne,+Allen,+Indiana&ll=41.079933,-85.139408&spn=0.030991,0.052614&t=h&z=14
SOURCE ARTICLE:
http://www.news-sentinel.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110330/NEWS/103300335
COMMENT POST:
i thank the NS staff for their patience in this post, it isnt the kind of topic that can be made in 2 or 3 lines, or a limited debate amongst the preaching to the choir.
We have all read or heard of white trailer trash rednecks winning a 100 million dollar powerball lottery ticket, and ending up broke, drunk, and living under a bridge within a year, with nothing to show for it. This is precisely what our city doo-doo for brains leadership, and so-called entrepreneurs want to do with the city light lease windfall/slushfund. mark my words- it will be wasted in shortt order, sold to the highest mayoral bidder who is willing to sell YOUR soul to the local devils who own, run, and control everything, to line their pockets, keep their mistresses, their luxury cars, and their mcmansions in the poshest parts of this city. in other words, whores, whores, and more whores.oh- and political prostitutes. At least a real whore can take a bath, and wash off the filth. The kind of filth i'm talking about doesnt come clean.
so heres the numbers 40 million bucks, cash right now in the bank; another 40 million bucks in annual payments of 2-3 million per year. plus 25 million bucks stached in a "rainy day"/slush fund/surplus by the city government, and another 25 million bucks stashed away in the county government "rainy day fund"/slush fund/surplus. so
40 +40+25+25= 130 million bucks of OUR MONEY; that THEY say IS THEIRS, and that THEY SAY THEY KNOW HOW TO SPEND IT BETTER THAN YOU.
if a politician said they wanted to buy your vote with your money; then take that money, and give it to their campaign supporters, special interests, developers, contractors, and their cronies,families, friends, and their faMilies and friends, you would show them the way to the guillotine, wouldnt you?
Well, this is exactly whats happening with YOUR MONEY. for the past 30 some years, we have all been overcharged for our electric utility bills, and that excess billing has gone into a slush fund, called the city light lease fund. However, the benefit is that the interest on that surplus has been used to pay for various local projects, while keeping the principal intact.
key words- principal, investment, interest.Just like if you have money in the bank, and SPend the dividend check on things, while keeping the money in the bank.
Over the past 30 years, that pot of money has grown to 40 million bucks, or so. the rest of the money they are talking about that makes up the tOtal of 75 million bucks will be paid back to us in dribs, and drabs of about 2- 3 million bucks a year, not one lump sum payment, as it should be. Let the power company corporation/cartel pay us all of it all at oncE, and let them worry about the annuity payments. that way, we have all of the money , all at once. Its the difference betWeen accepting a lottery check in one lump sum, or in annual payments, only there is no tax penalTy, for WE THE PEOPLE.
nOW YOU UNDERSTAND THE AMOUNT OF MONEY, AND HOW THE SETTLEMENT IS STRUCTERED.
Next- what to do with it.
The wisest thing to do is to keep the money(principal) in the bank, invest it wisely, and use the interest/dividends to pay for projects in perpetuity. Much like the various endowments, and foundations sue their money to fund local needs, and grants.
I had an opportunity to tool around the central city today, the oldest neighborhoods, and streets closest to downtown, especially near the Ballpark, but also about a mile radius, north of the old Penn Central RR tracks. click on this map link to get familiarized:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Fort+Wayne,+IN&aq=0&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=33.352165,53.876953&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Fort+Wayne,+Allen,+Indiana&ll=41.079933,-85.139408&spn=0.030991,0.052614&t=h&z=14
So since our city overlords are hell-bent on spending this money-OUR MONEY/YOUR MONEY then either make them spend it on renovating/improveing the local property tax base/ housing stock; by giving us money to repair/improve/renovate our homes, in the approximately area aof the above map; or give it all back to us in the form of a rebate check, or residential property tax abatement/holiday .
Ballparked- this 130 million bucks stashed away is about 2000 bucks for a family of 4, or 500 bucks for every citizen.
Why? so OUR MONEY doesnt line the pockets of rich, greedy special interest/earmark/pork barrell projects, or bailouts f dubious projects of previous administrations , or spent into paying downthe citys deficit/debt, where we cant re-finance our collaterized debt obligations, and the money is in effect up in smoke.
Investing in our housing stock/property tax base ( US) with a n appropriate lein to collateral ize this money, will keep the cash in our own pockets- inthe form of equity/increased real estate values, without wasting it on dubious "economic development projects or other schemes cooked up by local 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation "entremanures" to use phrase that an inner city lady missionary coined.
So to repeat-
1st- keep the money in the bank to prevent greedy, scheming rednecks from raiding and absconding with OUR money, like Wall Street greedheads. 2nd- invest it in our housing stocke/property tax base in the form of community self- subsidized home improvement/renovations/remodeling projects to increase the overall tax base and real estate values of our coty( NOT GENRTIFICATION, BY THE WAY).
OR 3rd- to give us our money back, inthe form of 500 bucks each, or 2000 bucks for a family of 4 to invest, spend, or do with whatever we please- local stimulus, to grow our local economy out of this recession.
that was simple, wasnt it?
NS ARTICLE TEXT
Spending divides GOP mayoral candidates
They differ on how to allocate city's $80M share from sale of old city utility
By Bob Caylor
of The News-Sentinel
The three most prominent Fort Wayne Republicans competing for the mayoral nomination found some areas of strong disagreement Tuesday in a lunch forum, including the best way to use the roughly $80 million from the lease and sale of the old city utility.
“We need to pay down debt,” said Paula Hughes, who was on the Allen County Council for two terms. That's been a major theme in her campaign, and again Tuesday she cited the doubling of total city debt – from $211 million to $405 million in seven years – as a key challenge the city faces. She said servicing the debt already consumes nearly half of the $23 million a year the city receives from County Economic Development Income Tax, or CEDIT.
Opponents Eric Doden and Liz Brown disagree with her emphasis on paying down debt.
“When you have liquidity, you don't use it to pay down debt,” Doden said, drawing a parallel between his experience in business and the work of running government.
He said spending cash to push down debt levels diminishes the flexibility of a business – or a government
Instead, he advocates lending relatively small portions of the City Light proceeds to help leverage private investment in economic-development projects.
Not only would that provide a 5 to 7 percent return on the money, but it would add jobs, increase the tax base and improve the city's quality of life.
Brown, who is now an at-large member of City Council, said the city's debt load is scheduled to diminish soon. Many of the bonds will be paid off by 2016, she said.
“I think where we are now is sustainable,” Brown said. “Things are going to be tight in 2012 and 2013.” Brown pointed out that what is reported on a financial statement as a debt may be better than the expenditure it replaces. An example is the cost of issuing bonds to cover the purchase and renovation of Citizens Square.
Instead of paying rent to Allen County decade after decade, roughly the same amount of money will now be devoted to purchasing the building, Brown said.
Roughly $38 million is being held in a community trust fund built on a portion of lease payments for the old City Light utility since 1975.
Indiana Michigan Power Co. and the city have agreed on a $39.2 million price for the utility to buy the remaining assets of City Light. I&M would pay $5 million of the purchase price up front, with $34.2 million to be paid over 15 years.
The deal depends on approval from the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
The luncheon forum, moderated by Indiana News Center broadcaster Ryan Elijah, was sponsored by Leadership Fort Wayne and held at Don Hall's Guesthouse, 1313 W. Washington Center Road. Republicans Terrence Richard Walker and Fred Osheskie Sr. also are candidates in the Republican mayoral primary.
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