What is the problem this city has with collecting what is owed?

[Richard]

What is so goddamned difficult? The article very clearly says what the difficulty is. The City has not had the resources to invest in updating it's antiquated systems. I am one of the first to say that many of Detroit's problems require better management, but THIS problem is about not having MONEY. The Consent Agreement should have thoroughly addressed the State providing financial assistance to the City in updating its financial systems [[and training the employees to use those systems) so the City could improve revenue collection efforts -- that's ”teaching a man to fish”. That's helping us help ourselves. The consent agreement in place now isn't worth the paper its printed on. It was rushed into because of asinine, rigid timelines in the now dead PA4.

I hope the new law is more flexible so that cities aren't unduly coerced into making ill-advised decisions that add to its problems rather than help. Alot of time & resources have been wasted on trying to enforce a bad law.

Why does it always come down to being broke or it is easy to say that I guess.

"City officials are more than two years behind in spending Community Development Block Grants [[CDBG), which can be used to demolish abandoned houses, revitalize neighborhoods and create new jobs.


Detroit receives about $33 million in CDBD funding per year. Because Detroit is now in its third year of failing to spend the money, funds have accumulated to nearly $70 million. If they do not spend the money by May 2, they could lose more money and future grants.


The city has already been accused of mismanaging other grant funds, forced to return $9.2 million in funding for home weatherization and misusing $3 million in grants intended for the poor. The federal government has also required the city to return nearly $10 million for failin to spend any money on the Head Start early childhood education program since 2005.


Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said the city inherited old technology and a mismanaged grant system.


http://commongood2012.org/news/detro...-mismanagement

How does a city inherit old technology? is that kinda like somebody passed away and gave the city a commodore 64 in their will??

[poobert]

Why does it always come down to being broke or it is easy to say that I guess.

"City officials are more than two years behind in spending Community Development Block Grants [[CDBG), which can be used to demolish abandoned houses, revitalize neighborhoods and create new jobs.


Detroit receives about $33 million in CDBD funding per year. Because Detroit is now in its third year of failing to spend the money, funds have accumulated to nearly $70 million. If they do not spend the money by May 2, they could lose more money and future grants.


The city has already been accused of mismanaging other grant funds, forced to return $9.2 million in funding for home weatherization and misusing $3 million in grants intended for the poor. The federal government has also required the city to return nearly $10 million for failin to spend any money on the Head Start early childhood education program since 2005.


Detroit Mayor Dave Bing said the city inherited old technology and a mismanaged grant system.


http://commongood2012.org/news/detro...-mismanagement

How does a city inherit old technology? is that kinda like somebody passed away and gave the city a commodore 64 in their will??

Whether it's "entitled" city residents and employees, or old computers, you can bet it is somebody else's fault - anyone but Dave Bing's.

Okay, so your computers are old. Tough shit. Unless you're working for a Fortune 500 Company, chances are that is the case nowadays. If I said to my boss, "Oh, sorry, I couldn't do my job, my computer is old" I'd get fired, as I well should. You can bet my computer is a steaming pile of shit, and that of my staff is even worse, but you know what? We work with what we've got. If I told my boss I couldn't spend 20 million fucking dollars from the feds because my computer is old, I'd be drawn, quartered, and my privy parts cut off. Get the picture, BING?

So your technology is out of date. Cry me a fucking river. Well, they've been collecting taxes, in other places besides here, anyway, for the past 6,000 years, without computers for most of that chunk of history. Maybe if you weren't a retarded asshole and didn't employ a bunch of morons, you could too. Just a thought, darling.

And Mayor Bing, I just got and paid my tax bill, which should buy you a pretty nice PC, so get the job done or you're fired, you slack-jawed troglodyte.

[Honky Tonk]

Here's a quote from another post: "

Above all, what pisses me off the most is the the city of Detroit spent money in 2005 to upgrade signals with LED inserts that were 50-60 years in service. The signals were then decommissioned/removed or replaced less than two years later. THEN, the new signals were then upgraded again and now they are being decommissioned. All of this happening within a span of 7 years and millions of dollars later."

"Moron's" is an insult to all Moron's.

[noggin]

Here's a quote from another post: "

Above all, what pisses me off the most is the the city of Detroit spent money in 2005 to upgrade signals with LED inserts that were 50-60 years in service. The signals were then decommissioned/removed or replaced less than two years later. THEN, the new signals were then upgraded again and now they are being decommissioned. All of this happening within a span of 7 years and millions of dollars later."

