The Council meeting and the Reflector follow-up on the  Council rejecting the 2014 tax hike rescission has me scratching my head in wonder.  As has been known for a long time, the City has been stockpiling tax receipts in various and sundry accounts, moving funds from the general fund to obscure funds where they can be tapped for any political reason management is trying to impress. The 2014 tax increase just added to this booty (pirate talk).

When Calvin Mercer and his allies ( Smiley, Blackburn and Croskery) decided to raise the privilege tax to City businesses to an obscene level , the State of North Carolina stepped in and not only eliminated the tax completely in 2015 , but made it retroactive to 2013 to wipe out Greenville’s piggish 2014 privilege tax increase.

Instead of tapping in to the massive reserves hidden in the City financial statement to cover the modest shortfall in the 2015 budget; Calvin et al decided to raise property taxes.

The audit has confirmed that the tax increases- all three of them- were not needed to balance the budget for 2015. There are millions available in the City books. In addition, there will be a massive windfall in 2015 from this unnecessary tax of the citizens.

Kandi Smith, seeing this massive windfall coming, wanted the City to reverse the2014 tax increase on our citizens.  Since the Council was reviewing financial information and this was a financial issue, the City Attorney was way out of line in his comments and displayed his incompetence; fortunately the Mayor made the right call and allowed the motion to move forward only to be overturned by Mercer and his minions not wanting to address their erroneous tax increase made earlier in the year.

Folks, the City Council is a joke.

Terry Boardman

Greenville