Right Minded Online

I’ve long had the sick feeling that Mae Beavers was in her last term in the Tennessee General Assembly. That fear was confirmed last week when she announced that she would not seek re-election, and that she will instead run for Wilson County Mayor. At least we wouldn’t be losing her totally. But the State Senate will lose its most principled conservative.

Senator Beavers spent 8 years in the State House of Representatives, first winning election in 1994. She made a name for herself during the infamous years of Governor Don Sundquist’s second term. Beginning in 1999, the trinity of Governor Sundquist, then-Senator Bob Rochelle, and, later, then-Speaker of the House Jimmy Naifeh began a four-year full-court press trying to stick Tennesseans with an income tax.

Mae Beavers opposed the income tax from the outset, and, unlike many of her peers, stuck to her opposition. A frequent guest on Nashville talk shows hosted by conservatives Steve Gill and Phil Valentine, then-Representative Beavers became not only a critic of the income tax, but an outspoken one, and that’s how her name spread beyond District 57.

The odd thing about those years was that the Tennessee GOP was largely devoid of any male elected conservative leadership. The state’s most prominent Republican, Don Sundquist, was firmly in the tank for an income tax just weeks after his second inauguration, this coming after he campaigned against an income tax. Elected conservative leadership thus came from then-Senator Marsha Blackburn, and Representatives Mae Beavers, Donna Rowland, and Diane Black, while the male GOP caucus members were either cowering in their opposition or acquiescing to the income tax.

When the income tax ultimately failed to pass during the 2002 legislative session, conservatives claimed victory. Don Sundquist was on his way out, and, after Mae Beavers announced that she would challenge Bob Rochelle for the Senate in District 17, Rochelle bailed out, leaving Beavers to face off against an unknown Democrat challenger, Sherry Fisher, from Carthage. Mae Beavers won election to the Senate with 52% of the vote. What made her victory especially remarkable was that District 17 had heretofore been the Democrats’ turf. District 17 is Al Gore country, after all.

Mae Beavers won by simply being conservative: low taxes, limited government, pro-life, and pro-Second Amendment. That she had consistently voted conservative made her a credible conservative candidate. Not only did she articulate conservatism on the campaign trail, she voted that way in the General Assembly. (It’s what I call “principled conservatism.”)

Senator Beavers continued doing the things that had made her a conservative icon while in the House. She voted against budgets that exceeded the Copeland Cap, noting that it doesn’t make sense to vote against overriding the Copeland Cap, and then vote for a budget that overrides the Copeland Cap. She attempted to phase out the state’s sales tax on food, but couldn’t get her bill past the Democrats. She consistently made efforts to advance gun ownership rights. She defended the unborn.

Mae Beavers had illustrated that conservatives can win in yellow dog Democrat districts by winning them over as conservatives, and not by trying to out-Democrat the Democrats. This is how Ronald Reagan won landslides in 1980 and 1984. It really does work.

While serving her first term as a State Senator, Mae Beavers overcame a bout with cancer, and managed to still serve the voters of District 17 while taking chemotherapy. When 2006 rolled around, she was recovered and ready to run for re-election. That’s when Bob Rochelle announced that he would challenge Senator Beavers for his old Senate seat. By now, Senator Beavers was well-regarded for her principled conservatism. Voters knew that what Senator Beavers promised on the campaign trail, she would deliver in the Senate. And so she easily won re-election, this time getting 58% of the vote.

One of the frustrating things for conservatives is watching good conservatives go to Nashville, or go to Washington, D.C., get sucked into the political machine, and lose their conservatism. Don Sundquist is a prime example of an elected conservative gone bad.

Senator Beavers never went bad, never got corrupted by “the system.” She’s every bit as conservative now as the first day she set foot in the State Capitol in 1995. I wish she had run for governor, but I understand why she wants to spend her time here in Wilson County. Politics is often a cutthroat business that can easily corrupt elected leaders if they aren’t careful. By the time she leaves the Senate, Mae Beavers will have served the people of Wilson County (as well as the other counties in her district) for 16 years.

I’ll miss having her as my state senator, but should she become our next county mayor, the voters and taxpayers of Wilson County will be very well served by one of the most principle conservatives we’ll ever see in elected politics.

State Senator Mae Beavers, a conservative even among conservatives, has announced that she will not seek re-election next year, and will instead run for Wilson County Mayor.

There will never be another like her – a truly great lady, and a principled legislator to the core.

BREAKING NEWS: Beavers to run for county mayor on The Lebanon Democrat.

