wooden nickles

In the article headlined "Lowe's is a go", Union Democrat, Dec. 6, 2007, quoting city administrator Greg Applegate, "We are losing half a million dollars a year." The article goes on, sales tax alone is a $414,000 a year loss, he claims. Is this a new level of governmental incompetence? We are losing almost a half million dollars a year of sales tax that hasn't been collected on items that haven't been sold at a store that has not been built? And the amount we're losing is know so accurately?

I'm not really in favor or opposed to Lowe's. I'm opposed to public officials forgetting that they are not in business to make a profit, not putting the people first and mostly using language like "losing" to sway public opinion. Whatever their title, city administrator, tax collector, treasurer, chief petty parking enforcement dude or purveyor of the public trust, these people seem to think they have a right to our money. If there is a way to get more of it and they are not doing so, well then, "we are losing money". We are also losing money by not operating toll roads or taking a share from the gambling rooms and public houses on South Washington, which I understand were once quite numerous and a major contributor to the city coffers. I wish Greg would look into his crystal ball and tell me how much I am "losing" by not playing the lottery.

I really didn't understand what they meant by "losing" till I looked up "lose" in the dictionary: to fail take advantage of.

OWL

Oct. 30, 2009