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- By Brad Lawrence
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Nevada, Home of the Disenfranchised
January 5, 2006
When a body of elected people get together to vote on a subject with limited funds, would it be too much for them to think of the people who have to actually PAY for the subject at hand?
Would it be too much for them to consider that perhaps it's wholly unnecessary and therefore vote it down?
One would think so. At least I do. But based upon the arrogance shown by those federally elected officials who now represent us, why should we in the little city of Fernley expect any different? They are apparently cut from the same cloth as those already jailed or who are soon to be facing prosecution.
I guess the old adage, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is sadly true. Especially here in Fernley.
Take, for example, the wanton waste of our tax dollars at the Fernley Pool. The idea behind the pool must have seemed like a good one at the time. A bond which would be paid off in about 10 years, shared by everyone in the community, not too shabby. But with the rotten management of that taxpayers sinkhole it not only is still collecting the same amount as when there WAS a bond to pay off, but they want more. But I won't bore you with that again, I've already done that in an earlier article.
So just another small example of how your tax dollars are being wasted will be talked about here.
It seems that pool board member Bill Clegg wants to spend over eight thousand dollars for a survey to ascertain the pools actual borders. This he presented as being necessary to prevent lawsuits, should anyone be so clumsy as to trip over the easement strip adjacent the street.
And, if it is found that the property does indeed belong to the pool, quit claim it over to the to the city of Fernley.
Now this MAY have been a good idea about 15 years ago. And was probably done back then too. But the reason for my astonishment is that after waiting lo' these 15 years to get it done, the pool may be on the ballot to be taken over entirely by the city soon anyway!
But NO! Bill Clegg, school board member, AND who called for the vote, not only wants it but already has the firm, Tri-State Engineering, a California based company, picked out! Sounds kinda 'suspicious to me.
So, on a vote of 4-0, the board voted to spend your money once again on another boondoggle.
And THAT brings me to a bigger tax money waste of funds.
City Hall. Admittedly I'm not "in the know" about where, if fact, the funds are coming from, but it still seems a little bit much for the city of Fernley to spend 5-7 million dollars on a new city hall, doesn't it? But not according to Bill Clegg, the aforementioned board member from the Fernley Pool. He's quoted in the Reno-Gazette Journal as saying "7 million, what the heck?" When asked about his opinion of the new city hall expense.
I say regardless whether the funds come from matching funds there still has to be funds to match, and we'll get the shaft once again.
So our fine city council has voted on the expenditure of the money for what must be a palace that Caligula would envy. There will be parking lots and flora outside ; waiting rooms; new offices; furniture all with monthly upkeep, and a monstrosity of a building that some have said will resemble something out of an Isaac Isamov novel.
I guess the city council members feel they deserve better than the rest of us, although heaven knows why. Oh, I know! It's because we voted them in! Betcha they feel like Sally Fields when she accepted her academy award, "you love me, you love me, you really do love me!"
Well I, for one, don't love them at all. And in my opinion, neither should you.
So there you have it. In just a couple of meetings the pool board AND city council have voted for over 8 grand and over 5 million to as much as 7 million respectively.
While we sit on our duffs, moping about our property tax bills, our elected officials continually find ways to make it tougher to own a home here in good ol' "tax-free" Nevada, home of the disenfranchised.
