People have been asking me about my position on taxes. It's simple really. Without getting into the argument about whether or not Greensboro is the highest taxed city in North Carolina the fact remains you pay too much in taxes. Problem is: we can't just lower taxes without first addressing the reasons taxes are so high.
So why are taxes so high in Greensboro? Well let's begin with the fact that Greensboro is 2044 of 2570 Cities In Money Management. Greensboro's City Council has a long history of simply spending more money instead of learning how to manage money better.
When I am elected Mayor of Greensboro we will find the leaks and plug them before we spend more. We have to.
Speaking of plugging leaks: this nonsense about upping your water and sewer bills to pay for improvements and repairs to the water and sewer system has a big leak. You see, they're saying they need to spend $25 Million. Okay, I can see that. So why not spend the $22 Million plus they're planning to spend to build water and sewer to an unneeded megasite in Randolph County on Greensboro city needs and then ask for say $3 or $4 Million to cover the difference.
After all, if your car breaks down in the middle of the desert and you have the ability to fix your car, do you fix the car and drive, or do you abandon the car and walk to the next town to buy a new car?
What do they take us for, stupid?
Some things we are stuck with as commitments have been made and contracts signed. Trying to get out of them would only land us in court with even more expenses to pay. Examples are our current contracts with Downtown Greensboro Inc and the International Civil Rights Center and Museum. The contracts have been signed so the bills must be paid.
A fine example was Robert v City of Greensboro. The City made commitments to Eric Robert, failed to meet them, then spent more in legal bills then what they owed Mr Robert.
But we won't be entering any more such contracts under my watch.
Speaking of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum: how many of you were aware that Mayor Vaughan and her husband Donald Vaughan were major stockholders in Carolina Bank-- the bank which held over $700,000 in debt against the International Civil Rights Center and Museum?
That might explain that $750,000 check that got written without approval.
Speaking of failure to disclose, something that has troubled me for a very long time is Councilman Tony Wilkins. Now I'm not accusing Tony of having done anything per say but I want you to think about the night he was appointed to City Council.
Like myself, Tony had been blogging critically about City Council for a very long time-- almost a decade, I think. And to secure his appointment to City Council the existing council demanded that Tony remove his blog and everything on it from the Internet so that no one could ever again see his criticisms. Not just a few offensive posts but his entire blog.
Now I admit the big lipped characters could be seen as racist but Tony had posted a lot of facts to his blog as well-- why get rid of the facts too?
Now I was in attendance at that night's meeting and Tony's willingness to accommodate them in order to be appointed to office rather than wait just a few months to run for office against candidates who really had no chance signaled to me that Tony Wilkins was willing to do anything necessary to get that appointment. Anything.
And I'm betting that's exactly how then Mayor Robbie Perkins and the rest of the Greensboro City Council took Mr Wilkins' gesture that night as well Anything to win the favor of Greensboro's established status quo. Truth no longer mattered as long as he got the job.
And if you'll quit calling him a conservative long enough to look at his actual record you'll see I'm right.
I promise you, when I am elected Mayor of Greensboro I will do everything in my power to topple Greensboro's status quo and never will I remove my blog from the Internet.
Come back next time for If I Were Mayor Of Greensboro: Part 27 and catch up on the rest of my platform at Billy Jones For Mayor of Greensboro 2017.
