I think many citizens who came to the council meeting tonight walked away very happy with the outcome. It seemed like we were going to be in the discussion phase forever of either keeping the same mileage rate as last year or raising it as the City Manager had requested to keep the same level of service as we all now enjoy.

As you might have guessed many people got up and spoke in favor of keeping the same mileage rate as was passed last year. Many told of their hardships in which they are going through on a daily basis. Most echoed the same voice, saying I have tightened my belt, it’s time you council members to do the same.

There also were in attendance a few who stood up and pleaded with the council to raise the mileage rate?!? I believe they were worried some General Services would be cut, such as Police, Fire, and Emt service. Thanks to the credit of all the council members everyone in the audience was assured that would not happen!

When the council members started their discussions it seemed for a few minutes that we might indeed see a new higher mileage rate. To start the ball rolling Mayor Hart passed the gavel to the Deputy Mayor and quickly made a motion to raise the RATE! She rather quickly got a second from Mickey Hopper saying that she had more questions. The net result of their action only received 2 votes and 3 nay votes.

It seemed that Jarim Fertic and Jay Polachek didn’t want to go any further than last year’s mileage rate. They both stated many phone calls and emails had convinced them that many citizens were in dire straits with their current bills. Jarim said I think we need to help the people out. Jay made a motion to keep the same rate as last year and Jarim made the second. The vote was taken with Jarim Fertic, Jay Polachek, and Tom Griffin voting to keep last year’s rate while the two ladies voted no.

It appears as of now no employees will lose their jobs. It does however appear that St Cloud’s WIFI will probably not survive along with many other non-essential items. An emergency fund that the council has will offset a portion of the shortfall in the budget. The council will have another meeting to make any further changes.

Well, Thursday night’s meeting did have a good attendance of citizens. It looked to be all local people, not a Bussed in person among them, Mr. PRESIDENT!! Some questions were out in left field. The same old complaints of council members spending your tax dollars on frivolous items kept coming up, such as the Stevens Plantation and the lot at New York and Lakeshore Avenue. The lot at Lakeshore, with all the costs to include attorney’s fees, would have saved close to $600K in the cities account. The City Manager said that the city will be about $1.5 Million short in the budget for next year. Wow, there’s about 1/3 of the money we need, wasted on land!

I know some of you will say good and some will say bad idea. Yet, much of your tax dollars have been spent on the city’s WIFI and all of the TECH SUPPORT that is provided annually. Now, that’s over half million dollars. They have spent that money, failing to trim even a little fat from next year’s tax budget. It appears they want to raise your millage rate, which will mean more money out of your pockets. It seems to be a game, raising your deductions, lowering property rates a little, and then raising the millage rate!! The net result; everyone pays a little more than last year.

Nobody at Thursday night’s meeting suggested firing any of the city’s employees. I think the words were, if the council doesn’t reduce the spending of your tax dollars, there may be layoffs-If only because of their wasteful spending. I believe a citizen said they didn’t want to see any of the city’s employees laid off. I’m hoping the council will heed the wishes of the taxpayers and look for any cost savings they can find in the budget first. The quote for the day should be “COUNCIL MEMBERS, DO YOUR JOBS !!” Save us, the taxpayers, a little money for a change. The cry has gone out for “LOWER TAXES.” Hopefully in our trying economy, council members will vote with common sense to lower St. Cloud’s taxes…………. .