[NEohioPAL] Libraries, opinions

[Christopher Fortunato]

Robert is usually spot on.  The budgets of libraries are mostly covered from local sources especially millage on property taxes.  I fault Senator Voinovich for this who had the intangibles tax repealed in the 1990s.  This tax was placed on the sales of stocks and bonds, hence, it was paid for by upper income people for the most part.  The tax went to fund libraries.  It was enacted by Senator Robert Taft when he served in the General Assembly before going to Washington.

 

Since all governments are in budget straits, every public sector agency needs to make some cuts OR if the public wants, will raise taxes.  Many of these public sector agencies have highly ranked administrators making over six figures (especially school districts) but can they justify the expense?  Doubtful.  I don't think the Democrats will want to go into an election cycle next year having raised taxes or the Republicans will trot out the old wallet and padlock commercials again.

 

Tax and spend types will just have to take one for the team this year.

 
 


Date: Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:43:04 -0400
From: rhhawkes at gmail.com
To: ilbasso at hotmail.com
CC: neohiopal at listserve.com
Subject: [NEohioPAL] Libraries, opinions

Our discourse in this culture does a lot of dignifying taste, gut reaction, and prejudice with the name of "opinion". (Just watch the local news, any sportscast, talk show, game show, etc.) A real opinion, worth its salt, ought to be discussable, as taste, gut reaction, and prejudice are not. A real opinion ought to be a reasonable judgment based upon sober observation - "expert testimony", in other words.

In this particular case, I haven't enough information about where we are spending State money to offer an opinion about how not to cut funds to libraries. My feeling is that we shouldn't cut those funds (or the funds to state parks, either). My suspicion is that we over-spend in some other places. My actual knowledge of State spending and its management is insufficient to support real opinion.

RHH

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