LOL @ my small hometown building $8M park and now raising taxes to highest in county

[eddiehaskell]

In a town of 5-6k these fools wanted to build a $8M park with 4-5 baseball fields 3-4 miles from the center of of the city. Now raising property tax 10 cent because the cities finances are in trouble. These people are just like the average americans....spend and think about how to pay later. :|

[r32gojirra]

Good thing you don’t own anything

Now you don’t have to pay the tax!

5D chess move OP well done

[CanuckGame]

If your towns anything like my town, the junkies will be super appreciative of their new place to shoot up their drugs, dump their needles, camp out in the playground, and piss and chit everywhere.

[ScrillaIsBake]

I wonder how long until they offer you 75k to demo your house for the land

[HMFIC_BROWSIN]

These municipalities should be embarrassed how they get raped by the tradies on these projects.

In AZ they built a small "splash pad" and charged the city $2 million for it...... I mean it is absolute robbery. A concrete slab with some sprinklers attached to it is not worth $2m.... Especially because the city already owned the land, so the $2m was strictly for the construction.

[LateShow]

These municipalities should be embarrassed how they get raped by the tradies on these projects.

In AZ they built a small "splash pad" and charged the city $2 million for it...... I mean it is absolute robbery. A concrete slab with some sprinklers attached to it is not worth $2m.... Especially because the city already owned the land, so the $2m was strictly for the construction.

Should’ve swooped in with your woman-owned contracting business and put in the lowest bid of $1.9M, then paid some illegals cash to make it

[Godfrd824]

Good thing you don’t own anything

Now you don’t have to pay the tax!

5D chess move OP well done

Lol. If the local Arby's closes down or stops mailing coupon books OP will starve.

[HMFIC_BROWSIN]

Should’ve swooped in with your woman-owned contracting business and put in the lowest bid of $1.9M, then paid some illegals cash to make it

I think the mayor just pays whichever contractor will launder him a portion of the money back or something.

I don't see how else this is possible. That splash pad couldn't cost more than $250k, and even THAT seems too high.... $2m is some kind of fraud behind the scenes.

[eddiehaskell]

These municipalities should be embarrassed how they get raped by the tradies on these projects.

In AZ they built a small "splash pad" and charged the city $2 million for it...... I mean it is absolute robbery. A concrete slab with some sprinklers attached to it is not worth $2m.... Especially because the city already owned the land, so the $2m was strictly for the construction.

theres a nice plaque in the park with names of the city government people, designer, construction company, etc. out of curiosity i looked up the grading/construction company and what do ya know....the project manager for the company is a dude that was a few grades ahead of me in school...star athlete, sister a cheerleader (both now fat as butterballs) and his dad is on the city council. he had probably been working there maybe a year before the project was thought of. i was like dang...that's how small cities be.

[TastyTheTreat]

Let me guess, local politicians are democrats.

[Godfrd824]

In a town of 5-6k these fools wanted to build a $8M park with 4-5 baseball fields 3-4 miles from the center of of the city. Now raising property tax 10 cent because the cities finances are in trouble. These people are just like the average americans....spend and think about how to pay later. :|

Damn, 10 whole cents. I didn't even catch that first go around. I knew you were having financial difficulties OP, but if 10 cents is breaking the bank then IDK what to tell you.

[eddiehaskell]

Let me guess, local politicians are democrats.

not sure but the city votes like 80% republican

[eddiehaskell]

had one person tell me "who cares about property taxes going up...just work a little more" and that it doesn't matter to renters. i was like well...as a landlord do you not think higher taxes will factor into me raising rents? a lot of the long time locals are still in shock about homes they could rent for $700/month 10-12 years ago now being $1500+.

[frankdtank20]

I think the mayor just pays whichever contractor will launder him a portion of the money back or something.

I don't see how else this is possible. That splash pad couldn't cost more than $250k, and even THAT seems too high.... $2m is some kind of fraud behind the scenes.

Post 1960 Infrastructure 101. Congrats you passed without even formally taking the test.

[r32gojirra]

had one person tell me "who cares about property taxes going up...just work a little more" and that it doesn't matter to renters. i was like well...as a landlord do you not think higher taxes will factor into me raising rents? a lot of the long time locals are still in shock about homes they could rent for $700/month 10-12 years ago now being $1500+.

You’re not a landlord though

[TwoTailedSperm]

I think the mayor just pays whichever contractor will launder him a portion of the money back or something.

This is always how it works. Might not be directly laundered back in actual dollars but politics is always about that quid pro quo.

[eddiehaskell]

This is always how it works. Might not be directly laundered back in actual dollars but politics is always about that quid pro quo.

yeah, like for this project the council members son was over...perhaps the job could've been done for $4-5 million but they ran it up millions more with kickbacks that eventually come later in some good ol' boy roundabout kinda way. oh your family member needs a $20k driveway poured at their house....well we can take care of that. oh and council member's son that got us that job via daddy...surely you should stay with the company and you definitely deserve this raise coming up...and this bonus. no point in attempting to come in under budget when the council has already approved x millions of dollars despite knowing the tax payers couldn't pay for it or afford to maintain it.

[FelixTheCat1919]

Literally anything a government pays tradies to do, they get raked over the coals hard. It's a requirement for them to overspend 50%+ to get anything going.

[Anachron]

I wonder how long until they offer you 75k to demo your house for the land

Why would they need to demo?

He can just tow it somewhere else.

[FelixTheCat1919]

You should get a load at how much local municipalities want to pay for bullchit like new fancy sports facilities for the local high school sports teams when the 70 year old facilities they've been using are just fine and would be for another 70+ years.

[eddiehaskell]

You should get a load at how much local municipalities want to pay for bullchit like new fancy sports facilities for the local high school sports teams when the 70 year old facilities they've been using are just fine and would be for another 70+ years.

I have no doubt. When you have a small town full of good ol' boys in construction, there's no doubt that on a project like a unneeded $8M park...a lot of the buddies are getting paid top dollar to do things. Small towns are setup perfectly for this type of corruption. if a handful of people say anything what are they actually going to do about it when the people in control are all in the same network since childhood and take up for each other?

[kcadrenalin]

These municipalities should be embarrassed how they get raped by the tradies on these projects.

In AZ they built a small "splash pad" and charged the city $2 million for it...... I mean it is absolute robbery. A concrete slab with some sprinklers attached to it is not worth $2m.... Especially because the city already owned the land, so the $2m was strictly for the construction.

Exact same thing happened here. Town of 15,000. We just spent 5 million on a splash pad in an existing city park near downtown. It just opened this weekend.
I looked at the pictures and thought maybe 200k to build. Hell they are spending 5 million to put in a round-a-bout in just down the street from me. That intersection is going to be fuked up for a year while they are doing it.
I will say the town is in good shape debt wise and property taxes are pretty stable. But still seems like a lot of money for tradie stuff.

[xxAchillesxx]

Worth the read and very relevant.

[DirtyD79]

Damn 4 or 5 baseball fields? When I was a kid, I thought it was a big deal to see a playground that had both a ballfield and a tennis court and back in them days I still lived in Pittsburgh instead of out in the boonies.