"A Splendid Time is Guaranteed For All"

I am eagerly awaiting the January 11th, 2012, Regular Board of Aldermen meeting, I believe it will be a very revealing assembly. A fairly short agenda with an Executive Session scheduled just after roll call, this is unusual as they are generally held at the end just prior to adjourning. What this tells me is there could be some interesting twists to the evening's entertainment. I'm so excited I could just pee my pants in anticipation.

The major topic on my list is first on the agenda; the dreaded "Storm Water Utility" Tax is up for its final reading. I have railed for six years to have this ordinance failed but thanks to Bill Schuette, John Luby, Nick Guccione, and Peggy Meyer, they took it through the first two readings. It would have passed if not for a class-action lawsuit filed against MSD and the City of St. Louis for a very similar "utility." As I've written many times in the past, this is a terrible tax that would be placed on homeowners and businesses alike. Schuette's passion to get this inflicted on Wentzville residents was enormous. His "Lurchettes" did all they could do until the city attorney recommended postponing it until the lawsuit was settled. The taxpayers won, their lawsuit was successful and St. Louis has been appealing it ever since.

Almost three years has passed and those who led the charge for it to become law in Wentzville are gone from the scene except one; Alderman Nickolas Guccione. Guccione supported this ordinance through every stage of legislation and now it's back on the table for the final vote. He now faces an interesting dilemma, if he votes "YEA," as he did twice previously, he is staying true to his record and slapping Wentzville taxpayers across the face with more and higher taxes. If he votes "NAY," he's flipping on yet another issue and this one is going to be difficult to hide. It's interesting to me that both Guccione and Schuette who were most instrumental in bringing this tax forward are currently running for mayor. It is my opinion that Alderman Guccione, without the backbone of his past compadres will perform a two and a half, full twisting back flip off the high-dive and belly-flop. This vote ought to be fun.

This will also be the first public appearance of our new police Chief Ms. Lisa Harrison who came on duty January 3rd. I'm looking forward to meeting her to discuss her plans for our police department. Hearing very good things about her, I see nothing but positive signs for Wentzville's future law enforcement community.

The rest of the agenda is the usual political blatherings but I do so look forward to what I believe will be a surprise-filled evening of fun and frolic. Come on out Wednesday the 11th of January, in the words of the immortal John Lennon: "A splendid time is guaranteed for all."

Lambi Stalls Defeat of Tax Ordinance

The dreaded "Storm Water Utility TAX" rears its ugly head and gets another day in court here in Wentzville. This rancid topic has been hanging around on a meat hook for four years and the subject of two Wentzvillian blogs this year: May 25, 2011 - Bend Over Wentzville Here Comes Another TAX!; and September 2, 2011 - Storm Water Utility "TAX" Revisited. 

Mandated by the Federal Government's Clean Water Act, cities across the country are having to ensure water runoff quality. In an effort to assist in funding these new requirements states have made provisions which allows them to create a "utility fee" to pay for adhering to these new requirements.  Historically, storm water has always been paid from the general fund and the general fund comes from taxes. This new fee would free up all of the tax money regularly scheduled for storm water to be used for whatever the city wants and citizens have no say. It must be kept in mind that this is a very unusual fee and when instituted by MSD in St. Louis it was challenged in court. The court ruled it a tax, not a fee, and MSD is appealing that decision—it's still ongoing.

Introduced by; then City Administrator Andy McCown, supported by Mayor Lambi and the Lurchettes, it made it through the first two readings when Lurch (Bill Schuette) got cold feet after hearing about the law suit. Rather than realize there was something inherently wrong with this fee (tax) it was tabled by this band of knuckleheads before the third reading to wait for the outcome of the law suit.

In the board meeting of October 12th, Alderman Cheryl Kross supported by Alderman Stokes petitioned the board to bring the storm water utility fee back on the table with the intention of voting it down. Seeing  board consensus on this subject, our illustrious Chief Executive Officer (Lambi) jumped in giving all the usual excuses why the city desperately needs this and how it's a Federal mandate. He never once mentioned that the implementation of this tax was not a matter of the mandate, but only a right given to cities to impose it. Taxes are governed by a vote of the people and calling this a fee does not override the simple fact that it is a tax. Lambi flat out lied in the meeting stating; "The city has spent $400,000 in preparation for this fee." The original study was for $97,000 and they added another $20 or $30 large when the consultant was asked to do more analysis. The city spent an undetermined amount on preparing the ordinance and too many PowerPoint presentations trying to convince aldermen that it is necessary. Any money spent on coming into compliance would have been spent from the general fund anyway and has nothing to do with the ordinance. Anything spent over the items listed trying to get this ordinance made into law was counting chickens and Lambi should have known better than write checks his ass couldn't cash.

