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Mayor asks for bond issue passage
Published Saturday, October 24, 2009
SELMA — The community meetings have long ended. The ballot is set.
Now comes the waiting until after voters cast their ballots Tuesday for or against the proposed $12 million bond issue.
“I’m asking everyone to vote the straight ticket, ‘yes,’” said Mayor George Evans.
Evans sat down with The Selma Times-Journal earlier this week to make his case for the entire bond issue.
“It’s needed,” he said. “It’s needed and if it doesn’t pass, I don’t know what we’ll do. We’ll do the best we can.”
The bond issue will take 14 years to pay back.
Some have criticized it because it includes equipment which will wear out in less time than it takes the city to pay off the bond.
Evans said he had talked with the bond specialists, and the equipment could be paid off earlier than other projects slated for the bonds.
“It’s right there on the ballot when certain parts will be paid off,” Evans said.
But the ballot doesn’t specify which equipment will be paid off first, a source of criticism from some who say they will vote against those departments.
The polls will open at 7 a.m. Tuesday and close at 7 p.m. in Selma. Voters are encouraged to go to the polls.
Voters will see a ballot with all the departments and an overview of what the bonds will pay for under those departments.
Voters have two options: vote the straight ticket for all the bond issues or against the bond issues; or vote department-by-department for certain propositions under the bond issue.
All the projects will benefit the entire city, Evans said.
“The buildings,” he said, “the buildings will benefit everyone because they are city buildings and everyone in the city uses them. The police department. The police take care of the whole city. The fire department, the same. The fire department covers the whole city. I just can’t see where people get this won’t benefit all of us in Selma, because the bond issue will benefit all of us.”
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Posted by popdukes12 (anonymous) on October 26, 2009 at 7:04 p.m. (Suggest removal)
“It’s needed and if it doesn’t pass, I don’t know what we’ll do. We’ll do the best we can.” This is coming from a mayor that was hired (voted in) to manage the funds appropriated by the city council to maintain the city's mission and infrastructure. Twelve million (plus interest) will equal about one full year of revenue (considering everything stayed the same) over the next 14 years. Selma already has the highest sales tax in the state. Here are the questions. How much population has Selma lost over the last 14 years? 15%, 20%? How much of the lost population was higher income producers and what is the income potential of the developing population (get the picture?)? Selma has been in a downward spiral for the last ten to fifteen years in terms of per capita income and population growth. The black belt is a captive audience for the democrats and written off by the republicans, so it looses on both sides. When the city government returns to it's core functions and stops trying to be all things to all people, it may survive and Selma may not turn into another Uniontown. Accept the fact that Selma is shrinking and adjust to it. popdukes12
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