This is something I never thought I’d see in the conservative, small government, no-property-tax city of Mt. Juliet:

Mt. Juliet will join a handful of other Middle Tennessee cities, including Clarksville and Murfreesboro, to use red light cameras to curb reckless driving. Last year, 251 vehicles were involved in accidents at Mt. Juliet intersections.

Garrett said the program won’t cost the city a dime. The company that provides, installs and maintains the cameras covers the initial cost and splits the proceeds from fine collections with the city. Garrett said he didn’t know at this point the revenue breakdown because of pending negotiations.

“I’ve never looked at this as a source of revenue,” Garrett said. “Here’s how I look at it: You can survive a rear-end crash, but your chances of surviving someone running a red light and T-boning into you are slim to none.”

Never looked at this as a source of revenue? No, no, of course not. Who would ever think that?

Mt. Juliet considers traffic cameras | tennessean.com | The Tennessean.

This one is for the locals. The family and I went to see the musical The Secret Garden last evening at Friendship Christian School in Lebanon. It was put on by a group of 20 middle and high schoolers. I never knew we had that many talented kids. Actually, I did. I wasn’t surprised that it was done so well. Everything they do at FCS, whether it be sports, academics, theater, or whatever, is A+. It’s worth every dime.

Right here in Wilson County, Tennessee, the so-called “separation of church and state” has been carried to an extreme. The left won’t be happy until God is completely expunged from American culture. Of course, when that happens, something will rush in to fill the void, and it will be the false religion of liberalism.

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit Tuesday on behalf of parents and students at Lakeview Elementary School in Wilson County after school officials ordered “God Bless the USA,” “In God We Trust,” and other phrases referencing God and prayer to be covered up on posters before they could be displayed in the school’s hallways. The posters were hand-drawn by students and their families to announce “See You at the Pole,” a voluntary, student-led prayer event held outside of class time.

“Christian students shouldn’t be censored for expressing their beliefs,” said ADF Senior Counsel Nate Kellum. “It’s ridiculous as well as unconstitutional to cover up these references to God and prayer–one of which is the National Motto itself–on posters announcing a student-led activity. School officials appear to be having an allergic reaction to the ACLU’s long-term record of fear, intimidation, and disinformation, despite a previous court ruling at this very school that said students can observe these types of events on school property.”

ADF: Tenn. school censors ‘God Bless the USA,’ ‘In God We Trust’ – Alliance Defense Fund – Defending Our First Liberty.

Congratulations to the Friendship Christian School girls and boys for both winning the District 8A tounament championships last night.

The following article appeared on page 5 of the Mt. Juliet Chronicle on October 29. The link to the .pdf version of the paper is here, although I’m not sure how long they will leave it up, so I have copied the text of the news article below. This is especially important to those of us in Mt. Juliet as the City Commission debates on whether to sell the old Mt. Juliet Elementary School land to the YMCA.

YMCA of MidTn membership policy changes could affect MJ facility

By Tomi L. Wiley

Managing Editor

As if the purchase of property in the middle of town and the prospect of building a YMCA on it hasn’t been controversial enough locally, now a change in the organization’s membership policy is raising eyebrows in Mt. Juliet as well.

Effective January 1, the idea of what constitutes a “family” as it relates to YMCA memberships will change. There will be no more family memberships, and to get that rate members will only need to share the same address.

“Frankly, our existing membership categories were quite unwieldy and did not address these situations very well at all,” said YMCA of Middle Tennessee Coordinator of Communication Services Jessica Fain on Monday. “In addition, the categories were being applied in different ways at different centers. Because so very many unique situations exist, we determined that we needed to be consistent and not operate on the exception rather than the rule. We concluded that a shared household membership was the best way to achieve the most consistent access to membership at any of our YMCAs.”

Fain explained some of the “unique situations” as grandparents taking care of the children of military families, senior citizen widows sharing a home to save money in tough economic times, adults caring for aging parents in their homes, and college roommates. These situations also include both same-sex and heterosexual couples living together and not married, a situation that, considering the YMCA has long been an organization based on Christian beliefs, some people think conflict with a facility where Bible verses are displayed on the walls and Christianity guides the mission of the organization: “strong kids, strong families and strong communities.”

Some people in Mt. Juliet, which is currently in the works to buy county land on N. Mt. Juliet road and “give” to the YMCA, feel the Christian principals touted by the YMCA are being put in jeopardy by joining them to non-traditional concepts such as co-habitation and the gay community. Mt. Juliet has long thought of itself as a strong community with a Christian backbone, and some people find the ideas upsetting.

