Anonymous Poll: Repeal the "Why Not Dodge" sales tax. Yes or No???

The new streets and brick crosswalks are really attractive and people who visit our town and stay in those areas probably leave thinking how attractive and up-to-date we look. God help us if they get off the main drags and see the interior of this town. Oh how we need our streets fixed, sidewalks repaired (scatch that, replaced) and please sweep the streets that need it and not just the ones that could use it. I've seen people trying to improve their neighborhoods with little or no support from our city, just a little help could make a lot of difference.

OK, so I'm not really that familiar with the "Why not Dodge" tax. Is it added on to sales tax? I've seen the billboards and whatnot while traveling. How much revenue does it generate?

My kneejerk response is to say that a tax used to promote the city is a little counterintuitive. The money is used to attract businesses and people to come into the area, but the reason people don't come is because of the high taxes.

I believe that Dodge City has a very strong economy in comparison to similarly sized communities in the state. It has been spoiled for decades by the tax revenue from the meat industry. I think the local government could do a lot more with a lot less, so do away with the why not dodge tax.

The "Why Not Dodge" Tax was setup for 4 projects. Civic Center Upgrades, Racetrack, Event Center, and Legends softball complex. It was to give the CC air conditioning, build and maintain a racetrack, build and maintain the Event Center, and build and maintain a 9 field complex. No sunset date, as these will need constant funding.

IMO The tax was sold to voters primarily on a Dirt racetrack. We all wanted and needed Air Conditioning in the Civic Center. Most wanted a dirt track, but did not want a asphalt track. Few cared about the softball and event center. Individually, these would not have passed, but they bundled them, and they were voted in because of the Dirt Track and the AC, however, it was written in a way that they could build an asphalt track if they wanted to. From the day it was known that they wanted to build an asphalt track after selling to the voters as a dirt track, it should have been looked at, and re-voted, as it probably would not have passed. But, it has, and even if they repealed it, they would have to raise other taxes to keep paying for upkeep on these items.

I think it is time to delete this tax. Currently the sales tax rate is 8.95%.

Nothing costs what the sticker says anymore. Taxes are regressive and still, taxes increase yearly (mostly in the form of property taxes).

Wages are not going up. Prices however are skyrocketing. Milk is $4.00 a gallon at Walmart now. More than gas. Sheesh. And the City of Dodge wants their cut. I thought government was supposed to help people. Not double screw them in the rectal sphincter.

Government elected (non)representatives should stand up and reduce taxes. Actually cut things from the budget for once. Live without like the rest of us. I think the people would understand.

We need to keep the tax going to keep the current projects running as well as any future projects that come up. Is the amount of the WND tax really breaking anyone's personal budget compared to the benefits of the tax?

When i'm paying almost $10 for every $100 I spend, yes, It's breaking my personal bank when I'm grocery shopping on a budget. That $10 could have bought a whole other day's meals.

That's one thing I miss about Texas, no tax on food.

Disagreed. There is no reason that Dodge City shouldn't have a population of 40,000 or more other than terrible city planning and wasteful spending. I love this town. It is my home. It is also plauged with bad government (we have our very own bridge to nowhere), and unnecessarily high taxes. If the tax is repealed, then the city will find new ways to implement the things that the community needs with less money. One thing that irked me a while back was the city wanting to hire a temporary employee to evaluate the effectiveness of having bus transportation from outlying communities into Dodge City. The salary for less than a year: 90,000+ dollars. Who is better qualified to evaluate the need of a community than the community members themselves?

Another example is going into the USD 443 building to speak to some local administrator about one of my children (this was a couple years back). The guy had a brand new executive wraparound desk, ergonomic leather chair, and (I kid you not) FOUR flatpanel monitors connected to his PC! The guy was a smarmy paper pusher, not an engineer's draftsman.

I'm sure there are numerous examples of this kind of behavior in our city government that I am not aware of. I have visited many communities around Kansas. Dodge City has this ...feel to it. It feels like the whole town was built with nobody expecting it to last. Like a strong wind could come along one day, blow everything away, and nobody would bother to rebuild.

This needs to change, has to change if our community expects to remain competitive in the coming decades. I never expected to live in this place, but now that I'm here, hope to make the best of it.

1% is symbolic yet a good start.

If the city/county cannot reduce the whopping 8.95% sales tax by a single percentage point, there is not fricking hope for this town.

Just as an example, Wichita has less sales tax that Dodge. Look at that city. They have so much despite paying less in sales tax. And look at Dodge 2 1/2 hours away. We are taxed to the teeth yet don't get squat for it.

Yes. If our elected non-representatives cannot reduce their budget enough to decrease the tax by a single 1%, then there is no hope. No hope at all.

