William G. Faust Jr. is a resident of Dover.
Is the Downtown Dover Partnership a prudent and feasible task at this point in time or is it just a big money pit? So far, the city has poured $150,000 into this project every year. Now, the partnership is requiring/asking for $25,000 a year for an accountant. Shouldn’t the partnership be picking up this cost and not the citizens of Dover? The governor has given approximately $20 million toward this project, which still has not gotten off the ground.
This is what I have a big issue with: We are allocating and putting funds into a project that might not improve the downtown area or bring in small or larger corporations. City Council’s and the mayor’s current actions have failed to stem prostitution, the criminal issues, the homelessness situation and loitering problems in downtown Dover. I believe the problem is bigger than they want to acknowledge or admit to. You just have to travel around Dover, and you can see small and bigger businesses failing after a few years. If these enterprises and corporations were succeeding, the taxpayers would not have the additional fees added to their monthly bill, nor see their property taxes going up, nor see increases in their monthly electrical costs.
As everyone knows, if the foundation of a home is weak and not properly done, the home will collapse. This is the same with any small business or corporation. The city has a poor track record in my opinion, and I think the mayor and council should put the brakes on this partnership until the underlying issues are corrected and fixed.
I have a way to hold the mayor and council members accountable. If we have any tax increases, additional fees or increases in service charges during the next three years, their individual salaries should be reduced by the percentage of those costs. So, if we get a 7% increase in the first year and a 3% increase in the second year and a 10% increase in the third, their individual salaries should be reduced accordingly. This reduction would only be for the mayor and council. The hardworking city employees would be exempt.
Lastly, if the city cannot handle the funds and brings tax dollars in, how is it going to give our city workers the decent raises they deserve? How is the city going to be able to recruit and retain good staffers if it cannot compensate them correctly?
The citizens deserve accountability from all their elected officials. In my opinion, our elected officials running the city of Dover are failing us on a daily basis.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