“I don’t know a lot of Christians that honestly like the idea of people living together when they’re not married, although I know it’s done a lot more lately,” remarked Lou Kent, a Mt. Juliet transplant from the Nashville area. “I’ve been thinking about joining the Y if it builds in the city, but now I don’t know. I don’t know how an organization who’s built itself and its reputation on Christian values can just up and change its mind like that.”

Fain said that “the persons described are already included in the YMCA; they are already members. It has never been the policy of the YMCA to exclude anyone from membership.”

“The YMCA is proud to be a worldwide, charitable fellowship united by a common loyalty to Jesus Christ for the purpose of helping persons grow in spirit, mind and body,” Fain said.

She said the new membership policy is based off of “three simple criteria”: the age and number of adults in a household and whether there are children in the household who utilize the membership. She said the only cost change for existing members will be that of annual rate adjustments. Membership fees for each of the categories are determined on an annual basis, and this year is no different in that regard. An annual rate adjustment might occur in a particular category, but that is not the result of realigning the categories.

The YMCA, in order to build the new facility in Mt. Juliet, must depend on fundraising in the community for funding. Fain commented on how these policy changes in a growing city that has long considered itself a Christian-based, family center with a “small town feel” might affect fundraising for the new facility.

“We have enjoyed working with many citizens of Mt. Juliet as we work to fulfill the dream of having a new facility,” Fain said. “By the time this article is printed, we hope to be well on the way toward having a lease for eight acres of land near the center of town. We intend to create a place that Mt. Juliet can be proud of, and we believe the new membership categories will attract even more Mt. Juliet citizens to our facility.”

Fain said the change in policy will benefit current members and be a motivation for prospective members to joining the YMCA.

“For one thing, our sometimes confusing membership categories should be streamlined and much easier to understand, whether you’re a current member or a prospective one,” she said. “For another, we believe the new categories provide increased affordability and access for prospective members.”

For more information on the policy changes taking effect in January or about the YMCA of Middle Tennessee visit www.ymcamidtn.org or call 615-259-9622.

William Farmer responded to my Tuesday column in the Lebanon Democrat yesterday, which I fully expected him to do before I even submitted my column. Unfortunately, Mr. Farmer’s rebuttal is fraught with errors that I absolutely cannot let go. However, I can’t write a rebuttal column in the newspaper. I’ve had my say. He’s had his. But I can address the issue on my own blog. So I have transcribed Mr. Farmer’s letter and broken it down so I can reply to each part. Oddly, the letter title reads “Rose needs to check facts on fire issue,” yet it is Mr. Farmer who comes up short on the facts.

Farmer: “I thank Mr. Mark Rose for his editorial comments (”Lebanon suffers from property tax envy” — Oct. 14, 2008) concerning the tax injustice involving Lebanon tax monies paying for the Mt. Juliet fire service.”

Right Minded: You’re welcome.

Farmer: “Mr. Rose states that ‘the citizens of Lebanon should no longer be expected to provide free fire service’ to Mt. Juliet.”

Right Minded: The actual statement was “The citizens of Lebanon should no longer be expected to provide free fire protection to the freeloading citizens of Mt. Juliet.” It was sarcastic.

Farmer: “The Lebanon City Council has agreed by supporting two Resolutions that I sponsored. We have been asking for tax equity for Lebanon for several years, but have been ignored.”

Right Minded: I haven’t ignored it. That’s why I wrote the column.

Farmer: “However, Mr. Rose is wrong on several points. First, Lebanon does not suffer from property tax envy. It is the right of the Mt. Juliet City Council to have a zero property tax rate. However, it is a violation of our Lebanon citizens’ rights for Mt. Juliet to refuse to pay for their own fire services but require Lebanon to pay for it. That is not envy, it is simply unfair to Lebanon citizens.”

Right Minded: This is bold-faced lie #1. Mt. Juliet does not refuse to pay for our own fire service, nor do we require Lebanon to pay for it. I can’t believe Mr. Farmer actually had the gall to send this to the newspaper. Of course we pay for our fire service. It’s so elementary I’m almost ashamed to have to repeat it, but, as I explained in my column, “Mt. Juliet is part of Wilson County, and we in Mt. Juliet do pay county property taxes, yet Mr. Farmer believes it is wrong for us to receive this county service.” I also explained “When a Lebanon politician complains about Lebanon taxpayers funding fire protection for Mt. Juliet, he is really complaining about funding the Wilson County Emergency Management Agency (WEMA). WEMA, of course, is the agency that provides fire protection for Mt. Juliet. In fact, WEMA provides an array of emergency services for all of Wilson County, incorporated and unincorporated. WEMA even provides emergency services for — gasp! — Lebanon. WEMA operates eight stations countywide, including one in Mt. Juliet, and one in Lebanon.”