Morajic & Commander, I agree with some of your statements. I was referring to the WND tax which was voted on. There are certainly other things that could be cut. Take USD 443. When I was in Jr. High in the mid 70's, Mr. Evans, Mr. Gardner, Mrs. Ralph and Mrs. Shrader pretty much ran the whole place. ( I'm sure I'm leaving out someone). We didn't have director of this or director that etc. I know times have changed a little but damn, all of the special positions they have at 443 are a bit much.

I found this political cartoon. I think it is appropriate. Citizens are strapped. Taxed to the maximum. To the teeth. Not much more to give. Cutting into the "American Way of Life". Dodge City is the worst. Time for the leadership to fess up and reduces spending and cut taxes. Give the people some room to breath and grow without government interference.

I know there is almost no point in responding as we couldn't blow you off of your opinion with tnt, but you are wrong. Yes taxes are high, but AGAIN if you get rid of the WND where will the money come from that pays upkeep on those projects? Would you rather they raise your property tax to make up the difference? Sales tax is the fairest way to tax, EVERYONE PAYS IT, whether they live here or not. Wichita has 350,000 people that help pay for things with the sales tax, we have 30ish

doesn't matter what wichita or its county's population is. they have more costs as it is a bigger area. dodge/ford country STILL has the highest taxes and folks are getting LESS to show for it. just how much would it cost on "upkeep", say for a race track that is closed most of the year? just how much in "upkeep" on the others? maybe they ought to either be able to run in the black and pay their own way or be CLOSED and/or sold to a private business that could rather than milk the taxpayer into the next century.

EMAW!

The assumptions made by posters on this board based off ignorance of facts is quite stifling. I'm not even going to address the ones that jump out at me, as they are quite numerous in this thread alone. I wouldn't even know where to begin and certainly don't have the time. Offering your opinion on a matter is one thing, and everyone's right. Offering your assumptions and misconceptions as fact is pointless, if not harmful. A little research and perhaps even some referencing of "facts" before posting them on here as such would go a long ways to cleaning up this place.

Rock Chalk!
(see how irrelevant that was in this thread, sunshine?)

And you state zero facts or quotes in your post.

Close the race track and the baseball park. I bet that will go over well. I can hear it now.
"We paid all of that money to build them and now they are closed"
You wanted to repeal the sales tax that was funding them remember.

I am not arguing that our taxes aren't high, they are. What I am saying is if you end one money
stream you are going to have to find another!

Anytime government offers you goodies in exchange for a new tax, "just say no". If owning baseball fields, a race track, and event centers were a profitable undertaking some businessman / woman in the private sector would have already done it. I agree bundling everything together in one vote was probably the only reason WND tax passed. People who felt strongly about one idea voted for it, without giving much thought to the other ideas.

I hate to sound like a broken record, (or nowadays a skipping CD), but once government starts doing something it will not stop. It does not relinquish the authority gained from the voters unless the voters take it back. That requires a vote to repeal an existing tax, and since these projects are up and running now, if you defund them what do you do with assets that have been created? Lay everyone off, and moth ball the facilities? As soon as WND passed, it became another never ending local government program, and a drag on the local economy. By itself it's not a big deal, pile it on top of a bunch of other taxes, fees, and regulations and the total effect becomes burdensome.

The role of government is to safeguard law and order, not to supply baseball fields and race tracks etc.

How much of that money is going into the original Why Not Dodge line up that the citizens voted on, and how much of it is being funneled out into other projects that only a few people deem necessary to fund? Shouldn't the taxpayers be able to decide what local projects their money goes into?

Cross threading, What if Dodge City decided to use WND funds to purchase Mariah Hills and turn it into another Soccer Field Park? They could say it was for the good of the community, that we needed yet another place for the illegal citizens of Dodge City to stretch their legs and bird watch. A purchase like this is no different from the treasury handing out checks to various companies that think they too deserve a chunk of free funds just because it's there.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think they should recheck how much they actually need to run certain WND projects and drop the taxes down to be more appropriate.

Every time I turn around, WND is optioned to pay for new projects. This, that, and the other thing. Including expensive and unnecessary LED signs.

Looks like WND has plenty of money collected to "maintain" the original mandated projects. No need to expand the need for WND by adding new projects which have nothing to do with the original mandate.

gosh jayhawk, i forgot that you were the "assumption" police. opinion, assumptions, ande misconceptions last i checked were all still allowed (even though you chose not to address any of em.

EMAW is NEVER irrevelant!

the original idea behind WND was to create and maintain projects that would bring people to dodge. not just build the track and the event center. granted some off this money is going to projects that are quite a ways from the original intent.