Yesterday afternoon, Neosho’s State Championship Wrestling team was honored during an assembly at Neosho High School. In addition to the team championship, Neosho had 14 state qualifiers, 9 medalists, 4 state champions, and 5 academic All-State honorees.
Congrats to Coach Phillips for another great season. We’re proud of all of you!
On the surface, I see the attraction. Missouri is ranked No. 1 in the nation for the number of meth labs and SW Missouri is by no means immune. But will it work? I guess time will tell.
With the “metropolis” of Joplin having other cities close by, you may just move the purchases to nearby Webb City. You also have to weigh the impact on those who truly need a decongestant from time to time when Mr. Sniffles comes to town.
For now, we can sit back and watch to see how this proposal evolves. Drugs are a problem. They have a significant cost on all of us, not just those in law enforcement. I commend Joplin for trying to do more to stop it. Ideally, a state or federal requirement will be a better “fix”. But you have to start somewhere.
It was announced on Friday that Neosho was the recipient of almost $800,000 in grant monies from FEMA’s SAFER grant program. Those monies will be used to restore the 9 positions lost to layoffs in 2010. The program funds the positions for a period of two years, at which time the city will take over the financial obligation to fund those positions.
As of Friday, Neosho’s grant was the 16th highest awarded in the nation for the 2010 application period and the highest awarded in the state of Missouri.
While this funding restores protection on the fire side, the police force has yet to see any increases in staffing. Finding additional funding for rehiring positions within our police force is still a top priority.
According to the FEMA website:
“The Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grants (SAFER) was created to provide funding directly to fire departments and volunteer firefighter interest organizations in order to help them
increase the number of trained, "front line" firefighters available in their communities.”
Councilman David Ruth was sworn in this morning after being appointed at last night’s city council meeting. The appointment was a 4-0 decision. Mr. Ruth will serve until the April, 2012 election. He is filling the term vacated by Chris Wright in January.
Below is my weekly Friday article:
As we begin to look past the immediate needs of cash flow, the next battle on the horizon will be discussions over how we deal with the large amount of long-term debt owed by our city. Some of that debt continues to burden the city’s general fund. The one that concerns me the most is the roughly $3 million owed on our 27-hole municipal golf course.
The good news is golf course revenues are more than adequate to cover the day-to-day operating costs of the course. But when you add in the annual payments of the course’s debt, the overall budget picture starts to get ugly. Knowing that these payments will continue to increase over the next five years, it becomes critical that a plan be put in place, sooner than later, to deal with this ever-increasing burden.
Over the next few months, you’ll likely be hearing about more and more discussions of what that long-term plan may be. It’s not going to be an easy fix and it’s not something that can be done overnight, but I am confident we can work together to find a solution that keeps our course operating while minimizing the subsidies it receives from our general fund. Once a solution is in place, it will be yet another step forward in making our city stronger financially.
Stay safe and stay warm. Winter looks to be back in full force early next week.
Until next time, this meeting is adjourned!
With $8.5 billion in losses posted last year (losses that are made up by taxpayers), it seems only reasonable that the government MUST change the way it does business. If this was a private organization, such changes would have been forced long ago. It’s just one example among many others where our gov’t either needs to fix it or cut its losses and run.
It was almost two years ago that the US Postmaster General first went before Congress asking that the law be changed to permit the USPS to adapt its services to a changing business environment. Lobbying continues in DC for more changes as losses continue to mount.
Those opposed the closings, ranging from residents of towns being impacted to the Postal Regulatory Commission itself, are fighting to prevent the closings citing the negative impact such closings could have on employees and local economies. Supporters say the system is outdated and losses cannot continue.
There is no doubt that cutting will be painful. And with the size and scope of gov’t today, no one will likely be immune to the impact if the cuts that need to happen ultimately come to fruition. But as the hole we dig continues to get deeper, it’s only a matter of time before we will no longer be able to afford the ladder and ropes we need to climb out of it.
It seems more and more likely that whose who love the iPhone but hate the poor service from it’s sole provider – AT&T – will now have options.
Network World reported Saturday (along with the WSJ) that Verizon is preparing to announce it’s getting a version of the iPhone.
As an iPhone user myself, I’m about fed up with the poor service in select areas, including Neosho. Verizon has had 3G here for years…AT&T is still stuck on dial-up speed “EDGE” around here.
While past changes to 405 drew much opposition two years ago when the city pursued “updating” the existing 405, did anyone realize the potential consequences it would have on new/expanding businesses in Neosho? Have we ultimately created a “non-business friendly” environment for people looking to grow in SW Missouri?
