by Gary Snyder
Huntington County residents should be very proud of their County and City Government today. The Huntington County Council voted to raise income taxes on an already strapped middle-class by .35%. What that means for the average family in Huntington is an extra $177 a year in taxes. It was truly an amazing sight to see member after member of the Huntington County Council, except for the only incumbent on the ballot this fall, John Hacker, speak so passionately on why they need this money more than you do. Mr. Hacker and the other two Republican Candidates for County Council didn’t even bother to show up for the meeting. The Republicans were so excited about the prospects of raising taxes, Huntington County Councilman Steve McIntyre and Mayor Steve Updike (pre-annex meltdown) showed up to opine in favor of taxing their constituents even more. It appears the talking points and rally cry were “We cut all we can and you will lose services.” Well, we as a public would almost believe you if you had any credibility left. Under the Republican County Council and Mrs. Branham’s leadership, your budget has gone up by nearly 75%, but we can’t cut any more can we? It is amazing grown-ups still believe elected officials.
The statement’s that most leave a lasting effect from last night’s meeting is Kathy Branham telling us that “she knows more about this than we do!” and over at the City Council meeting when Mayor Steve Updike (post-meltdown) told people on the verge of having their homes annexed by the city to “Shut-up and get on board or move!” Do those two statements by our elected officials need any more commentary?
Now with all that being said, the County Council meeting was not a complete failure for Huntington’s middle-class. Without the huge turnout in opposition to having our taxes increased and constant pressure from you, the public, I have no doubt the tax and spend Republican County Council would have increased the income tax by the 1% recommended in the $35,000 study. So a huge thanks to those who stood up and forced the County Council to at least reign in the huge tax increase they were about to give us. Hats off to you! No longer will Huntington show such blind faith in a political party and finally judge a candidate or elected official by their actions and not the party they belong too. Now I am sure I will be accused of “bashing” the other side and it is unfortunate they cannot distinguish between dissent on public policy and personal attacks. Finally, I would like to leave you with a comment from a speaker at last night’s County Council meeting, I will let him remain anonymous because he is a big Republican and I wouldn’t want to embarrass him. He said, “I am a Reagan Republican and Republicans don’t raise taxes. I can’t believe I am standing here and watching the Republicans fight to raise taxes and the Democrats over there fighting to cut taxes.”
Bash away my friend.
Only in Huntington would they spend $35K to an out of town firm to get a study to raise taxes. Why not put that money and effort into finding areas to cut services that most citizens don’t receive anyway. Or how about cutting staff. Does the mayor really need an executive assistant in this age of computers?
These city leeches need to go.
What does it take to get these individuals impeached?
Gary-How much did the average family’s property taxes go down earlier this year?
Of course, that would be the average family that actually PAID property taxes because they OWN property.