And Lebanon DOES suffer from property tax envy. Most certainly. If I were a citizen of Lebanon, I would be sort of curious why I was paying the highest property tax in the county. A politician trying to answer that question can easily make Mt. Juliet the scapegoat. “You know,” he could say, “that we’re paying for our fire service and Mt. Juliet’s, too.”

Farmer: “Secondly, Mr. Rose asserts my action was political which it was not. I have been a sponsor of two Resolutions and have been working on this tax inequity for over a year. Mr. Rose does not point out that my fellow Lebanon Council persons have all supported this request to correct the tax injustice. None of the other five menbers of the Council are running for Mayor. They recognize the tax injustice which is happening to Lebanon Citizens and like myself wish to solve this inequity.”

Right Minded: I never asserted Mr. Farmer’s action was political. This is where I begin to wonder whether Mr. Farmer actually read the entire column, or just hit the snooze button midway through. The closest I came to making my non-accusation was “He’s not the only Lebanon politician to run a campaign on fire protection in Mt. Juliet.” However, to be non-political, Mr. Farmer sure did fill his letter-to-the-editor with political spin.

Farmer: “Lebanon citizens and their officials want the very best for all of Wilson County. …”

Right Minded: I sometimes question this.

Farmer: “However, fair is fair. Since Mt. Juliet receives about $1.5 million of Wilson County taxes for their fire service (but Lebanon receives none and funds its own fire service which costs over $3 million), it seems only fair that an equal part of the Wilson County taxes be paid to Lebanon to help our citizens concerning the Lebanon fire service.”

Right Minded: These are bold-faced lies #2 and #3. Mt. Juliet does NOT receive $1.5 million of Wilson County taxes for our fire service. We receive $1.5 million in service from WEMA. But WEMA does a lot more than provide fire protection. Again, from my column: “WEMA provides fire assistance in Lebanon when asked to help, performs a majority of the vehicle extrication calls throughout the county, and provides all of the ambulance service in the county. It is also worth noting that less than 6% of all calls WEMA has received this year have been fire-related, whereas nearly two-thirds have been ambulance calls. Therefore, as the percentages go, the taxpayers of Lebanon are getting very nearly the same level of service from WEMA that we in Mt. Juliet receive.” So only a fraction of that $1.5 million actually goes for fire protection. But then, we also contribute $1.5 toward WEMA’s funding, so Mr. Farmer’s argument completely falls apart here.

Farmer: “Working together we can solve this tax injustice. I urge Mr. Rose, who agrees that Lebanon should not be burdened with Mt. Juliet fire costs, to use his editorial powers to look for a positive solution and help Lebanon and Mt. Juliet citizens to find common ground concerning this tax injustice.”

Right Minded: Providing a solution is exactly what I did do in my column. Here it is again:

So here’s my solution: WEMA’s annual operating budget is roughly $7 million. Since Lebanon makes up about 20% of Wilson County’s population, Lebanon’s taxpayers contribute some $1.4 million toward WEMA’s annual operations. So let’s give the taxpayers of Lebanon an aggregate $1.4 million cut in their county property taxes and pull WEMA completely out of Lebanon. After all, if Lebanon taxpayers don’t want to fund WEMA, which provides Mt. Juliet with its free fire protection, they shouldn’t have to. We will have achieved “tax equity,” and Mt. Juliet would still be without a city property tax.

This would get Lebanon completely out of the fire protection business outside its own city limits. Lebanon politicians would no longer have to be preoccupied with Mt. Juliet’s lack of a fire department, since fire protection outside Lebanon would no longer be of any concern whatsoever to anyone living in Lebanon. And never again would a Lebanon politician have any reason to run a campaign on fire protection in Mt. Juliet.

What aggravates me here is that there is not one single official from the city of Mt. Juliet who is willing to stand up for the taxpayers of Mt. Juliet. Mt. Juliet routinely gets trashed on the pages of the Lebanon Democrat regarding fire protection, yet no one, not the mayor, the city council, the city manager, the city planner, no one who works for the city has been willing to do any PR to set the facts straight. But it’s a job that has to be done, and I’ve taken it upon myself to do that job.

Mt. Juliet has been taking a beating, as usual, from those who are beset with property tax envy here in Wilson County. The latest to take the county’s largest city to task is William Farmer, who is running for mayor of Lebanon.

