Sunday, February 12, 2006

There They Go Again

The easiest way to tell that a government is growing is that buildings are being added, or added to.

The Town of Fishers, led by an all-Republican town council, is growing. The proof can be found in the expansion of the Town Hall, which will begin this summer. From Bill Fouts' report in the Fishers Weekly:
The expansion is will add 18,945 square feet to the existing Town Hall and will include a “light spire” that Passen said was really more of a dome reminiscent of a capitol dome.

“It's very striking and it's going to look very different than it does now,” Passen said.

In other words, it isn't merely getting bigger, it's getting more palacial. So where will the money come from? Again, from the Fishers Weekly article:
The project will be paid for through bond issues. Huff said some bond money has already been approved.

“I don't know yet whether that's going to be enough to do it depending on all the other things we're tying to do with this building,” Huff said. “We may have to add some to it. We'll just have to wait and see.”

Translated into straight English, this means the Town was counting on the successful forced annexation of the Geist area, which would have at once added the bonding capacity, and would require even more space, because a bigger area to govern means bigger government.

That's today's GOP for you. There they go again, burying the legacy of Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.

I wish the Town Council and Manager would take stock in what allowed Fishers to develop into a great town, one that earned that fabulous Money Magazine ranking. It was the relative absence of government, the low taxes, and the tiny bond obligation. They seem bent on reinventing Marion County by growing government and bond obligations, which all leads to higher taxes, which drives people of means on to the next Fishers. Why louse up a good thing?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I guess that means you'll be leaving Fishers soon. On to Arcadia, with your weapons cache and your survivalist supplies. Maybe you can find a nice, cheap compound there, from which you can direct your bare bones Secretary of State office staff lest you be forced to drive in to Marion County where you might have to pay a few cents worth of gasoline tax or an extra two cents of sales tax for your little Starbucks latte. Sounds like Colorado should be your next stop. Good riddance!

Mike Kole said...

World history is loaded with accounts of people leaving places with less favorable conditions for places with more favorable conditions. Indeed, this is the entire American experience, as immigrants left less favorable conditions in places like Europe.

Many immigrants were scorned by the natives for doing so, in the spiteful tone issued here. America grew and prospered while Europe withered. My fear is that America is repeating history.

I guess you'd rather not address that.

If we don't address our tax issues, no matter how small they seem to you, yes indeed, people will leave places that are great today, like Fishers. That will be a shame, because we need not be tomorrow's Britain.