Elizabethtown, KY--April 10, 2007

Good sources tell us that both Mayor David Willmoth, Jr. and Warren Wheat, Editor of The News-Enterprise, abused their positions during the latest debate over the restaurant tax proposed by the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau (ETCB).  Both Willmoth and Wheat supported the tax.

In at least one verifiable instance, Mayor Willmoth refused to let an anti-tax Elizabethtown citizen speak to the council during Monday April 9th's special council meeting regarding the tax; even though the citizen had requested in advance to do so. 

However, a pro-tax business owner was allowed to speak to the council at that same meeting.  To be fair, an anti-tax business owner was allowed to speak as well, but the denial for the other anti-tax citizen to speak was improper; especially given that representatives of the pro-tax ETCB and other pro-tax groups had been given opportunities to speak in favor of the tax at earlier council meetings.

And in at least one instance, News-Enterprise Editor Warren Wheat told an anti-tax letter writer that he would not allow certain opinions of the writer concerning the tax to be published.

Others have reported that anti-tax letters they had sent to The News-Enterprise were never published.

Any citizen who properly requests to address the city council should be allowed to address the city council even if the mayor disagrees with what the speaker would have to say regarding any issue.

And any newspaper should allow a letter writer to express opinions on a subject, even if the paper's editor disagrees with the opinion of the letter writer.

In this case, both Mayor Willmoth and Warren Wheat abused the power of their positions in their zeal to see the tax passed.  The public is not served well by politicians or editors who do not allow a civic issue to be freely and fully debated at council meetings and in the town's only daily newspaper.

Elizabethtown, KY--April 4, 2007

In another blow to restaurant tax supporters, research shows that Bowling Green, KY and Owensboro, KY--both cited frequently by restaurant tax proponents as examples of KY cities with tourism boosted by larger sports facilities to host tournaments-- do not have a restaurant meals tax. 

Neither does Louisville, KY, our largest city.  These facts make it all the more apparent that a city can develop adequate recreational facilities without imposing a restaurant tax on its citizens.

What is needed in Elizabethtown is more patience, better long-range planning, better city management, and less dependence on increasing taxes every time someone comes up with an idea for something new.

It is time for the city council to put its foot down firmly and say "No more new taxes" to Mayor David Willmoth, Councilmen Marty Fulkerson, Tony Bishop, and Kenny Lewis; and to The News-Enterprise and the constant begging of the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau (ETCB).

Elizabethtown, KY--April 3, 2007

Some people who have sent letters to the editor of The News-Enterprise expressing opposition to the restaurant tax are reporting that their letters are not being printed.

If this is true, then The News-Enterprise--an avid and ardent supporter of the tax--has lost its journalistic integrity.

If you have written a letter to The News-Enterprise opposing the tax and your letter has not been printed, please let us know by using the comment option this blog offers.

This tax proposal of the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau is being advertised as a device to pay the debt service for new city debt of $18 million dollars ( $35.1 million total repayment when interest is added over the 25-year term of the loan proposed) for new recreational facilities, and for finishing the State Theater project. Many suspect the real goal is to eventually use the tax to fund an unpopular and risky convention center, once the smoke clears.

The tax is supported by special interests like the hotel/motel association, hotel developers, and the ETCB who want the public to pay for projects that will put more travelers in their motel rooms.

The tax will cost local families thousands of dollars in additional meals taxes over the 25-year term of the debt, and the tax will still be there to burden local diners long after the debt is retired.

March 31, 2007

Predictably, The News-Enterprise endorsed the twice-rejected restaurant (meals) tax proposal again.  But the logic used by the paper--like the logic used by the ETCB and other supporters of the tax--is flawed.

In its first error the paper says of the tax, which is proposed to pay the tab--to the tune of  31.5 million dollars over twenty-five years  (when interest is added to the $18 million dollar prinicipal amount of the bonds being issued to finance city projects)-- "In business, that would be called an opportunity."

Actually, in business, it would be called sizable long-term debt.  And a business can not pass an ordinance forcing its customers to give it their money to finance loans for capital expenditures. 

