Fort Wayne, IN
Lsat night the Huntington City Council met for a special public hearing regarding the annexiation East of Huntington. Several members of the community spoke about the annexiation and the meeting ended with Mayor Steve Updike speaking out for the need for the Annexiation, and telling those affected by the annexiation that if they don’t like it, “move!”.
Full audio of the meeting are available by clicking on the following link.
well that was IMPRESSIVE, I can’t open my Herald Press and listen to MP3s….great content.
The Updikes are single handedly killing Huntington. Their misguided ideas, coming from a government leech background will gut this city and county very quickly if they aren’t stopped.
Huntington finally has some people doing something about it, with the Huntington Theater project, there is a bar on the corner of Jefferson and the railroad that is being restored. Property taxes are finally under control, gas price (while high) are beginning to come down, Roanoke is becoming a hot spot. But now the Updikes want to raise taxes again. How stupid.
Maybe if they would stop building fire stations 2 minutes appart they would have more money. Or if they would stop paying so many untrained firefighters when they could easily get by with a larger volunteer force.
Its time for Huntington to have smarter government, not more taxes. Be efficient, do we really need 5 office staff in the parks department? Do we really need all these small parks, when the shift is for more trails and large central parks. Do we need to be spending the extra cost for concrete sidewalks when most people prefer asphalt paths.
-Expatriot in Westfield
In instances where a city can prove it can provide services, annexations should be automatic. The people in those areas live there for a reason; so that they can be part of the community without paying for it. It is normal for the wealthiest citizens of a community to flee the city, not only for the tax free status, but also because of the ability to have larger properties and newer homes. However, when a city cannot recapture that fleeing money, it begins to decay. A prime example is the city of Gary which, in the 1970s, was the second largest city in Indiana. Now the landlocked city (surrounded by other incorporated cities) is in terrible condition. Just last week the mayor announced the real possibility that the city would seek bankruptcy. Is that what we want for Huntington. Even those freeloaders living at the edge of the city don’t want that.
A special note for the expat in Westfield: Don’t say “we” when this has nothing to do with you.
Actually, this does have everything to do with me.
See I went to HN, went to HC, still have all my money in Huntington banks, have my financial portfolio with a Huntington broker. The only reason I left Huntington was because I HAD TO. I was college educated, dedicated to staying in Huntington, I love Huntington, but Huntington prefers only to have high school graduates, hell I couldn’t even get a job at Arby’s.
Finally I had to move away to find a job, with the idea that I would eventually bring my family back to Huntington.
THAT IS WHY THIS HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH ME.
Now, to respond to your annexation argument.
Annexation should only occur after areas have been developed, otherwise it becomes an unjust proportionally of taxation. The typical city lot is what. .2 acres. Whereas, an undevelop county lot is about 1-5 acres. If the area developed it would naturally make smaller lots and distribute a city tax burden fairly.
Ok, you contend people should sell parts of their land once in the city. The problem is who will develop it? If you haven’t noticed, there is no development in Huntington, you can’t give away a house right now. The city has show no apptitude to develop anything or even retain Non-profits downtown. Look at the corner of Warren and West Park Drive. YMCA-gone, OurSundayVisitor has been under utilized since before I was born, the northeast corner has never had a consistant tennet, and the city can’t even get the school system to utilize the old library. All Dead. Need I move on to another intersection.
Then you talk about the wealthy. I guess you haven’t paid attention, Mayor Updike removed all the wealth landowners and businesses, that were originally in the annexation proposal, an hour before the public hearing. You need to pay attention.
This is nothing by a money grab. Its not random that this is occurring now, because its against the law to do it the year before a census.
Its no coincidence that the LOIT went through, and this is happening. He is setting this up to raise everyone’s taxes, because he certainly isn’t going to reduce the size of the blotted government (sidenote: did you know the city has 4 administrators for the parks department, how many people does it take to plan kids activities in the summer) but I degress.
Once Updike, gets annexation, he will flot BONDS to cover the cost of putting utilities out there (partly of set by annexed landowners). Then because he flotted BONDs the city CAN RAISE TAXES ABOVE THE 1% CAP ON EVERYONE IN THE CITY TO COVER THOSE BONDS.
Now you say, people want to uses city services without paying for them. What services do you think people are using?
Trash? NO-those people pay for it
Water-NO-those people don’t uses that
Police-Please those keystone cops are more of a burden to the city.
Fire-the township pays for that service.
Parks-Are you kidding, those parks are awful.
Library-Nope, thats a township library.
What services?
Huntington can’t maintain and grow what it has, we need a reduction in city leeches like the Updike family, has either of their kids worked outside of government?
Huntington, needs a Mayor that can sell the city, a Mayor that can operate efficiently, and show business that they will have a stable tax rate and government that will work for the city and not work for the pocket book of city workers.
I agree with stealth in the fact the Updikes (there are three working for the city) are sucking us dry even the wonderful operations manager. There is a disagreement though. Alot of the annexation area already has sewer and water ran to it and it is Huntington residents that are paying for the upkeep on that (tax dollars) and these people aren’t. It was only a matter of time before they got annexed.
undertheradar is right on the utilities, and, if these folks bought their property in the last thirty years they just weren’t intelligent enough to buy a bit further out-this kind of thing has been going on at least that long.
As far as nepotism in city employment, I trust the relatives the mayor has put in the spots he has put them further than putting someone with zero experience in charge of an entire critical department.
jrwskw, most have NOT bought their properties in the last 30 years. Thats the point, there is no development in this area, the residents have been living there for a very long time, farming the same land for a very long time. There are no subdivisions, no nothing. The only development was the ill concieved idea to put the hospital and schools out there. All development is north, why the city isn’t pushing out to 800 N, I don’t know, that’s where all the money and development is.
As for the sewer, yes some of the area had sewer and water, but who was forced to pay for it? the land owners, of which many chose not to tie into the water line, but were forced to tie into the sewer even though the septic systems were fine. The problem was the hospital wanted to be out and need a city sewer line. The are the only ones using the water line.
The residents have already shown that they can do without the city and aren’t using its services. Why should they be forced to now?
This is a pure money grab.
[...] cronies – watching this circus from afar is almost comical. From deleting government documents, screaming at citizens during town meetings telling them to move because the oppose annexation, knowingly taxing residents [...]