The QCI Plan
#1. Cut the General Fund & Trust and Agency portion of the Public Works Department by 3.5%
Savings: $158,779
#2. Eliminate Stormwater Credits
Savings: $325,000
#3. Move the Capital Improvement dollars to the Debt Service Levy
Savings: $250,000
#4. Eliminate four code inspectors from the housing department
Savings: $263,848
Total Savings so far: $997,627 (No cuts to Public Safety)
Ok, that gets us to about a million bucks out of 2.2 mil. Where does crazy QCI come up with the other 1.2 million? A cell phone tax.
Over 57% of Americans have a cell phone.
Davenport has between 93,000 and 98,000 residents, and if we follow the national average that means we probably own around 55,000 cell phones. Here's a USA Today story about the introduction of local cell phone taxes across America.
I propose a $2 per month tax on owning a cell phone in Davenport. Two dollars, times 55,000 cell phone owners, times 12 months, should equal $1.32 million dollars. No one would be able to say that this tax (and we are calling it a tax) is making them choose between buying their medicine and buying food. If they are living so close to bankruptcy that $2 per month is going to finish them off, maybe they shouldn't be spending money on a non-necessity like a cell phone. Since there is a $120,000 surplus in this fee over the needed 1.2 million to balance the stormwater-free budget, I propose full credits for those that somehow show both financial hardship and the necessity of owning a cellular phone. An additional benefit is that the cell phone companies are the ones who administer the fee. Plus it taxes evil apartment dwellers like myself.
Cell Phone Fee: $1,200,000
Total $2,197,627
No Cuts to Public Safety, No Stormwater Fee
13 comments:
You might as well tax
Whitey's ice cream cones it makes as much sense as cell phones.
And like Dumas, your other #'s don't make sense. Cut the storm water credits and save $250,000.
Well the credits were funded by the storm water utility fee. How can you save something you never had?
I will tell you what QCI, I will give you a dime. Part of that dime is to pay for a piece of candy you need to have...
After a day, I decide I don't want to pay you a dime. And in addition to that, I don't want you to have any candy. Can I walk down the street and say I just saved $.05???
Now that's just funny. Its simple math. The tax credits cost 250,000. They were in the fee-supported budget. They're part of what the 2.2 million dollar income from the fee goes for.
I don't know why you don't understand.
Makes more sense than anything else I've heard.
Alderman Dumas did the harder part, since I just adopted most of his cuts.
I didn't cut police or fire because I believe that's insane. The police are understaffed as it is, and we do have a crime problem. Cutting them doesn't solve anything. The fire company is a harder choice. The fire Chief says we'd be less safe, and I believe he knows more about fire safety than us.
I also think that a cell phone tax wouldn't hurt businesses, doesn't concentrate on homeowners, and doesn't hurt the poor.
I have an idea... keep the stormwater fee for now. It is certainly not as big of a deal as some of the things I've heard may be cut.
I must admit I'm a little bias... I own two cell phones (me and my other half) so it's just moving the tax somewhere else.
Since most Palmer students move to the area with cell phones from other parts of the country how do you propose to do this equitably? Only those with contracts through Davenport offices? Okay fine, I go to Des Moines and sign a cell phone contract, or Rock Island. May sound like a simple concept QCI, but implementation is going to be a nightmare. Just like ciggy taxes - if it doesn't exist across the Muddy, it won't take long for people to catch on.
QCI probably hasn't been around long enough to know the story of the bank franchise tax. A big hit to the general fund of Davenport, and a largely unknown story. It's based on deposits. Guess what - Wells Fargo took over and low and behold, the "local" deposits are no longer in Davenport - get the picture??
Other cities have managed to do it. Is your only problem with it that its too hard?
I would get a cell phone with a Bettendorf address.
Did I miss the part where you say WHY it's fair for just cell phone owners to have to solve the problem? That's not discrimination? Please enlighten me.
1. Its a list of people that have enough money that they can spend some on a cell phone.
2. Cell phone users that talk and drive get in more accidents, using more police/fire services.
3. Cell phone users tend to call the police more when they drive past incidents.
4. Would you rather have a tax that "descriminates" against homeowners like the stormwater tax?
You're a little late. I pay Rock Island County almost $12 a month on taxes on my cell phone bill. Since I live in a rural area, the county gets both the "city" and "county" portion of my tax. Are you sure that the State of Iowa and its municipalities haven't already figured this out?
The state of Iowa and Scott County certainly have, but there are no Davenport taxes or surcharges on there.
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