The second flaw is the paper's admonition to "do it quickly."  Everyone likes new ballparks.  However, the question remains:  Should the city mortgage the prosperity of this generation and all generations of children to come for the instant gratification of building ballparks right now; even if it means borrowing $18 million dollars and piling another new tax on our citizens?  Even to E'town's biggest tax and spenders, the answer to that question should be "NO."

The admonition "to do it quickly" is the language of emotion.  This is the same kind of thinking and emotion that causes individuals, families and governments to borrow money for things they really can't afford in the heat of the moment.  The practice of hiding behind bonding schemes to conceal an addiction to overspending  has been going on for too long.

The Historic State Theater complex has been making steady progress. The council has already budgeted $300,000.00 toward the sports-complex this year alone, out of existing revenues. Wouldn't it be more fiscally responsible, and less burdensome on our taxpayers, to proceed with these projects as is currently being done-- like a family saving up for a major purchase-- instead of plunging the city into over thirty-one million dollars more in debt repayment, and dumping another tax on our citizens?

Consider this question:  If the ETCB had been successful in passing a 3% meals tax for a convention center in 2005, would it now be back to raise it another 3% to pay for the sports-complex and finish the Historic State Theater project?  Where does the demand for more of our take-home pay end? 

The third flaw is when the paper says:  "Elizabethtown City Council demonstrated a propensity for responding to the loudest voices when it rejected the restaurant tax proposed in 2005 to finance a convention center." This is dead wrong.  The council responded to the overwhelming number of voices heard in opposition to the tax in 2005.  There is absolutely no reason to think those numbers have changed.  

Fourth, the paper says:  "A large percentage of the tax revenue, if the license plates of vehicles parked daily outside Elizabethtown eating places are any indication, would come from out-of-town visitors. . ."  But that is also wrong. The great majority of the tax revenue would come from local taxpayers. Only a small percentage would come from out-of-town visitors.

Proof of that is 2006 National Restaurant Association statistics showing 85% of all meals purchased at quick-service (fast-food) restaurants are purchased by local customers; and from 60% to 85% of all full-service restaurant meals are purchased by local customers. Overall, a whopping 77% of the meals purchased in restaurants are purchased by local customers.  Therefore, it is local customers who will pay 77% of any restaurant (meals) taxes collected.

If the ETCB feels more funds are so desperately needed now, then let them raise their motel room taxes (which are lower than Louisville's), instead of imposing a meals tax (Louisville does not have one), so that out-of-town visitors bear all of the burden.

The fifth flaw is the paper's reference to the tax as a "small tax."  This proposed tax would not live in isolation.  It would be one more needle added to the overwhelming haystack of city, county, state and federal taxes already sitting on the weary backs of local taxpayers.  To call it a "small tax" ignores that fact. And some families will find it more burdensome than others. 

Every tax that has ever been enacted has just been one more "small tax."  But then it lives forever--and sometimes even grows--as the city's occupational tax did last year, when it was increased by an astounding 69% (from .8 per cent to 1.35 per cent).  The problem is not too little money collected.  It is too many projects committed to, without the money to pay for them.  This would be just one more fiscal mistake added to the viscious cycle of past fiscal mistakes.

Supporters of the tax ask you to think of "30 cents on a ten dollar meal", or "$1.80 on a $60 meal", as if you or your family will only eat out once each year.  The truth--again according to National Restaurant Association statistics-- is that an average-sized family with a household income of $59,000 per year will pay at least an additional $80 per year ($2,000 more over 25 years) in meals taxes, at a 3% tax rate.  Average-sized families with incomes averaging $70,000 or more will average paying approximately an additional $129.24 in meals taxes a year ($3,231 more over 25 years) at a 3% tax rate, because they eat out more.

Secondly, being a regressive tax, it would be an even heavier burden for people with less income. The poor, the disabled, and fixed-income individuals and families--including some children, some adults, and some eldery-- are in this group.  Every dollar taken for restaurant taxes would be one less dollar these strapped families have for shelter, energy, school clothing, groceries, health care, insurance, transportation and the other essentials of life.  Every restaurant tax dollar collected would be one less dollar available for anyone to spend at a local restaurant or any other local business. There is no such thing as a painless tax. A pint of blood is a pint of blood, whether taken all at once, or one drop at a time.

Give city government more money and it will spend every bit of it, and then--at a future date--it will be back asking for more, as it is being asked to do now, after just raising the occupational tax 69% last year.