This issue comes from the small but significant change in 405 of removing what I refer to as “inclusive zoning” – in other words, allowing a lower class zoning in a higher level area (specifically, allowing commercial development on land zoned “industrial”) combined with putting more restrictive categories within a zone of what “industrial” means (what was “industrial” is now M-1 Light or M-2 Heavy.)
So what exactly does that mean in the real world?
Well, one thing it means is that anyone wishing to open a business in our industrial park today would need to have an M-2 Heavy Industrial purpose in mind. Why, because almost ALL of our industrial park is zoned M-2 Heavy Industrial. If your intent is anything else, be prepared to submit a rezoning request, pay a fee, wait many weeks, and HOPE that no one opposes the idea.
What was allowed and happened for years can no longer. And while some may still think that’s ok, let me give you some better examples of what 405 would have done had it been in place years ago:
1) Scholastic
If the flooding and subsequent relocation of Scholastic would have happened after the 405 changes (it happened prior), they would not have been allowed to relocate to their current location (and “save jobs”) without going through the costly and lengthy (and sometimes contentious) process of rezoning. Where they are today is zoned M-2. Commercial call centers are NOT ALLOWED in M-2.
2) B&B Movie Theater
If B&B would want to open a movie theater today in their current location, they could not because that land is zoned M-2 Heavy Industrial. Movies theatres are NOT ALLOWED in M-2.
3) Expanded student housing for Crowder
While some opposed the construction of Rough Rider Village (because we “don’t need residential development in an industrial park”, that apartment complex has turned out to be a great thing for Crowder. It’s full of students and employees who can now walk to work/school like others can at any other College/University in the state.
But what if someone wanted to further develop residential apartment complexes to help Crowder as it grows? Good luck! All of the land around Crowder is zoned M-1 and M-2. Apartments (R-3) are NOT ALLOWED!
I’ll add a sidebar conversation here: Like it or not, we have a Family YMCA and a Community college located in our industrial park. Do those businesses (which by the way are NOT industrial) DRIVE commercial needs? I think they do, but we’ve not made it easy for that to happen.
4) Neosho Concrete
If Neosho concrete had relocated to the industrial park (from downtown) after 405 was changed, guess what? NOT ALLOWED! All of the land on the south size of Industrial Dr. is zoned M-2. According to the current 405, concrete block plants are M-1 and rezoning would be required.
5) Any commercial business to help Crowder or the Y
Whether it’s a convenience store for Y members and Crowder folks, a Solar consulting businesses tied to MARET, or any business directed toward Crowder’s students (coffee shops, gas stations, eateries, etc.), don’t hold your breath! All of the land around Missouri’s fastest growing community college is zoned M-1 and M-2 industrial. What does that mean? NOT ALLOWED!
6) There are many more!
So where am I going with this? I think the time has come to take another look at what we really want from the 405 and whether our future land uses in the industrial park fit the current and future needs of the area. If we want Crowder to grow, shouldn’t we plan land use around that?
If other cities like Carthage can grow and prosper without such restrictions, why can’t we? Well, I think we can, and I believe the 405, while well-intentioned, is ultimately making Neosho a non-Business-friendly place to be.
An article in yesterday’s Washington Post is already predicting possible cost overruns due to higher-than-expected costs associated with the government’s new Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan. The plan is designed to cover people who have trouble getting insurance due to a pre-existing condition (i.e. you’re already sick).
The article poses the question of whether the $5 billion (‘b’ as in ‘broke’) allotted by Congress to start up the pools will be enough. That as enrollments which were predicted to be around 375,000 are only hitting 8,000.
The plan’s home page even states that the plan “doesn’t charge you a higher premium just because of your medical condition.”
To be eligible for the plan, you must meet some very clear requirements:
The article cites two cases in which the plan has helped someone who was otherwise uninsurable or would have paid a much higher rate.
More information on China's efforts to control inflation. From Reuters.
Sun Dec 26, 2010 6:09PM EST
By Langi Chiang and Chen Aizhu
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's government will be able to keep inflation in check, Premier Wen Jiabao said on Sunday, a day after the central bank raised interest rates, and he pledged to speed up efforts to rein in house price surges.
Steps taken in the past month, including administrative controls to curb speculation and monetary tightening, had started to produce results, Wen said.
The People's Bank of China raised interest rates on Christmas Day for a second time in just over two months as Beijing strengthened its battle against stubbornly high inflation.
Analysts said the latest rise showed that measures such as increasing banks' required reserve requirements to rein in liquidity were not enough on their own, and that the Chinese authorities were determined to keep inflation under control.