After more discussion and comments on the MSD case by City Attorney Paul Rost, the aldermen agreed to have another work session to hash it out. The tax ordinance will have to wait two more weeks before it's voted on. This waste of time concession to the mayor will be the same old PowerPoint presentations given by the staff to new aldermen who already know the facts. Between you and me, I think the board of aldermen merely want to show how the mayor lied or is hiding the fact that he spent more money on the come than he had the horse power to spend. I look forward to a very entertaining work session.

Storm Water Utility "Tax" Revisited

It's been four years since the City of Wentzville proposed the implementation of a "Storm Water Utility Fee"and had the first and second reading on this controversial ordinance. The third and final reading was postponed indefinitely until a lawsuit against the St. Louis MSD (Metropolitan Sewer District) who inflicted a similar "fee" on its citizens was resolved. From this point forward in this writing, the term "fee" will be replaced with it's actual definition; "TAX."

This bastard tax was brought forward by then City Administrator, Andy McCown in an effort to keep from paying the $300,000 per year expense from the general fund to update and maintain Wentzville storm sewers. It was picked up on by "Lurch" (Bill Schuette) combined with other Lurch-like aldermen and Mayor Lambi who thought they would hang their hats on saving the city by putting it in ordinance form. Then came the MSD law suit. Like the chicken-shits they were, the "Lurchettes" seeing the uproar of St. Louis citizens and fearing a similar situation here, back-burnered it instead of giving it an up-or-down vote. Wouldn't a normal person see—if St. Louis citizens are mad enough to bring a law-suit against MSD, maybe something is wrong with this whole stinking thing? 

Time went on, McCown retired, Lurch and the others faded away, and the ordinance was left hanging in limbo. Waiting, ever waiting until it could be brought back before an unsuspecting new Board of Aldermen who, not knowing it's implications, could have the final reading with only a 24-hour notice. Then in May of this year Dianna Wright revisited the Storm Water Utility Tax at a board meeting trying to drum up support for it. In an effort to inform our citizens and new aldermen I posted; "Bend Over Wentzville, Here Comes a New TAX," which outlines the history.

I would implore our aldermen to bring the Storm Water Utility Tax back and either inflict it on our homeowners and businesses or vote it down. It's been hanging over our heads for over four years now and it's time to take action. This current Board of Aldermen has shown great strength standing up against the mayor and the bureaucracy in city hall. They have made great strides toward fiscal responsibility and now they have the opportunity to make a difference by showing Wentzville once again that they really care about its citizen-homeowners and businesses.

Bend Over Wentzville, Here Comes Another NEW TAX!

C'mon Wentzville city government, you have got to to be kidding...you are really going to inflict this unpopular storm water utility fee (tax)? Admit it, it's just another tax on the property owners that they will have no say in how much it is raised in the future. I dug out a couple of interesting articles on the proposed "Storm Water Fee" (TAX) printed in 2008 by Echo Magazine. I am posting them here and have taken the opportunity to highlight in bold, some of the more important Items. The first asserts the damage to home and business owner's bank accounts if this vulgar display of excess power is adopted:

