Archive for April 25th, 2006
Neighborhood Boy Scores Again
County Treasurer, Jim Rokakis, a native of our great and wonderful land of Brooklyn Centre, has an Op-Ed article in the Plain Dealer today that is a great start to a dialogue that needs to be discussed in Cuyahoga County.
When 64% of the county’s residents and businesses pay real estate taxes that pay for services that 100% of the county’s residents and businesses use, we need to discuss that fact. Not in a way that places blame or points fingers, but in a way, that discusses the very real issues that face us today. These issues face us today, but how we handled them “today” will benefit or hinder future generations of taxpayers.
Recently at a City Council Public Safety Committee hearing, Councilman Mike Polensek stated this grim fact–the City of Cleveland faces a substantial decrease in its revenue stream–$800,000 less in real estate tax revenues and the city income tax revunue was flat resulting in no increase in revenues. I believe that Councilman Polensek said that the decrease in real estate tax revenues was a first time event in his years as a councilman.
County Treasurer Jim Rokakis is speaking to these stark facts and telling us and his fellow community leaders that something needs to be done. Our county treasurer is doing what we elected him to do assessing problems, looking for alternative, innovative ways to solve those problems, and asking the business community, government officials and the community to come up with solutions that will allow our community to prosper in the future.