Residents of Bowling Green expressed concerns at last night’s city council meeting about the 0.08 percent tax increase proposal that failed to pass in November’s election.
A Bowling Green woman showed concern on businesses and services to potentially be cut by the increase and why these businesses and services specifically were being looked into because of a lack of funding. The 0.08 percent tax increase was originally supposed to be provided by city residents.
Council President Megan Newlove, 3rd Ward, looked to her fellow councilmen with concern on how to answer the resident’s questions before coming up with a response of her own.
‘Right now we are going over options, and have been going over options for the last several months on what our plan would be if the tax increase did not pass,’ Newlove said. ‘If anyone has any questions, feel free to contact any of us.’
Mayor John Quinn later talked about what he thinks will be a good plan for the city.
‘Right now we are waiting for the new council to get situated until we start working on the budget for the new year,’ Quinn said.
‘It is not just the bad economy that has been leading to the problem of our general fund,’ Quinn said, ‘but the property tax that supports a large part of the Parks and Recreation fund will be up for renewal, which adds to the dilemma.’
‘This is an ongoing problem since 2008 and we’ve been working at creating a solution for the last 14 months,’ Quinn said.
Residents should be expecting to vote on a new tax increase on the 2010 ballot, he said.
In terms of announcements, the Human Relations Committee will be putting on a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration at the public library Jan. 15. University
President Carol Cartwright will be the guest speaker and the Brown Family will be providing the entertainment.
The 2010 Census is coming up and Quinn said city folk are encouraged to participate. This year will be different for censuses than those done in the past because the count will consist of all of Wood County and not just the city of Bowling Green, he said. A complete count committee has been created to make sure everyone in the county is accounted for.’