"We have raised reserve requirement ratio for six consecutive times and increased interest rates twice to absorb excess liquidity in the market to keep it at a reasonable level to support economic development," Wen said in a state radio broadcast a day after the rate rise.
"I believe we can keep prices at a reasonable level through our efforts. As a major leader of the government, I have the responsibility and I have the confidence, too," he said in remarks published on www.cnr.cn.
The rate rise came after Beijing said earlier in December it was switching to a "prudent" monetary policy, from its earlier "moderately loose" stance.
"The rate rise shows China is quickening its pace to normalize monetary policies," said Ba Shusong, a senior economist with the Development Research Center, under the State Council, the country's cabinet.
"The front-loaded tightening, before the peak of consumer inflation in the first half of 2011, is helpful to curb inflationary expectations," Ba was quoted as saying on the financial website www.caing.com.
AHEAD OF THE CURVE
Chinese authorities have repeatedly stressed the importance of staying ahead of the curve in the battle against inflation.
"Inflationary expectation is worse than inflation itself," Wen said in the radio broadcast.
"When there is inflation, we must establish confidence, know our vantage points and take forceful and decisive measures in a timely manner to curb price rises."
The central bank said on Friday it would deploy a range of measures to head off inflationary pressures and asset bubbles.
China also intensified its property tightening measures in April and September in an attempt to brake soaring property prices.
"Until now, the measures are not implemented well enough, and we will reinforce our efforts in two ways," Wen said.
The government plans to build 10 million units of affordable housing in 2011, up from this year's target of 5.8 million.
China will also increase efforts to curb speculation in the real estate market, mainly through monetary policies and stricter use of land, Wen said, without giving details.
Property transactions as well as land costs, a major contributor to high housing prices, have shown signs of a rebound in recent weeks, triggering concerns of more tightening.
Despite all the challenges, Wen said: "I believe property prices will return to reasonable levels through our efforts. I have the confidence."
Chinese stock markets have shed nearly 10 percent since mid-November on concerns the government would ratchet up its monetary policy tightening in the face of rising inflation.
However, analysts suggested China's share market could push higher on Monday on optimism about the overall outlook for shares in 2011.
(Editing by Robert Birsel)
While some counties are showing positive gains in recent months for sales tax collections, the City of Neosho hasn’t seen the same trend. Although December’s receipts were up over last year by more than 5%, November was down more than 8.5%. For the first three months of the current fiscal year, Neosho’s revenues over last year are down 0.86%
For the past 12 months, revenues are down 0.68% over the previous 12-month period.
The US Treasury has printed more than 1 billion (with a ‘b’) new $100 bills with additional security features. Unfortunately, the bill was so hi-tech, the treasury had trouble printing them. The result? Poor quality printing that makes some of the bills unusable. What’s worse? The bad bills are mixed with good bills in such a way that sorting them will take a 20-30 years if done by hand or 1 year if done by machine.
The solution – burn the bills (wasting the $120 million it cost to run them) and go back to the previous style.
My guess is no six sigma black belts were overseeing the QC aspect of the treasury’s printing operation.
With the GOP’s recent wins in the US House of Representatives, those who promised change in 2008 are definitely going to see it come 2011. But between now and January, many American’s are also going to see a change in their tax rates if Congress doesn’t act and act soon.
Why? Many of the Bush-era tax cuts are set to expire for the 2011 tax year. That means many Americans (not just the “rich”) will be paying more, including those making below $34,550 a year.
(I won’t post here my complaints about why democrats have made this a priority only after losing badly in November. Heck, they’ve had two years and everyone knew it was coming. But that’s for another day)
So it would seem reasonable, especially during an economic recession, that extending such cuts would be a no-brainer. After all, leaving money in the hands of the people to spend is a better option than collecting the money in taxes and letting the government spend it (Reaganomics vs. Keynesians). Right? Well, yes and no I guess.
Republicans as expected are fully behind the supply-side theory – cut taxes to drive economic expansion. No cut is too much, no income is too high.
Democrats are on board too - at least for those making $250k or less (they almost have to be after President Obama “promised” no tax increases for that segment of the population). But they don’t believe a multi-millionaire will miss a few percent of that vast fortune. In other words, – they can “afford” it. Now the battle begins.
How much income is from small business? Don’t small businesses create most of the jobs? Won’t a tax increase on the “rich” hurt job growth? What about the deficit?
