“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.”

Samuel Adams

Saturday, July 09, 2011

Economics 101 in Peru City Government

There are residents in Peru who support the proposed tax increase advocated by Mayor Harl and those who consider it a bad decision. I am posting a reader post in regard to that.

Anonymous said...

What fun politics in Peru was only a few years ago when we played with chump change and handed Chamlin & Associates Inc. (Peru's engineering consultants for the last 60+ years) the MEASLY sum of $3,000.00 for 16 dots on a telephone book map and called it a bicycle path. A bike trail which ended where it started - NOWHERE.

Less than 2 years later we have become quite sophisticated, completely forgot the bike path and decided to update $7,000,000.00 of streets immediately.

In the time span between the bike path and Tiger I (the street plan for which a grant was applied for and refused by the federal government) we spent some spare cash on wind turbines but due to the fact that realization set in that this is not a good investment to make this late in the wind turbine game it has been recently dropped before more good money chases bad ideas.

Looking forward to seeing our long forgotten battery operated truck being driven over the redone Interstate May Road with s City Toll Booth collecting for our right now program. Remember the old days when we lived under a pay as you go system and everything was paid for.

The financial ideas which the Peru Administration is presently trying to adopt are the exact reason this country is in the money problems it has been experiencing and is having a horrible time of pulling out of.
Remember it was poor banking practices by overpaid bank executives and their self serving bonus programs giving out easy and inflated loans, and creative financing which put us where we are at today. Get out your microscopes and take a slow, through look at our present Peru administration.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

FINALLY LOIS YOU ARE MAKING SENSE.
We do not need to fix ALL 190 MILES OF ROADS IN PERU OVERNIGHT AND BY TOMMORROW. Why would anyone in there right mind would they suggest to raise taxes to do so for roads, UNLESS THEY HAD ANOTHER IDEA TO SPEND THE MONEY ELSEWHERE!

I would NOT TRUST OUR MAYOR OR TREASURER ONE STEP BEYOND OF WHAT I COULD THROW THEM BOTH.

Here is another reason for my disgust for these two managers ande another reason I cannot wait to vote them out of office .. They do not know how to run a city or in fact do not know how to spend my tax dolllars or anyone else's of the city.

TRANSPARENCY, LISTENING TO THE PEOPLE , that is there motto, what BS. What decision have they made in the past two years that have help the city ???????????

Anonymous said...

What is the last action you would take in a deep and long drawn out recession? A recession so deep that social security has no had a raise in two years and most likely will not have a raise in the coming year. A recession so severe that medicare and medicad are being considered in the next line of major cuts. A economic recession so bad that the United States has not seen anything similar for 82 years-The Depression. A job market so weak that unemployment is rising.

RAISE ANY FORM OF TAXES

Anonymous said...

right on!

Anonymous said...

Peruvians, spread the word to your aldermen. You want them to vote no. Apparently there are 4 aldermen who have already said they would vote no...that leaves 4 who can vote yes and the mayor breaks the tie with his yes vote. All we need is 1 more alderman to step up and represent the people. Talk to your aldermen, tell them what you want and then hold them to their vote. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE VOTE IS TAKEN. You cannot lament what you have not protested before the vote.

Senior citizens need to unite...they have not had a raise in 2-3 years...can the employees of the city say the same thing? Medicare is going to go up and cover less which means any supplement you pay for will go up as well.

Now you have the fire chief and police chief splitting the payout to ESDA. Where is it going to end. Seniors maybe eating less next year but not our city officials. They don't know what a budget is.

The Mayor needs to have a true Town Hall meeting on the state of the city. He can show at that time what he has accomplished in the 2 years he has been in office. If he wants to and/or should he run for mayor a second term, he can layout on the table. Fact and figures will tell all....then he can proceed with his fund raising for a second term or just decide to pack it in.

Anonymous said...

There are a few statements that have been made by this administration lately that make me think someone has a screw loose.
First- There are 191 miles of road in the city of Peru. I think that someone is smoking something. When I look at a map there may be 40-50 miles of road in Peru.
Second- Roads in Peru last 8-12 years. Really? I have lived in my home for 12 yaers and my road was new when it was laid and still looks like it will last another 12 years.
Third- We have done a good job with reducing spending. We had 61 employees and now have 55. Didn't people just retire and were not rehired?
Fourth- We can only cut so much out of a 10 million dollar budget. Wasn't the entire budget for the city 34 million dollars? So where's the 10 million dollar budget coming from. Didn't the budget have a 2 millino dollar surplus for this year?
Before we let these knuckleheads spend another 7 million dollars of your money can't we get the facts right.
Remember this group has already spent 7 million on combined sewer separation, 2.5 million on generators, 1 million on the sewar to nowwhere, and on and on and on.

Anonymous said...

What is the scorecard on the Alderman vote? You elected the administrative team of mayor, clerk and treasurer. We need to trust them with our vote!

Peru Town Forum said...

9:31 AM

I don't understand your thought on this subject. I vote for someone on what they say they will do but when they do not come through, they no longer have my trust or confidence.

Anonymous said...

anon 8:49...Are you stating its was misdirection to seperate sewers and spend the money on generators. That was all done prior to Harl. Don't blame him for spending money on projects that have a direct benefit to residents in Peru.

Anonymous said...

The combined water and sewer separation was on the "to do" list for the last 20 years. I believe there was going to be significant fines and penalties if the project was not completed (or at least started) in the past year. Not sure on the exact dates. Now remind me again if you could be so kind, exactly who didn't do their job and get this task done? Let's be fair, fellow bull*$%! blogger, when putting blame on the new admin. Once again, they are cleaning up someone's mess and negligence created long ago. You apology is accepted.

Peru Town Forum said...

4:45PM

You are right with your comments and also the sewer to nowhere was also not one of his projects but something begun by the previous administration.. my understanding is that the Mayor was not in favor of it but his aldermen wanted to continue it. Only time will tell if it was a good project or not.

Anonymous said...

ok none of those projects were the current Mayor's. He did close the pool, thats the resume we will go with.