Mr. Farmer makes the years-old argument about the supposed tax inequity in Wilson County, whereas Lebanon has its own fire department, while Mt. Juliet does not, instead relying on the county for fire protection. The argument is that the taxpayers of Lebanon are paying for their own fire protection, and Mt. Juliet’s, too. Of course, Mt. Juliet is part of Wilson County, and we in Mt. Juliet do pay county property taxes, yet Mr. Farmer believes it is wrong for us to receive this county service. He’s not the only Lebanon politician to run a campaign on fire protection in Mt. Juliet.

Says Mr. Farmer, “The citizens of Lebanon are funding their fire service with $3 million in city tax dollars. Whereas the citizens of Mt. Juliet are not funding their fire services with their city tax dollars, it is being funded by tax funds from the county, which includes taxes paid by the residents of Lebanon. That is simply not fair.”

“As the county increases taxes over time, whether through impact fees or property taxes, the tax inequity for fire service between Lebanon residents and Mt. Juliet residents will increase as well.”

When a Lebanon politician complains about Lebanon taxpayers funding fire protection for Mt. Juliet, he is really complaining about funding the Wilson County Emergency Management Agency (WEMA). WEMA, of course, is the agency that provides fire protection for Mt. Juliet. In fact, WEMA provides an array of emergency services for all of Wilson County, incorporated and unincorporated. WEMA even provides emergency services for — gasp! — Lebanon. WEMA operates eight stations countywide, including one in Mt. Juliet, and one in Lebanon.

WEMA provides fire assistance in Lebanon when asked to help, performs a majority of the vehicle extrication calls throughout the county, and provides all of the ambulance service in the county. It is also worth noting that less than 6% of all calls WEMA has received this year have been fire-related, whereas nearly two-thirds have been ambulance calls. Therefore, as the percentages go, the taxpayers of Lebanon are getting very nearly the same level of service from WEMA that we in Mt. Juliet receive.

This issue, as always, boils down to property tax envy. Lebanon has a city property tax. Mt. Juliet does not. This really irritates the powers-that-be in Lebanon. Lebanon has a city fire department. That’s all well and good, but nowhere is it written that Mt. Juliet has to do whatever Lebanon does. We pay county property taxes in Mt. Juliet, and receive county services in return. For some reason, we are supposed to feel guilty about this.

Unfortunately, the attitude of some of Lebanon’s leaders seems to be “what’s mine is mine, what’s yours is yours.” Indeed, Mr. Farmer argues “Like many local governments, Lebanon has a serious challenge funding our budget, which includes our fire department. We cannot afford the inequities in the current system. If we cannot resolve this issue, then we need to eliminate the expense to the citizens of Lebanon of providing free fire protection to Mt. Juliet residents.”

I agree with William Farmer on his last point. The citizens of Lebanon should no longer be expected to provide free fire protection to the freeloading citizens of Mt. Juliet. So here’s my solution: WEMA’s annual operating budget is roughly $7 million. Since Lebanon makes up about 20% of Wilson County’s population, Lebanon’s taxpayers contribute some $1.4 million toward WEMA’s annual operations. So let’s give the taxpayers of Lebanon an aggregate $1.4 million cut in their county property taxes and pull WEMA completely out of Lebanon. After all, if Lebanon taxpayers don’t want to fund WEMA, which provides Mt. Juliet with its free fire protection, they shouldn’t have to. We will have achieved “tax equity,” and Mt. Juliet would still be without a city property tax.

This would get Lebanon completely out of the fire protection business outside its own city limits. Lebanon politicians would no longer have to be preoccupied with Mt. Juliet’s lack of a fire department, since fire protection outside Lebanon would no longer be of any concern whatsoever to anyone living in Lebanon. And never again would a Lebanon politician have any reason to run a campaign on fire protection in Mt. Juliet.

William Farmer, who is running for mayor of Lebanon, continues to make the years-old argument about the supposed tax inequity in Wilson County, whereas the City of Lebanon has its own fire department, while Mt. Juliet does not, instead relying on the county for fire protection. The argument is that the good people of Lebanon are paying for their own fire protection, and Mt. Juliet’s, too. Of course, Mt. Juliet is part of Wilson County, and we in Mt. Juliet pay county property taxes, yet Mr. Farmer believes it is wrong for us to receive this county service. He’s not the only Lebanon politician to at least partially run a campaign on Mt. Juliet’s lack of a city property tax, which is what this issue is really about.

