| Detector.
I will agree with some statements that you made. I lived through “Gunsmoke Day’s and the show was one of the best. Today things have changed. The problem with people in Dodge they sit on their as- and do not attend meeting. They depend on The Globe, but meeting’s that I have attended Eric or whom evers stories in the paper is only his/her version. The same applies to the Nation’s media.
Your family has been around Dodge long enough to see changes let’s start with Urban Renewal. That was a deal where several old timers made a ton of money. Have you been to Ft.Scott, they kept their old building fixed up the outside with a coat of paint and did some remodeling inside? We had the same thing in Dodge, the same type building, old with a lot of history. In come’s Urban Renewal, which took out 75 Mom & Pop type businesses in the downtown area. With that swipe, our famous town history went out the door.
Sure it would be great if we had a lot of tourist coming through Dodge, but very few will spend time checking out our history. You can get almost any information about Dodge on the net.
What we are doing living in the past when Gunsmoke made Dodge famous. People do not want to accept the fact Boot Hill is a Has Been and it will only get worse. Strong words but read on.
Getting back to my statement about attending meeting, the last meeting in January of the CFAB board, the City Mgr. and City Clerk made a large spread sheet listing all money received and spent on Why Not Dodge project from the start to a projected date of 2033.
What pis--- me off our Great Paper was in attendance but they will not publish this. Our City Clerk and City Mgr. did a very good job on this. And I am not a fan of our City Mgr. You wonder why they have this projected till 2033, because that is the year the bonds would pay off for the Special Event Center. They have used the lower figure, 37 million dollars for an example. IF,IF,IF, and the City Mgr. made the statement with this spreadsheet figures, no money would be included so that Boot Hill, Roundup, Depot, could not depend on a hand out. This will be cutting it to the bone. Example. If the Estimate on the Event Center should come in over 37 million it would have to have something cut out. No EXTRA item would be allowed. No add in Alternates. Also they do not have any amount figured in to have a slush fund like the racetrack to give to the Lessee.
Mr. Stark’s face turned BLUE. He did not have anything to say. Have you noticed they have not been making glowing statements for the news media?
By the way. The principal, $37,000,000 in 30 years, the total amount of Interest and Debt service will be $62,583,892 dollars, if the Bonds can be sold at 4.10%.
Remember down the road anything can change. If and this is a big if, should the amount of sales tax revenue fall short, they have projected in the year of 2033 this should amount to $7,014,041 sales tax dollars. We have had 3 years when the amount that was received was less than the year before. The City and that means YOU, Me, the Taxpayer will have to pick up the tab with an increase in Taxes that you pay. I hope this does not happen but it could. We have a lot of Homeowners leaving Dodge. Look at the amount of Homes listed For Sale.
Our Tax Base is the highest in this end of the State, Maybe State wide, as I do not have the figures for 2007.
Total Mill Levies for County’s below.
Ford County, 172.896 (Dodge City)
Barton County, 160.027 (Great Bend)
Reno County, 153.070 (Hutchinson)
Seward County, 136.382 (Liberal)
Finney County, 128.300 (Garden City)
Saline County, 117.722 (Salina)
Ellis County, 115,065 (Hay’s)
Getting back to the start, Tourist’s would be nice, Clean Businesses YES, something for our kid’s to return home to. Not a blood and gut factory. It’s possible that our Downtown store space has more Hispanic Storekeepers than anything else. Is this what the Tourist want to see? I can not see how our Chamber of Commerce, (same people that are promoting the Event Center) can not see, the outlook for Dodge isn’t that great. Sorry, forgot this bunch has been running Dodge since Urban Renewal. Question? How many Chamber members have made any improvements to their downtown buildings? Another question, do you shop downtown? I bet you do not.
What about the request for a new Jail? More taxes. That’s another story.  |