"Storm Water Run-off Fee

A handful of citizens were in attendance at a recent monthly meeting hosted by Ward 3 Aldermen Nick Guccione and John Luby at the Guccione home. Others attending this informal get-together were President of the Board of Alderman Bill Schuette of Ward 2, and City Administrator Dianna Wright.
The main topic of discussion stemmed around the controversial Storm Water Utility Fee, which was tabled until the outcome of a class-action lawsuit against the St. Louis Metropolitan Sewer District is determined. According to public record, the fee would be used for storm water maintenance. One citizen said, “Storm water maintenance is the same as street maintenance; it’s the cost of doing business in Wentzville and should be paid for by tax revenues, not a fee.” It was brought up that the City is minimizing the implementation of the fee because it’s only $1.10 per household, and small businesses were being burdened with the brunt of the fee; all small businesses would pay considerably more. Alderman President Schuette stated, “I’ve talked with the small businesses and they don’t mind the fee because they will just pass the cost onto their customers.” Schuette says the home owners of Wentzville will pay only $1.10 (or more) per month, but the cost of everything they buy in Wentzville will go up because businesses will be passing their share of the fee onto them—the home owners will pay for it all, and apparently that’s OK with Schuette. I’m sure Wentzville homeowners can see the flaw in his duplicitous logic.
The question was asked, “If this bill is passed, are citizens guaranteed that the $1.10 fee will not be $3.30 next month or $5.50 or more next year?” None of the Aldermen or the City Administrator could guarantee that. Such is the nature of fees; once they are implemented, if the City can show need, they can raise them at any time. As they say, once you let the camel poke its nose in the tent, it is not long before the whole camel’s in the tent. The Aldermen who support this bill are giving a blank check signed by Wentzville residents to our city government. If stormwater funds were taken from tax revenues, the cost to residents and businesses would remain constant until it is put to a vote of the people.
Alderman Luby was asked if he supports the fee, and he said “Yes.” Those Aldermen who voted to table instead of giving an up or down vote were Bill Schuette and Peggy Meyer of ward 2, and Nick Guccione and John Luby of ward 3.
At a meeting of the Wentzville Downtown Business Association, flanked by Ward 3 Aldermen Luby and Guccione, Schuette defended tabling indefinitely the Storm Water fee legislation by stating, “If we voted this down, we would be wasting the $97,000 we spent on a viability study in 2006.” He believes it’s better to inflict this unpopular fee on Wentzville residents and businesses than to admit the mistake of wasting taxpayer’s dollars by entertaining this unusual legislation in the first place. It is the opinion of this writer that Alderman Schuette is standing on a political gallows while supporting this fee. It remains to be seen which Aldermen will be standing beside him and which will be among the spectators. Call your Aldermen and tell them what you think about them giving our bucks to the city; tell them to take the money out of the city’s general fund, and not to impose a fee. Demand that your Aldermen representatives bring the storm water utility fee back on the table and give an up or down vote now. Alderman Schuette doesn’t want to give citizens a vote by taking the funds from tax revenues; the least he can do is take a stand, bring the issue back on the table, and vote for or against the welfare of his constituents and all Wentzville residents."

This next article expresses the cowardly, indifferent, cavalier arrogance of our city government to impose this TAX on our already over-burdened property owners:

"Storm Water Run-off Fee Tabled

Just before final passage, the Wentzville Board of Aldermen tabled the storm water run-off fee indefinitely. Alderman Bill Schuette, Ward 2 announced that the MSD (Metropolitan Sewer District of St. Louis) has been cited in a class-action lawsuit over the implementation of a storm water run-off fee, and rather than taking a chance on a similar lawsuit here, they decided to table the bill until the situation is resolved. The bill can be put back on the agenda for final passage at any time with a 24-hour notice.
If and when the fee is adopted, residents and businesses in Wentzville will have to dig a little deeper each month to pay for the rain. The budget would grow $300,000 because of this new and rare fee—Wentzville would be the only city in St. Charles County to inflict it on its residents and businesses. At the August 6, 2008 work session, Public Works Director Bill Bensing said, “I know of at least three other cities in St, Charles County who are closely watching the outcome of our actions.” Alderman Nick Guccione of Ward 3 remarked, “We’ll be leading the way.”
Many Wentzville residents are losing their jobs, many are facing foreclosures, and many more cannot afford to drive to work because of the high price of gasoline. We pay one of the highest sales taxes in the nation, we had a 30% to 40% increase in property assessment and are consequently paying more real estate taxes, and many of us are on fixed incomes. Small businesses are suffering with strict and costly codes at the hand of an insensitive city that imposes more and more fees and restrictions. The big businesses in town will get a 20% to 50% discount on their storm water run-off fees, leaving the citizens and small businesses to carry the brunt of the city’s windfall.
As an interesting side-note, the very evening the Aldermen had the first reading for the new fee, they voted to purchase another new 2009 Chevrolet Tahoe for $30,000. The City of Wentzville has money to keep hiring personnel, buying vehicles, and paying for the gasoline. When the storm water run-off fee is brought back, the vote results will be printed in Echo Magazine, listing the Aldermen who supported it—hopefully; this will be used as a guide for Wentzville voters to use at the next Aldermanic election. By the way, watch for the city to put on the April 2009 ballot the one-half-cent sales tax increase for storm water and parks (for the third time). Wentzville cannot afford elected officials who continually support more taxes or impose more and higher fees.
Stop the hiring, quit the spending, and
CUT THE BUDGET!"

I sincerely hope that all of you following this blog, get up on all fours and storm city hall. Pass this along to your friends, neighbors, and fellow business owners, let them know that we are sick and tired of their "money grubbing agenda." The city government needs to know; that just because the state says it's OK to implement this "fee,' it doesn't make it mandatory, necessary, or acceptable to property owners. There remains only one final vote to stick it to us, call your Aldermen!

"Stop the hiring, quit the spending, and CUT THE BUDGET!" NOW!