Sorry, Rick Thames’ advertorial in defense of the local Knight Ridder outlet made me chuckle. The irony of this line was too much:

Communities can function as communities only if the people who live in them share a common understanding of what they are about. Communities need news, information and a place to sort out the issues uniquely important to them.

The unspoken assumption here is that the Observer is such a place. Unfortunately, it is not. The great howler of an editorial Thames’ paper ran last Monday, December 5, “Charlotte’s Agenda,” was just another example of the airtight mindset it displays. Interestingly, that edit is not yet online in any form, effectively dropping it down the memory hole. But it is not forgotten. Here’s a response to the view that Charlotte is short of revenue and must raise property tax rates or impose impact fees in 2006. The Observer elected not to run it:

Poor Charlotte’s City Coffers are Bulging
Submission to Charlotte Observer
December 5, 2005

By JEFF A. TAYLOR

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. – John Adams, December 1770

CHARLOTTE – Mark Twain and Ronald Reagan are but two others who deployed Adams’ timeless wisdom to warn the American public away from rhetorical trickery. Sadly, we must use it here, yet again, to confront the pernicious myth that Charlotte city government is short of money.

“Charlotte does not have a budget that provides a suitable level of permanent funding for permanent community needs.” That was the claim advanced by the Observer in a Dec. 5 editorial. The facts tell us something strikingly different.

Charlotte’s general fund revenues – primarily from the city’s property tax, sales tax, and business taxes – will grow to $425 million in 2007 according the city itself. That is up from $377 million in 2004, or 13 percent in just three years. Moreover, the business privilege license that the city council hiked last year while “holding the line on taxes” is itself projected to bring in $13 million, up from $9 million for a 44 percent increase.

By any measure, basic city revenue is solid and growing. What about spending? Do “community needs” really claim all the spending? Again, no. A handy example: The great white elephant that is the city-owned convention center will this week lavish $650,000 in tax money on conventioneers from the National League of Cities.

In fact, throughout the overall city budget of $1.5 billion there remain millions in annual expenditures for items quite removed from “community needs.” A few? The Mayor’s International Cabinet, Advantage Carolina, Visit Charlotte, Charlotte Regional Partnership, Center City Partners, business handouts, and other economic development pipe dreams.

The continued presence of these items in this year’s budget helps to explain why the budget went up by almost 13 percent from the previous year. This is “basic services,” remember? And do not forget the increasing demands CATS makes on the city, with its $100 million annual budget and climbing payroll only partially offset by the $32 million the half-cent transit sales tax brings in.

Yet, we are told it is “irresponsible to keep the property tax low” and that the rate is “lower than most other N.C. cities.” This implies that Charlotte taxpayers are somehow under-taxed compared to the rest of the state, and ignores the extent to which soaring property valuations have outpaced many taxpayers’ means of paying the bill. The John Locke Foundation’s analysis of per-capita tax burden released in January showed Charlotte taxpayers shouldering $2,131 a year – the only city in the state above the $2,000 mark. Adjusting for ability to pay, the study found that city and county government in Mecklenburg combined consumed about 5.7 percent of personal income – higher than the cost of local government in such urban counties as Guilford, Forsyth, and Wake.

It may be hard to accept, but Charlotte does not need a property tax hike in 2006. To meet needs, city leaders could opt to zero out dubious line items and actually sell off city property, like the Carolina Theatre, the last link to the Cityfair disaster, and raise millions in the process.

Facts. And thinking for yourself. Charlotte could sure use some of both.

So much for sorting out the issues there, Rick.