“The citizens of Lebanon are funding their fire service with $3 million in city tax dollars,” Farmer said. “Whereas the citizens of Mt. Juliet are not funding their fire services with their city tax dollars, it is being funded by tax funds from the county, which includes taxes paid by the residents of Lebanon. That is simply not fair.

“As the county increases taxes over time, whether through impact fees or property taxes, the tax inequity for fire service between Lebanon residents and Mt. Juliet residents will increase
as well,” Farmer said.

Apparently, however, Mr. Farmer does not have a problem with a portion of the recent Wilson County property tax increase going to fund the Lebanon Special School District.

When the county commission voted last month to increase property taxes to pay for shortfalls in the Wilson County school system’s budget, the Lebanon city schools became the beneficiary of about $1 million in new money. That’s because the city school system educates about 17 percent of the school age children in the county, which means that the city schools get 17 percent of taxes collected for schools.

Now, you can make the argument that the City of Lebanon gives Wilson County taxpayers a break by partially funding the education of its own children. However, to my knowledge, no one from Mt. Juliet ever asked the City of Lebanon to do this. And so, if you want to operate a city school district, then fine. You can pay for it with your own tax dollars.

Mr. Farmer would have the City of Mt. Juliet establish its own fire department so that the taxpayers in Lebanon won’t have to pay for our fire protection, but I’ll guarantee you that the politicians in Lebanon won’t turn down county money going to fund their city’s school district.

Of course, this all boils down to property tax envy. Lebanon has a city property tax. Mt. Juliet does not. This really annoys the powers-that-be in Lebanon. Lebanon has its own special school district and a city fire department. That’s all well and good, but nowhere is it written that the City of Mt. Juliet has to do whatever Lebanon does. We pay county property taxes in Mt. Juliet, and receive county services in return. For some reason, we are supposed to feel guilty about this.

As a resident of Mt. Juliet, and a former resident of Nashville, I am grateful to be a citizen of Wilson County, and have not once regretted moving here nine years ago. So I’m not going to fret over my county tax dollars going to fund the Lebanon Special School District. Unfortunately, the attitude from some of Lebanon’s leaders seems to be what’s mine is mine, what’s yours is yours.

Here go the drum beats for another tax increase in Wilson County. This time, it’s a property tax hike to benefit the school budget, although the county commission is also considering a wheel tax increase or a sales tax increase.

According to an August 26 news story in the Lebanon Democrat, the county’s Financial Management Committee has recommended a 20-cent property tax increase to help fund the school budget. Even then, the school budget would still be an estimated $3.1 million short. An increase of about 34 cents would be needed to fully fund the $7.5 million shortfall.

You have to pay close attention to the lingo used by government officials. A 20-cent property tax increase would infuse the school system with an extra $4.4 million. But they want $7.5 million. Tax increase advocates would not view a 20-cent hike as an increase of $4.4 million. They would view it as a $3.1 million dollar cut. Even though the budget would grow from one year to the next, anything less than a fully-funded proposed budget would still be construed as a cut, so you have to be wary whenever government officials start throwing around the word “cut.”

Director of Schools Mike Davis said of the proposed 20-cent increase “We’d be short $3.1 million. That’d impact everything from school busses to books to personnel.”

“We can suspend the athletic program … and not pay coaches. We can discuss [cutting] nurses, teacher aides and assistant principals. We could put [assistant principals] back in the classroom and dismiss some teachers.”

“In seven years we’ve increased 400-plus students every year. That’s 2,800 students. Over the same seven-year period there hasn’t been a tax-increase to fund [student growth].”

Actually, the county levied an adequate facilities tax five years ago for the specified purpose of funding growth. That tax was subsequently increased.

Also, the tax base has not remained static. This is why, to cite a popular cliche, growth pays for itself. You don’t need to keep increasing tax rates in order to fund growth. Every person who moves to Wilson County pays into the tax base. True, population growth places greater demands on government, but population growth also puts more tax money in the coffers to meet those demands.

This is a popular tactic employed by governments when they start demanding tax increases. They take a high profile budget item and say we are going to have to cut that. The Tennessee government did this several years ago while trying to wring an income tax out of us. Governor Sundquist shut down several state parks for a season, and threatened to close interstate rest areas and visitor centers. Why? To make the budget “shortfall” as visible and painful as possible.

You won’t hear government officials try to win a tax increase by threatening to cut from the bureaucracy, or any other function that’s transparent to the average taxpayer. The only cuts that can be made are from those functions that are most visible.

