Special Meeting on Muni/Police Building & Financing

A special meeting Monday of the DeKalb City Council and the Financial Advisory Committee is set to examine two Municipal Building remodeling/building options with emphases on police station space needs and improved access for people with disabilities. The Good One of the options presented includes a proposal to sell off city property worth $2.2 million…

Comments on Wednesday’s Aldermanic Forum

Fifth Ward Alderman Ron Naylor seems very proud that the FY2011 budget is down $700,000 from FY2007. I went through those budgets and counted more than 40 positions eliminated since FY2008 — but, assuming a little hiring has been done this past fiscal year, let’s say we’re down about three dozen. There’s been virtually nothing…

TN Homeowner Fails to Pay $75 Fee, so Firefighters Watch His House Burn

Firefighters watch as home burns to the ground: If you live on unincorporated land near South Fulton, Tennessee, and don’t pay a $75 per year fee to the city for fire protection, the firefighters are not allowed to save your burning house. What a terrible policy. Because of it, a neighboring house also caught fire.…

Bell to Refund Property Taxes It Overcharged

The State of California is forcing the city government of Bell, a non-prosperous suburb of Los Angeles whose administrators were among the most highly paid in the country, to refund $3 million in property taxes the municipality overcharged. About 4,000 property owners will be reimbursed under the plan. Bell is not the only California city…

Time to Look at Bell

Home to 37,000 people, Bell, California is one of the least prosperous suburbs of Los Angeles at a per capita income of about $24,000, yet its residents pay the second-highest property tax rate in Los Angeles County — even higher than that of Beverly Hills. The taxes have gone to pay some of the highest…