I offer this – GOP beware, but DC wake up! Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for extending the cuts. Ideally, I agree that those cuts will help more than they hurt and it’s an overall good strategy that has worked before and will work again. But I also think the republicans need to concede that at some point (maybe it’s a $1 million, maybe it’s more), imposing a “small” tax increase on some in the short-run may be necessary to get this compromise done. I don’t think there is much to be gained by republicans drawing a line in the sand that such cuts are an all-or-nothing deal. That could very easily backfire and hurt them in 2012.
But I also think that all of DC, all parties included, need to understand that the country can no longer afford to spend more than we make (common sense to me, but not politically rewarding to those career politicians we send there.) We’re already facing unprecedented debt. (If it wasn’t for low interest rates, our debt would be even worse.) Without changes in programs at all levels – even those once considered off limits – our country will dig a debt hole so deep that no level of taxation will ever fill it.
Changes in defense, social security, education, medicare, medicaid, and others MUST happen. Unfortunately, we’re all going to have to suffer to fix it. But if we don’t act now, I’m afraid the fallout will be even worse.
So get the darn tax cuts extended, get past the bickering, and know that the tax-cut battle is only a small skirmish in a much bigger battle that we have no option but to win.
There’s an ongoing debate in Neosho’s world of politics as to the planned uses of the city’s voter-approved Economic Development sales tax. Some want to spend it. Some want to save it. But it boils down to a two-fold issue: WHAT CAN it be used for and the WHAT SHOULD it be used for. To get from point A (what can) to point B (what should), I’ve taken the approach of starting at A and then working toward B (vs. the other way around). While it seems logical to me, some aren’t so happy.
The tax, last approved by voters around 1995 is authorized by state statute. Specifically, it was passed by Neosho voters using the statute found under Chapter 94 Section 94.577 of the Missouri Revised Statutes. (If you want to look it up, you can on the www.moga.mo.gov site.) While the current online section varies slightly from what it read in 1995, nothing material has changed to affect its application here. (I know what because I’ve spent several hours since April researching each of the city’s taxes to ensure we were using them correctly. This included several faxes, email, and phone calls to Jefferson City requesting a number of documents.)
The debate begins with the current administration taking a cautious approach on interpreting the statute that enables the city to collect the voter-approved tax. It reads, in part, that the tax “…shall be used solely for capital improvements….” Now I’m a fairly capable guy when it comes to basic interpretation of the law and the use of common sense. It doesn’t take a PhD from Harvard to know what “shall” and “solely” mean. The word “capital improvements” is also fairly straight forward. I’ve said recently in a local newspaper that the meaning (of the statute) was “pretty clear”. The city attorney used similar language in the same article saying it was “pretty obvious”. Either way, it think the city has done the “right” thing to be conservative on its approach in using the funds moving forward.
One negative consequence of the decision (combined with other fiscal issues in the city) was the termination of the city’s Economic Development contract with the local chamber of commerce. It was an unfortunate happening as losing that “ED” focus could make Neosho less able to compete for industries and other businesses looking to expand in the 4-state area. But given the alternatives, i.e. more cuts in areas such as police and fire, we didn’t really have a choice. (To clarify, I believe all of the city’s ED committee understood the reasons and supported the city’s decision to cut the Chamber contract.)
But what is more concerning to me now is that some have hopes that the city will at some point “change its interpretation” of the statute to allow for a great flexibility in the fund’s use. Say what? How do you “change” the interpretation of seven words that seem so clear in their intended meaning? Isn’t that a little disingenuous?
Well, for the record, I stand by the city’s interpretation of the statute. The city administration and the council will work through the fallout. Eventually, we’ll be back on track to be able to do more with the resources we have. But for now, we’ve got to get a firm hold on doing what is necessary to protect the city’s remaining services and resources until this economic slow-down passes.
I’ll leave you with the full version of my quotes related to this issue that appeared this week in the Joplin Globe. Like the statue, I think they are “pretty clear”.
Excerpts from the November 25th Joplin Globe article:
Mayor Richard Davidson said the current financial situation has raised “little immediate support” for any economic project that requires the city to incur additional long-term debt. “To me, there are simply too many uncertainties in the current economic climate right now,” the mayor wrote in an email response to questions. “We need to see some good news on job growth along with increases in consumer confidence before such projects become a priority. Today, we’re simply not there.”
“Good or bad, you have a statute that is pretty clear in what you can and can’t do with the revenue,” he said. “This council is simply working to make sure we comply with the restrictions we are given by the state. I’m not happy about not funding the chamber contract, but I think it was the responsible thing to do given the circumstances. Other basic services in the city were a priority.”
