Speaking to the House Local Government Committee Wednesday, Rep. Dennis Keene unwittingly summed up why the state legislature is running in the red.
Making the case for a bill to allow local governments to set up satellite offices throughout counties for sheriffs, county clerks, and property valuation administrators, Keene stated that spreading the new offices around could turn them into "profit centers."
Asked to justify his absurd assertion, he said that it would help increase revenues because the offices would be closer to the people and would, therefore, make it easier for them to pay their local taxes on time.
The committee then proceeded to vote approval for the measure.
I'm not kidding even a little bit. Video of this will be available tomorrow.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Turning county government into Starbucks
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
A number of counties already do this. I know the county clerk's office in Pike County has a satellite office in the Belfry/South Williamson area. Of course Pike County has, or used to have, offices for their magistrates.
BTW, we need to merge counties in Kentucky but Pike County really ought to be split into two counties, due to its size and terrain.
We should merge Lee and Owsley, or Robertson and Nicholas, or Spencer and Shelby, or Montgomery and Bath, and split Pike into two counties.
It sounds like a good idea to me. It should not be onerous or a burden for government services to be closer to the people.
In contrast, the Fletcher (R) administration reduced the number and places and hours that working American could go to in order to sign up for SCHIP.
Then Fletcher boasted about how his administration was down-sizing government and cutting government expenses. Fletcher made war against Kentucky's lower income people.
Fletcher, in typical Republican fashion, rejected American values. Those values expressed by Thomas Jefferson, who wrote: "The care of human life and happiness and not their destruction is the first and only legitimate object of good government."
And yes, counties need to be consolidated. Counties should be consolidated based on population.
As for government services, they should be located close to population densities.
Post a Comment