Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Growing nowhere view: 100 Days of Reality

100 Days of Reality in Duluth, MN - A Shrinking Community

Mayor Don Ne$$ and his administration’s first 100 days are here and with the positive campaign behind us, the reality is only starting to set in for Duluth taxpayers.

Duluth homeowners are looking at an average $7,500 per household for sewer improvements at the same time the City of Duluth funds tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on the likes of the Great Lakes Aquarium, Sister Cities programs, railroad studies, golf courses, unsold low-income housing and more.

It doesn’t stop there for Duluth homeowners as they can forget about the street monies from the Community Investment Trust, CIT, proceeds from the Fond-Du-Luth Casino agreement. The original plan was that property owners were to pay 25 percent of the cost of street improvements abutting their property. The Ne$$ Administration and Duluth City Council are looking at assessing somewhere between 75 and 100 percent of street improvements on the backs property owners. Duluth residents can say “so long” to the CIT street program and the pilfered estimated $60 million dollars of CIT funds.

Over a $5 million dollar budget shortfall is facing the Duluth taxpayers for 2008. This deficit hardly includes the increased energy costs and fallout from the national recession.

Over $270 million dollars of taxpayer obligation for retiree health care remains grossly underfunded for Duluth City employees and retirees. This issue seems to have been forgotten with all of the other governmental dysfunction.

The ISD709 Red Plan, a $437 million school district bonding improvement plan which the people of Duluth were not allowed to vote on, is directly competing with the city government need for more dollars.

At the same time, Duluth has a poverty rate twice that of the state average and the pressure is only beginning to be felt by those Duluth residents and business that do pay taxes.

Duluth is well known as a “labor town”. This past election Duluth Political Action Committees, PAC, contributed 233 percent more than the previous election, $130,000, to getting their candidates elected. These PAC expenditures were mostly led by the government worker unions, AFSCME and the Duluth Fire Department PAC.

Compile this with Minnesota ranking the 6th highest in per-capita taxes in the nation, 2nd highest corporate tax rate nationally, and is ranked 45th in its friendliness towards small business; you don’t need a degree in economics Duluth to conclude in serious financial trouble.

Speaking of economic degrees, in 2001, the Knight Foundation commissioned Ned Hill, a Professor and Distinguished Scholar of Economic Development at Cleveland State University, for an Economic Summit and presentation to the Duluth City Council. The tax base has remained relatively the same while expenses continue to go up and liabilities such as the unfunded retiree health care over doubled. Unfortunately Professor Hill’s message was ineffective and change continues to be uncommonly difficult in Duluth.

In 1960 Duluth had a population of 106,884 and today 86,319. Today there are approximately 26,000 area college students, thus Duluth’s actual year round population is estimated to be only 70,000.

Duluth city government has a long tradition of capitalizing non-essential core services and providing some of the best paying government jobs and benefits to its workers. The time to pay the piper has arrived. The actual number of taxpayers contributing to the tax base is too few to meet the obligations cause by decades of neglect and mismanagement. A population drop is imminent as more of the obligations are force upon the remaining taxpayers. Sadly, many will find it impossible to meet these demands.

After nearly nine years of Ne$$ in the system, as an elected official, one can only conclude that what's another 100 days?

The Ne$$ Administration 100 day agenda can be viewed at: http://www.duluthmn.gov/city/government/mayor/100_day_agenda.pdf


My name is Tony Ramone and I approve the use and reproduction of this opinion.



Sunday, April 6, 2008

Incompetent view: Never mind Duluth residents can pick up the tab


Duluth property owners are only starting to get a taste of the irony coming as they are faced with an ever growing list of Duluth public projects and the price they will have to pay because of hundreds of millions of dollars of incompetent city spending.

The latest City of Duluth announcement will cost many Duluth home owners an average of $7,500 each ($61 per month for 20 years) for fixing Duluth’s aging sewer system and eliminating sewer overflows into Lake Superior.

In the typical “just a little more” Duluth fashion, Duluth Mayor Don Ness is recommending a $60 to $80 million dollar fix for the overflow problems including a $10 per month clean-water surcharge to all resident utility bills.

Never mind the extra on your electric bill every time that sump pump kicks in as it is “just a little more”.

Never mind the fact that over $15 million City of Duluth tax dollars have gone in to an aquarium that most likely will never function without public assistance.

Never mind the fact that the City of Duluth leadership has chosen to spend several millions of Duluth citizens’ public monies on the Wet House, a low income facility for chronic alcoholics.

Never mind the fact that the City of Duluth leadership has given out millions of dollars for low income housing loans with no interest or repayment required.

Never mind the fact that the City of Duluth made a $10 million dollar bonding screw up on the now over $20 million dollar and growing SMDC parking ramp.

Did Duluth City leaders forget there is a $300 million dollar unfunded retiree health care obligation for current and future residents? Ah never mind, right?

This year Duluth city leaders voted to use $40,000 of city monies to fund the railroad feasibility study. How much more Duluth taxpayer commitment will be needed, only time will tell? And yes, never mind that many Duluth residents pay state and federal taxes that will provide the majority of funding for the railroad.

The dollars above would have easily paid for new sewers and better streets, the infrastructure that a city should provide its citizens.

Then there is the ISD709, school district, Red Plan which alone is a $437 million dollar project financially threatening many of Duluth’s residents.

Whether you own or rent in Duluth, looking ahead a few property owners may actually benefit from eminent domain, as it may be their only way out before total financial collapse of Duluth.

The delusional Duluth leadership needs to look at reality and answer the question; how much more can they tax and fee the declining number of tax paying Duluth property owners? Duluth had a population of approximately 107,000 in 1960 and only 85,000 today.

Then there is even a bigger never reported in the media question; Was the WLSSD system in Duluth designed to handle all the growing communities surrounding Duluth that have joined the WLSSD system and has this expansion contributed to the sewage overflows that Duluth residents will be flipping the bill for?