But two can play the game of hysterics. Let’s turn the tables on the tax increase advocates this time. If we are stuck with a tax increase, it will force us to make cuts to our family budgets. But we won’t cut the satellite TV, or the cell phone, or the restaurant budget. We’ll cut from the grocery budget, which means that a tax increase would take food off the tables of Wilson County families. Children will go hungry. Or we’ll cut from the medical budget, meaning that we won’t be able to go to the doctor when we get sick. Or, if we can afford a doctor, we still won’t be able to get our prescriptions filled. Children will have their illnesses prolonged. The elderly will have to choose between medicine and dog food if our taxes are raised.

Really, if we were to rank all the functions of county government in terms of importance, would school busses, books, athletic programs, school nurses, teacher aides, and assistant principals rank at the bottom? If so, then let’s call the bluff. Go ahead and cut them. If not, and if cuts absolutely must be made in order to balance the budget, then let’s reach a little farther down that list of importance and cut some things that will have less of an impact.

For some reason, governments believe they should never have to do with less. The burden of budget-cutting is always shifted to the taxpayers and their personal budgets. Governments also can never get enough of our money. Whether or not there is a tax increase this year, the county government will be back sooner or later wanting another one. We know this from experience. We therefore may as well tell them “no.”

Will the county government have to cut from its proposed budget? Maybe so. But it’s something families do all the time to accommodate their most pressing needs. Most of us do not get everything we want. Government should be no different.

The Wilson County Commission is currently debating how much it is going to raise property taxes in order to cover a “shortfall” in the schools budget, and advocates are trotting out the familiar “We’re going to have to cut (fill in your favorite high-profile education item)” if they aren’t successful in fleecing the taxpayers for more money. It’s always the high-profile items that are threatened, such as school nurses, textbooks, bus routes, etc. It’s never the invisible administrative or bureaucratic wing that gets the cuts, it the things that are most visible to the public. At any rate, there are a couple of recent online stories in the Lebanon Democrat that cover the proposed tax increase.

Crowd fills commission meeting to support schools’ budget
BOE struggles to find ways to cut from schools’ budget

Publius over at Radio Free Mt. Juliet dissects the possible expansion of the Mt. Juliet ballpark. He points out two very good reasons why the City of Mt. Juliet should take a pass on buying the additional land that has been proposed.

First, “The land was bought in October of 2006, eleven months ago, for $450,000. The developer now wants the City to buy it for $2.1 million?”

Second, “Its steep, not flat. The flattest part is the southwest corner closest to the creek, but even here, it rises 40 feet vertically in 627 feet horizontally. My calculator makes that a 6.4% slope. Just as a reference, the “runaway truck” slope on I-24 over Monteagle is a 5% grade. Across the eastern third of the parcel, it rises from 500′ to 615′ over a distance of 1205′ — a 9.5% slope. This might make a dandy nature preserve, but it’s not very well suited for ball fields.”

Publius over at Radio Free Mt. Juliet has an update on Joe vs. the volcano, er, Bobby Franklin vs. the city of Mt. Juliet.

The Lebanon Democrat ran a story a few days ago on the release of a study on Wilson County fire protection by two outside professional services that suggests six new fire stations be added and that Mt. Juliet invest heavily in its fire protection, but not start its own agency.

This is an ongoing saga that was well underway before I arrived here more than seven years ago. What it boils down to is that Lebanon has its own fire department, and a city property tax, on top of county services (and taxes) that are provided there and everywhere else. Mt. Juliet does not have its own fire department, and no city property tax. This frosts the people in Lebanon.

Here’s how the Lebanon Democrat summed it up:

Both services were asked to compile the study in the wake of a controversial query by some county officials as to why the City of Mt. Juliet does not pay for its own fire protection. That query ignited a fire storm of debate in the county and led to the county terminating, then renegotiating in May, Mt. Juliet’s fire protection contract. The purpose of the study was to get a professional recommendation on how best to provide fire service for all Wilson County citizens.

Elam said she received the draft Wednesday. She declined to comment on its specifics.

“I would prefer to wait until it is issued,” she said. “A lot of time has been spent investigating things and the final report will be put out soon when everyone can read it and discuss it.”

And while Elam preferred not to comment on the draft, McFarland said his initial response was that the presented fire service draft recommendation was “grossly inaccurate.”

“I am very much surprised at its contents,” McFarland said. “I think those who wrote it are out of touch with reality. They are addressing fire service only, and 93 percent of WEMA’s calls are medically related calls.”

Wilson County taxpayers are lucky enough that the Wilson County Emergency Management Agency (WEMA) responders are trained in both fire-fighting and paramedics, and therefore provide both services to county residents. Ours really is a model system.