Now is the time for the Elizabethtown City Council to stand up for  all of the taxpayers, and not cave in to the relentless full-court press the ETCB, the Mayor, and The News-Enterprise have been conducting for the last two years. Council members are being hounded by the supporters of the tax.  Those supporters have the loudest and closest voices.  But the overwhelming majority of local taxpayers would still vote against this tax, given the chance.

Here's hoping council members won't forget that as they are faced with the pressure being placed upon them by a small group of the powerful and well-connected.

Elizabethtown, KY--March 26, 2007

This article is being republished today, because all of the predictions made in the article--written March 08, 2007--came true on March 19th and March 25th, 2007.

The relentless push by the Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau (motel lobby), Mayor David Willmoth, Councilman Marty Fulkerson, and The News-Enterprise to raise your taxes is in high gear now, just days after it was predicted here. 

Re-read the article and you will see how right-on it was.

Elizabethtown, KY--March 08, 2007

Please, hand me a hankie!  My heart is overfilled with pity this morning for the poor little ETCB (Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau).

Why?  Because of today's front-page-leading bold headline in The News-Enterprise:

"ETCB to support parks plans with efforts, not dollars"

Oh (shudder), to think the ETCB is so poor (gasp) that it cannot (sigh) give money towards (tears forming) the city's (crying now) new recreational facilities project (oh, god!!!!).

WAIT A MINUTE!   HOLD THE HANKIE!

It is not the ETCB's function or responsibility to fund city  projects!  It is the city's responsibility to do that, within the constraints of existing city income!

In fact, according to the paper's story, the city has already allocated $300,000.00 this year toward the astounding $13,000,000.00 (thirteen million dollar!) projected cost of the project.  [Editor's note:  Since this article was written, the amount of this project has been increased to $16,000,000.00 plus $2,000,000.00 for the Historic State Theater project, for a total of $18,000.00.  The total payback of the loan being discussed to finance these projects will be-- including interest over the  twenty-five year amortization--a staggering 31.5 million dollars ($31,500,000.00)!]

So from where is the ETCB, and for that matter, the News-Enterprise's headline coming?  Follow me now, it's spelled:

 R-E-S-T-A-U-R-A-N-T     T-A-X

Evidently, this is a rehash of last year's Marty Fulkerson-led city committee "study" to find a more palliative excuse or justification for the city council to approve of a restaurant tax to fill the ETCB's coffers.

In Fulkerson's committee's report to the council, the ETCB seemingly replaced its unpopular idea of using the proposed tax receipts for building a costly, unneeded and highly risky convention center with a new idea.  They would instead, they said, use the funds to help the city build the "Field of Dreams" recreational complex.

The stretch made in their presentation was the fields would from time to time be used to host large tournaments, that would theoretically draw crowds of tourists . . . er . . . .visitors . . . er . . . f . . . fa . . . fan . . . fans of the competing teams to town.  So, ya' see, it's tourism.  That's right, tourism, ya' see.

HOWEVER, when councilman Ron Thomas pressed the committee to say the ETCB wouldn't later want to use some of the taxes to build a convention center, the study spokesman said, in effect:  "well, . . . , er . . . , nope, I didn't say that." 

It is so tiring for the ETCB and the paper to require us to constantly remind the taxpayers and city council members that the citizens of this community overwhelming and openly spoke against such a tax just a few years ago at a public hearing held at the Pritchard Community Center.

But the ETCB, Fulkerson, Mayor David Willmoth, and the paper have never given up on finding a way to pressure the city council into passing the tax.

The truth of the matter is the ETCB represents the only local industry that I know of--the hotel industry--that constantly begs the city to tax our citizens for its welfare. And "welfare" is the correct word:  corporate welfare.

The ETCB has its own interests at heart, and any tax proposals it makes are inherently conflict-of interest proposals.

The seemingly unquenchable thirst of the hotel owner/operators and developers of this town to create a public subsidy for their industry is unjustified and unseemly.

Sure, they make pithy speeches about creating jobs and bringing in money to town (evidently, attracted by investing taxes collected from you and I instead of their own private funds). But their real goal is to fill their hotels, build new hotels and increase their profits. 

The hotel owners and developers--through the ETCB--are working to get you and I to pay for increasing their opportunities. 

