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Taxes. The city of Evansville has lost more than 11% of its residents in my lifetime, from 132,000 to 117,000. In that time, dozens of large, innovative, taxpaying businesses left, too. Blight is obvious along Lloyd Expressway, Riverside Drive, Kentucky Avenue.
Yet, streets must be paved, cemeteries tended, traffic lights must work. Most of all, police and fire professionals deserve excellent pay, training and equipment — even with no tax base.
City and county taxes will increase rapidly without unification. Unifying for efficient governance can save us from this problem.
Unified government will save money for rural and urban areas while improving services.
A single voice will attract business and business investment. All taxes, city and county, will go up if we cling to our dysfunctional, status quo, go-it-alone outlook.
The unification plan will not raise taxes. Read the plan (viewable at www.evansvillegov.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11499). You will find efficiencies and you will not find tax increases. Unification merges our elected leaders into a single taxing unit, rather than two taxing units. For taxpayers, fighting off one group is easier than fighting off two.
Vote Yes for low taxes. Vote Yes to fund and equip our police and fire departments. Vote Yes for a single elected taxing entity. Vote Yes to eliminate attorneys: Currently city attorneys spend your money arguing with county attorneys who are spending your money to argue with city attorneys. Yikes.
We are running this community like a dysfunctional family, living in the same house but our parents not working as a team. Vote Yes for Unification and sanity.