Buried within the linked story is the statistic that 93% of all WEMA calls are ambulance calls, meaning that only 7% of all calls that go into WEMA are fire-related. Yet no one is demanding that Mt. Juliet invest in its ambulance services — only fire protection. Yes, we have focused exclusively for years on county/city fire protection, when fire-related calls constitute only 7% of WEMA’s calls!

Actually, it’s not even 7%. You see, two-thirds of the area covered by the Mt. Juliet fire hall is outside the city limits of Mt. Juliet! So the county is really up in arms over some fraction of 7% of the calls that go into the Mt. Juliet fire hall.

The Mt. Juliet Commission is in the process of drafting a resolution in support of Lakeview Elementary. The press release absolutely shreds the ACLU.

mj-aclu-lawsuit

More here.

Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The ACLU is suing the Wilson County school system for religious activities at Lakeview Elementary in Mt. Juliet, thereby violating “separation of church and state.”

Alleging that a Mt. Juliet elementary school Christmas play, a group of praying parents, a national prayer day and teacher-led prayer in class are among a range of religious activities that violate the separation of church and state, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee filed a suit in federal court yesterday.

The suit was filed on behalf of two Old Hickory parents, who said the activities were “highly offensive” and subjected their young son – a kindergartener at the school last year – to “religious proselytizing.”

…

“Religious freedom for everyone is jeopardized when public schools promote and endorse religious activities,” ACLU-TN executive director Hedy Weinberg said in a news release. “In addition, the sponsorship of religious activities in Wilson County public schools broadcasts a divisive message to the religiously pluralistic community of Wilson County.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee, the suit seeks a preliminary injunction, asking that defendants be stopped from engaging in any future, similar religious activities. It also seeks attorneys’ fees and compensatory or nominal damages,” for “emotional distress” and for the cost of homeschooling their son.

The suit says the religious activities led the parents to pull their son out of school to homeschool him.

A few points.

1. There is no separation of church and state. The First Amendment states, in part, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” A simple rendering of the English language refutes the concept of “separation of church and state.” The Wilson County school system is not Congress, no laws have been made, and no religion has been established. Remember, the Bill of Rights was never intended as a restriction on individuals. It is a restriction on government that guarantees the civil liberties of individuals. By filing its lawsuit, the ACLU is attempting to enlist the government (the judiciary) to place restrictions on individuals. And if you want to argue the establishment clause, then I will argue the free exercise clause.

2. The ACLU is demanding that Lakeview Elementary end its Christmas play, its group of praying parents, recognition of the national day of prayer, and teacher-led prayer in class because of the wishes of one child’s parents. Lakeview Elementary has an enrollment of 591 students, yet the school is expected to stop these things because of one student. What about the other 590 students?

School officials would not comment Thursday on the lawsuit, but several parents who were told of the legal action as they picked up their children from school said they stood behind the school in offering the religious activities.

“I think it’s absurd that anybody would sue over that,” said Donna Crowson, as she sat in line to pick up her two grandchildren at Lakeview. “They have a right to do that, I believe. The child doesn’t have to participate. Parents don’t have to participate.”

Other parents said they were drawn to the school because of its Christian activities.

Mike and Cindy Davison, who have a kindergartner at the school, moved to Mt. Juliet from Davidson County eight years ago. The environment at Lakeview was a big factor in the decision, they said.

“As far as the curriculum and the environment and the staff, it’s as close to a private school as you can get. I believe that goes along with the Christian theme they have,” said Cindy Davison, who said her family reads the Bible every day.

3. The offended parents want retribution for the cost of homeschooling their child. That’s odd, because there is a large and growing number of Christian parents who homeschool in order to avoid the secularism that pervades public school systems in the United States. I have yet to hear of one Christian parent suing a school district to recover the cost of homeschooling.

4. “But Mark,” you ask, “what if it were a Muslim prayer instead of a Christian prayer?” That’s not even a relevant question. We are not a Muslim community. We are a Christian community. That’s not to say that every single resident of Mt. Juliet professes Christianity, but Christianity is the overwhelming religion of choice here, and Lakeview Elementary is simply reflecting the values of the community. Furthermore, if it were a Muslim prayer, I’m not convinced the ACLU would come after the school. After all, the ACLU isn’t against religion. It’s just against Christianity.

By the way, the Tennessean has excellent coverage of the story in today’s paper:

Wilson County faces questions over religion in classroom
Proposed course in Wilson County uses Bible as only text, draws scrutiny