So what happened there?

A few thoughts about the tax level discussion after some reflection:

This was not the first, but was the most recently egregious, example of a huge dissonnance between what happened at a City Council meeting that I attended and the meeting I read about in the next day's Telegram and Gazette. It's pretty clear to me that, after so many meetings and so many years of covering it, getting to the point is really all that we're going to get from the daily. Unfortunately, this leaves out a huge amount of very significant information. Last night, it was the number and the identities of those who were testifying in favor of a single tax rate. They were not, by any means, all weathy business owners. There were homeowners, small business owners, a remarkable mix of people, nearly unanimously in favor of the tax rate. You'd never get that from the paper.

By the same token, you wouldn't have gotten that from listening to the city councilors, either. It's sad that public comment can be so unacknowledged. Thanking people for coming isn't enough.

It's clear that there's still a gap between taxation and services even in the conversation (not to say the minds) of the city councilors. I'd expect any conversation about taxation to talk about where that money goes. While it happened last night, it didn't happen nearly as much as I'd expect.

Brace yourself, folks: last night, Councilor Rosen threw in the first call for city layoffs for next year's budget.