Nothing's certain but death and taxes.
The death part isn't negotiable, but what about the taxes part?
If we began from square one, with no city services in place, without pre-conceptions or established dependencies, not knowing our future economic standing, could we agree on what basic services a city government should provide?
Some things are no-brainers. Most of us would agree we have to pay for services in public safety, firefighting, roads, bridges, and sidewalks. And surely we would need to pay for clean water, sewerage and drainage, lighting, and traffic control.
But what about building and operating libraries; and a body to organize and build parks, oversee recreation, cultural activities, arts festivals, and special events?
What about some of us to oversee schools, and environmental concerns?
Would we need experts to develop and maintain a city plan and land use guidelines, and to establish regulations for building codes and business operations?
Do we want to pay taxes for these things? I do. I think so.
I'm sure I've missed some things, but it's the kind of list we'd probably arrive at if we sat down and hashed out what we want from a city government; and it's very close to what our city government does now.
It's easy to complain about paying taxes - and it's so tempting to argue for a la carte taxation. I don't have a dog; I shouldn't pay for dog runs. I have no children; I shouldn't pay for public schools. I don't go to Festival Du Bois; my taxes shouldn't support it. I don't use libraries - you get the idea.
But city government is about meeting our collective needs -needs that trump individual preferences and hobbyhorse issues.
Sure, there may be too many managers, off-leash dog runs and arts festivals, but our city government is, in structure and service, much like what we might re-design were we to start from scratch - because that's how it developed in the first place.
Calls to privatize public services to save money makes private profit the goal of public service and I don't want to give my tax money to private business owners with poorly-paid workers.
But there I go complaining, because nothing's certain but death and arguing about taxes.