You will probably see either or both of the following in the near future:

1) The ETCB or Marty Fulkerson (with Mayor David Willmoth behind the scenes), will have someone approach the city council with the restaurant tax issue again, using the "Field of Dreams" issue in a cynical way to get a public subsidy for their industry;  and

2) editorial(s) and/or stories in The News-Enterprise supporting the idea and giving the ETCB or its proxies the opportunity to push their justifications for a restaurant tax.

Today's story was just the opening salvo in this year's push for the restaurant tax.

Taxpayers need to remain vigilant and out-spoken in their opposition to these moves, regardless of what clothing the wolf wears.

Or, as Red Riding Hood once said:  "But Grandmother, what sharp teeth you have!"

Editor's Note:  Now read the following story, written after the ETCB did show up at the March 19th city council meeting to ask for the restaurant tax for the third time in two years!

Ellizabethtown, KY.  January 3, 2007

Here are just some of the taxes we already pay.  And to think The News-Enterprise, The Elizabethtown Tourism and Convention Bureau, Mayor David Willmoth, Marty Fulkerson, and Tony Bishop want us to pay more taxes!

Accounts Receivable Taxes

Building Permit Taxes

CDL License Taxes

Cable Taxes

Cigarette Taxes

Corporate Income Taxes

Dog License Taxes

Federal Income Taxes

Federal Unemployment Taxes

Fishing License Taxes

Food License Taxes

Fuel Permit Taxes

Gasoline Taxes

Hunting License Taxes

Inheritance Taxes

Insurance Taxes

Inventory Taxes

Internet Service Taxes

IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax)

IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)

Liquor Taxes

Luxury Taxes

Marriage License Taxes

Medicare Taxes

Occupational Taxes

Personal Property Taxes (Autos, Recreational Vehicles, etc.)

Real Estate Taxes (County)

Real Estate Taxes (City)

Recreational Vehicle Taxes

Road Usage Taxes (Truckers)

Sales Taxes (On everything we buy at retail, with very,very, few    exceptions for some grocery items)

Service Charge Taxes

School Taxes

Social Security Taxes

State Income Taxes

State Unemployment Tax

Telephone Taxes (Federal, State, Local)

Vehicle License Registration Tax

Watercraft Registration Tax

Well Permit Tax

Workers Compensation Tax

And this is not all! And yet, The News-Enterprise wants to scold us for not wanting to pay more taxes on our meals to fund a convention center!

It takes five months of labor to pay our taxes now! 

Isn't that

ENOUGH?????

January 2, 2007

The News-Enterprise is obsessed with raising our taxes.

Just two days after calling for a city-owned convention center and the taxes it would take take to fund it (their favorite tax for this is a restaurant tax), the News-Enterprise editorial board once again called for increased taxation on the citizens of Elizabethtown.

The News-Enterprise continuously beats the drum for more and more taxes.  At no time in recent memory has the paper objected to any new tax. In fact, the paper stridently endorses and pushes  any new tax proposed.

The News-Enterprise argues that raising taxes is just something the city council has to do, regardless of whether the citizens approve of it or not. The paper continuously demonstrates a lack of regard for the taxpayer, and insinuates that the taxpayer--the goose that lays the golden eggs--should be ignored.

And why? Because, the paper argues, government and the people just must understand that the city just has to have more revenue (the paper's code word for taxes) to fund new projects. Huh?

Well, we say "Whoa!" No, we do not have to increase taxes to fund new projects! The city just raised the occupational tax from .8 to 1.35 per cent! The county school board just raised our property taxes fifty dollars per one hundred thousand dollars of property value!  The city schools just raised our taxes.  The Big Oil companies just raised our gasoline prices again last year.  Interest rates went up last year. Inflation raised the overall cost of living last year.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! What we have is a city government that spent itself into the red, necessitating the occupational tax increase last year.  What we have is government at all levels spending too much money on too many frivolous "projects",  instead of focusing our "revenues" (our hard-earned tax dollars) on core infrastructure and services.

For The News-Enterprise to continually attempt to brow-beat our officials and citizens into increased taxation is shameful and arrogant.

What we need is another newspaper that speaks for all of our citizens and not just a few elitists who evidently have more money than they do sense.