"Moron's" is an insult to all Moron's.

No big deal. It was paid by stimulus money. How should we pay for stimulus money? I know, tax the rich. That's the ticket.

[serpico]

No big deal. It was paid by stimulus money. How should we pay for stimulus money? I know, tax the rich. That's the ticket.

If the rich would use private money for development instead of bank/government money then we wouldnt have all this over built abandon sprawl....

[Honky Tonk]

No big deal. It was paid by stimulus money. How should we pay for stimulus money? I know, tax the rich. That's the ticket.

No offense, noggin, but I fail to see what a Federal loan has to do with the incompetence of leaders running ANY organization? The issue here is not where the money came from, but what was done with it. If the poster is correct, it looks like it was pissed away. No master game plan, and a serious lack of communication between the horses pulling the cart. Secondly, since you brought it up, I don't think the rich should publicly flogged, but @ the same time, does it really sound fair that one of modest means pays 50% in taxes, while someone who has "made it" on the backs of the working class, pays 14%? Yes, tax the rich, let EVERYONE pay their FAIR share. No more, no less. After all, we ARE supposed to be living in a Democracy. But that isn't what this thread is about. [[steps down from soapbox).

[noggin]

No offense, noggin, but I fail to see what a Federal loan has to do with the incompetence of leaders running ANY organization? The issue here is not where the money came from, but what was done with it. If the poster is correct, it looks like it was pissed away. No master game plan, and a serious lack of communication between the horses pulling the cart. Secondly, since you brought it up, I don't think the rich should publicly flogged, but @ the same time, does it really sound fair that one of modest means pays 50% in taxes, while someone who has "made it" on the backs of the working class, pays 14%? Yes, tax the rich, let EVERYONE pay their FAIR share. No more, no less. After all, we ARE supposed to be living in a Democracy. But that isn't what this thread is about. [[steps down from soapbox).

Typical progressive drivel. The real facts that most of 1% pay for the state and federal government to piss away money. After all it's being paid by the rich. The lower end of the income class does not pay income tax but actually gets more money back than what is paid in taxes. Why worry? Its other people's money. In places like Detroit and Wayne County most of the voters do not care about financial corruption and incompetence because when one does not pay taxes they can keep voting the same people back in year after year.

There is a segment of the super rich such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffet that do pay that low of taxes. However when government tries to get these people, it alway ends up taxing the job creators who choose to build businesses in the US. For example congress created the AMT to get the super rich. Now every year congress has to create an exception for the middle class because of inflation since the 70s. Fair share is just another codeword for redistribution of wealth.

[313WX]

Typical progressive dribble.

Just like you're posting typical conservative "dribble?"

BTW, it's drivel, not "dribble" as in dribbling a basketball.

Fact of the mater is, like with all arguments such as these, you're both right and wrong. Yes, the super wealthy pay a larger portion of the taxes in this country on an absolute basis. That still doesn't mean lower income people don't pay taxes, or rather their tax dollars are less important. Just as well, spending moeny isn't necessarily a bad thing as long as you're doing so wisely [[for example, investing in infrastruture without the use of a credit you'll never be able to pay back).

[MSUguy]

Typical progressive dribble. The real facts that most of 1% pay for the state and federal government to piss away money. After all it's being paid by the rich. The lower end of the income class does not pay income tax but actually gets more money back than what is paid in taxes. Why worry? Its other people's money. In places like Detroit and Wayne County most of the voters do not care about financial corruption and incompetence because when one does not pay taxes they can keep voting the same people back in year after year.

The real facts are that local and state taxes account for the majority of taxes paid by lower income earners. The focus on federal income taxes alone, is a not so thinly veiled attempt at classicism, in order justify more trickle down economics.

As you can see, the poorer you are, the more state and local taxes bite into your income. As you get richer, those taxes recede, and you’re mainly getting hit be federal taxes. So that’s another lesson: When you omit state and local taxes from your analysis, you’re omitting the taxes that hit lower-income taxpayers hardest.
But here is really the only tax graph you need: It’s total tax burden by income group. And as you’ll see, every income group is paying something, and the rich aren’t paying much more, as a percentage of their incomes, then the middle class.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...e-of-tax-data/