I find it amusing that the water quality fees are increasing, and the school board is complaining.
Perhaps they could get special treatment like Volkswagen and not have to pay the fees. Then the rest of the taxpayers could fill in by paying just a little more. Why not? It is only money, and the politicians seem to think the taxpayers have an endless supply.
Dwayne Cales
heardacry@yahoo.com
Hixson
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My very first thought when I heard that the VW Plant would not be paying the water quality fees was to start to believe why the rest of Chattanooga's water quality fees went so high. My fee went from $36 a year to $115.20 a year for my home in East Lake. That is 1/3 of what my property tax is for the city. You cannot even take this fee as a deduction on your federal taxes.
It seems city government is needing money badly all of a sudden. My water bill has a charge for sewer wastewater charge of $10.37 each month already. In a year's time, that is $124.44. From what I understand about this water quality fee, it is for run off into sewage lines. I am now going to pay a total of $239.64 for sewage and water quality fees. I really cannot hear anyone even explaining how or why these new water quality fees are needed so badly and so quickly or what they are for.
Chattanooga is cleaner than it ever has been. What is going into the sewage that we have not had going in for the past 100 years? I understand we will get 4-5 engineers and maybe 25-30 people for new jobs for some department in the city government. What are they going to do with all this money they will receive? By the time these people get their salaries, just how much of this money would be used to really help in some way?
If the fees had gone up a little each year, you could be better prepared to pay them. What about all the other companies that might possibly want to build at Enterprise South to support VW? Will they be exempt also? If I had a company that would be built to support VW, I would surely build in another county or in Georgia to avoid this outrageous high water quality fee.
As for Hamilton County Schools, I am sure their fee will be reduced or waived due to some special ruling or exception. They don't have the money to pay for this either.
Our home property appraisals went sky high in a recession. Now our water quality fees have done the same thing, and we still are not out of this recession. Unemployment is still high. People are still losing their homes, cars and anything of value they can't pay for. Why would anyone wants to buy a home now in Chattanooga with outrageously high water quality fees? Why will a business want to open its doors, knowing they will have high fees for waste water quality? I have heard several businesses are moving to Georgia to avoid paying this water quality fee. Seems that is what the home owners might need to do also.
It beats me how the politicians that make decisions in Chattanooga think that the taxpayers can keep paying when they don't have the money to pay. They are driving people with homes and businesses out of Hamilton County into other counties in Tennessee and Georgia to live and work. As it is said, it's only money.
John Appling
East Lake Area
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Political and government brainpower must be on tax revenue drugs. These people are addicted to the almighty dollar for their special interest and their pay checks. It is called legal theft and supported by the laws they put in place.
As a small business owner, the government, local, state or federal has done absolutely nothing to help me other than to tax me to death. In the end I and my employees are going to need to get some of our money back as we may become dependent on the government to keep us up. This will happen when they finally tax me to the very end and it is no longer worth being in business.
The solution will be to shut the doors, tell all my employees goodbye and good luck. No longer will we have health insurance or a pay check. I will no longer be able to support the almighty tax system. In fact, I and my employees will be seeking every kind of government help possible: housing, food stamps, unemployment checks, health care, etc., etc.
Yes the political and government brainpower will have another problem to contend with, they will be getting zero dollars from me as I will be getting welfare dollars from them. Just makes no sense to me how they can make this work. It makes one wonder if any of these people can do math.
They are so smart that they have become stupid. They do not support small business or do anything for us. So in the end, when all small businesses close their doors and start sucking off the rich powerful political and government system, they too will go broke. Then again these smart people will probably start stealing from and pointing fingers at each other while trying to get our bailout money back from the banks. However, the bankers will have run off with the money by then and be drinking, smoking, and laughing at all these smart people under a palm tree on some foreign island.
It is sad times in America as our mighty political and government system is shutting our country down. I wonder if I were to move to Mexico or India and open a hot dog stand that their government would support me with no interest loans. Maybe I could buy some hotels and convenience stores to go along with my hot dog stand.
As far as any water runoff tax, I think I will rent a bulldozer and dig my parking lot up and plant grass. However, if we were all to do this, they would come up with a grass tax. They are just such smart people with a degree in theft. When you see one of them, give them a pat on the back and see if they need a dollar or two to help them out with their almighty tax dollar drug addiction.
I still hold hope that Obama is going to buy me a car, a house and bail me out in the end.
Michael G. Mansfield
Chattanooga
mgm.allsouthent@att.net