18% Property Tax Increase - Plan of Action

I'll state it now.

The council said it was an emergency and they raised our property taxes. This is only acceptable if, when the emergency's over the taxes are lowered.

I was at the meeting when the City Council deliberated, listened to public comment (if you could call it that) and voted on the proposed property tax increase.

The City Manager presented plenty of diagrams detailing the emergency. The City Council bought it and despite much opposition during the public comment period voted for the increase.

I'm not discussing whether this could've been avoided, I'll discuss that later. I'll simply tell you I believe it was avoidable. Here I'm discussing what to do now that the increase has been approved.

So we have an emergency and have to fix it. When I was an EMT I faced life and death emergencies. In such a situation we acted and got the victim to the hospital immediately where their emergency could be fixed. Now I ask you, after the emergency is ended and the patient has recovered, does the hospital keep them? No! I repeat, no. They release them.

We should do the same with this property tax increase. If this really is an emergency and our elected officials thought so, then let's fix it and follow the hospitals example and lower the taxes after the emergency's over.

Other candidates state we need experience, but seem to think experience on the planning commission is what's needed. How does this experience lower taxes?

We need experience all right and we need someone experienced with delivering products and services to it's customers, while reducing costs and still maintaining profitability enough to give employee raises for the last three years. Does this sound like WVC?

I work in an R&D lab with a company that's eliminated tens of millions of dollars from their annual budget and we're still receiving raises. Our customers are still receiving the same quality of service and products. Our company is profitable.

I'm experienced at generating ideas; I'm experienced at researching my ideas and the ideas of others to reduce costs, provide better products and services and increase the profitability of the company. I'm experienced at working with a team that's successful at this.

My company is now implementing an idea of mine that will save $600,000 annually. I can do this for my company, I can do this for West Valley City. Ideas like this will make the City profitable. The emergency can be resolved and we can then lower taxes.

Please ask yourselves, do you want lower taxes? What ideas does anyone on the City Council, the City Mangers office or my fellow candidates have to do so. Read my blogs, I've recorded many courses of action that would lower taxes and I have more.

We want Liberty. I'll fight for that Liberty.
We want lower taxes, I have the experience and the desire to lower them.

I'm for lower taxes! I'm for liberty!
Jeff White