COUNCILMAN’S CORNER
The Mayor and City Clerk and City Council members will be sworn in at the City Council chambers in the City-County Building at 1 pm on Thursday, January 1st. Everyone is invited so feel free to come to the ceremony after which there will be a reception. Once again, thanks for your support during 2003! Let’s keep working together to make Fort Wayne the best city it can be!
Recent state legislation in response to concerns about rising property taxes on some residential properties threatens to hinder the ability of Fort Wayne and other cities to provide basic services such as police and fire protection. The court mandated shift of property taxes from businesses to residential properties is already hurting the pocketbooks of owners of older homes within the city. Despite the fact that the Mayor and City Council have worked hard to hold city property taxes well below the legal maximum new state controls have essentially frozen property taxes. There seems to be an ongoing pattern of unfunded mandates on local government. For example, the President and Congress tell cities and towns to provide more “homeland security” but provide minimal funds for our public safety personnel. The EPA requires local communities to “fix” combined sewer systems but provides no federal funding for this “unfunded mandate”. The State of Indiana pressures schools to strengthen education but funding lags well behind that necessary to realistically get the job done. It sometimes seems we’re emphasizing improving Iraq’s infrastructure more than ours here at home. This is a worrisome trend—let me know what you think!!
I’ve been working with Fort Wayne’s Purchasing Department regarding what I feel is a valid goal—to “BUY LOCAL” whenever possible. As you are probably aware the City and County spend tens of millions of dollars on everything from paperclips to $250,000 fire trucks and multi-million dollar structures such as the Coliseum and the new Grand Wayne Center. The extra benefit in buying goods and services locally is that any taxes collected (such as income taxes, etc.) are more likely to be returned to our city, county and state to pay for essential services rather than going to Ohio, Michigan, or other states. Indiana state code makes it somewhat difficult to “buy locally” but there is a certain degree of flexibility in state law. I’m encouraging Fort Wayne’s Purchasing Department to take advantage of any available options to purchase goods and services from local vendors!
Finally, Indian Village representatives and I recently met with City Traffic Engineers to discuss measures to prevent drivers from speeding through Indian Village in order to bypass one or two traffic signals. That type of driving places everyone—especially kids—at risk and usually saves drivers no more that 1 or 2 minutes drive time. Thanks to the Indian Village representatives for their activist approach to problems such as this one—I’ll continue to work to make Indian Village and all neighborhoods safer places to live and raise kids!
Give me a call or send an email with any constructive thoughts or suggestions for strengthening the 4th District and Fort Wayne!
Again, Happy New Year and keep warm!
Tom Hayhurst—City Councilman
4th District
432-8418
tom.hayhurst@verizon.net
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