….We have approx. 70 boroughs, townships, whatever you want to call these little kingdoms in our County. The more services and paid employees these ‘kingdoms’ have and provide, the higher the taxes!
….Municipal unions are bankrupting the taxpayers. Unreasonable pensions and health care that nobody else can afford are the main cause of taxes going up, not only in the city but all the way up to the US government. I would love to run for office, serve two terms and retire with a pension and health care that no business in the US can give me, would not you? This insanity has got to stop my friends….
The population of Lancaster City is approx 55,000. There are more children therefore more to educate therefore the highest school tax with Columbia Borough a very close second. Do our children and grandchildren need air conditioning, swimming pools, Astro Turf when there are no jobs for them when they graduate?…
We as responsible people cannot spend unless we have the money to spend. We need to hold our elected officials responsible…
Rick Gray was reelected by so few people when the Republican Party sat back to complain and had no fresh person to run against him.
Before we want to throw out the County Government from Lancaster City, we need to get people and businesses to move in, so that the city can grow and thrive. All that has been done is spend money, money the city did not have to do streetscapes and for a Convention Center that by legal process does not pay taxes! The city owns a hotel that does not pay taxes, and it should not even be in the hotel business.
The County building on Queen and Chestnut will save millions in the long run and should entice new business to open to service the workers. The Court House brings business in, just take a look at all the upscale homes that some of these lawyers are buying and fixing on Orange and Duke!! Lawyers are the only ones that are making the money these days to afford these homes and offices.
$150,000 to do a study on a Trolley Car System, shame on Gray and shame on the County for giving $20,000 to do this. The County gave a million dollars to the Music Academy with promises of bringing business into Lancaster City. Personal egos were massaged, $24 million in debt sits on Prince Street. When that building becomes empty, who will buy it?
LGH is doing a little to help the cause. They are smart in offering their employees up to $10,000 to buy in the city and have created zones. ‘A’ zone protects the value and growth of the hospital itself and ‘B’ zone helps out the West Side with Franklin & Marshall College. All this is in the name of revitalization; however, on the short side, residents on the west side are losing their quiet neighborhoods as F & M takes over additional housing.
LGH will also give up to $2500 for exterior improvements to those purchasing homes in the city in these zones. My personal opinion is that LGH is very smart to assure property value stay up as well as help in revitalization of the city. It is too bad that they do not have a zone C, all the rest of the city where property values are less and more of the service workers at LGH can afford to buy.
Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership (LHOP), a program funded by the County until last year when the city threw in some bucks gives $5000 interest free to help households earning less than $42,000 to buy a home. This money is to be paid back when they sell or when they have it. That is our money and should be paid back in a timely fashion. Asking for a report on where all the $8.5 million has gone since the beginning of the program was like asking Fulton Bank and the Housing Authority Director to do a task that was confidential!!
The politics in this City, County and State are by far the lowest of the lows and that is on record. Look what Armstrong did to pay back his debt to High. Now you will see Mike Sturla come up with funds to help Gray to protect his hide and pay back his debts all in the name of good government. Let’s not forget Barley, a middle class farmer, goes to Harrisburg and leaves a multi-millionaire, all from a State Reps. salary and perks as the former mayor of Lancaster once called favors.
City residents can attend council meetings and board meetings of the city and are surprised to know they can even attend school board meetings, it is time to educate our children and grand children that they can take back their city, county, state and country.
I like the way this person thinks and writes… really only omitted one factor… LNP, who monopolize the daily news dissemination as to what favors them and their cronies. Thank goodness for Newslanc and others that provide the ‘real’ meat and potatoes for Lancaster County and City!!!!
Keep up the good work…
I would like to add a comment regarding Lancaster City’s convention center and the PAM. Who did the originators think would support these projects? Yes, the buildings, at least the PAM, is gorgeous although I question why the performance area only seats 400. The ticket prices are high for the average family as well.
What I really resent is the arrogance shown by those who have come here with their “visions” and architectural plans and reports. The downtown, right now, is not a destination. There will be those who argue this observation, but see for yourself…downtown Lancaster is NOT a welcoming, attractive destination at night. And I don’t believe a visitor could fill a whole day of sightseeing and shopping downtown. I truly don’t see that.
I have said it before, we need a vote of those affected by these projects of yea or nay. At this time, really nothing is hidden from us….we are getting our faces rubbed in it….. Within the last two years, I attended a meeting where Lisa Riggs (James Street Development) was speaking and I questioned the need for “The Crossings” shopping area across from Long’s Park…her answer was along the line of it doesn’t matter if anyone likes it or not. “The Crossings” is coming. What arrogance!
The highest school tax beside Columbia does not come from the most children; it comes from a tax base that is falling apart.
To receive taxes from a property it has to be listed on the tax rolls. Well please look at all of the property that is tax exempt for various reasons.
Keep raising taxes and you will keep loosing people to cheaper districts. The city is in serious trouble with not a good way out of its problems.