Reader’s Choose The 2011 Whopper of the Year Award
It’s time for readers to help choose the A2Politico.com Whopper of the Year Award winner. A2Politico.com gave the 2010 Whopper of the Year to former City Administrator Roger Fraser. For 24 months, Fraser fibbed to Ann Arbor residents through the media and at public City Council meetings, that “property tax revenues are down.” This non-existent decrease in overall revenue was used by Fraser to get Council to pass budgets that included service cuts (police, fire fighters, leaf collection, park maintenance, even powering down streetlights), as well as large increases in fees (facility use fees, water, sewer, and solid waste fees).
Here are several examples of Fraser’s “property tax revenues are down” statements:
“The financial state of the city was characterized by Fraser as influenced by three key factors: The city’s property tax revenues are declining due to lower assessed values, Pfizer’s departure, and less new construction.”—Roger Fraser quoted in AnnArborChronicle.com, January 2009
“At Monday night’s city council working session, city administrator Roger Fraser introduced a recommended budget for fiscal year 2010 (beginning July 2009) of about $85 million, down from the almost $91 million budget in FY 2009. Declining revenues from property taxes, together with increasing contributions to the pension fund means that for FY 2010, the equivalent of 34 full-time positions at the city would be eliminated, followed by 22 full-time positions in FY 2011. If implemented, the cuts would reduce the city workforce from 800 to 746 by 2011 – a number that has declined from a peak of 1,005 city workers in 2001.”—Roger Fraser quoted in AnnArborChronicle.com, April 2009
“Roger Fraser said the city’s financial struggles are the result of several factors, including continued declines in state revenue sharing and declining property tax revenues.”—Roger Fraser, AnnArbor.com, December 2009
“Even if the economy picks up, typically it’s a two- to three-year lag before we start to see increased revenues from our property taxes.”—Roger Fraser,AnnArbor.com, February 2010.
“With property tax revenue sinking 4.2 percent and state-revenue sharing continuing its decline, City Administrator Roger Fraser told Ann Arbor City Council members Monday night the city’s short-term future doesn’t look bright.” —Roger Fraser, AnnArbor.com, April 2010.
This year, A2Politico readers will decide which Whopper will receive the Whopper of the Year Award. Here are the top contenders. The Whoppers are linked for easy reading. Voting will end December 31, 2011. The Whopper of the Year will be announced Wednesday January 6, 2011.
Once you’re ready, you can vote in the poll, below the list of Whoppers:
WEEKLY WHOPPER: Mayor Claims City “Not in Hiring Mode Since ’06.” Records Reveal Almost 1,000 FT & PT Hires Since ’06
WEEKLY WHOPPER: “35 Staff Journalists. 407 Years of Experience.”
WEEKLY WHOPPER: “Ann Arbor’s Long Term Debt Has Increased from in $119M in 1999 to $246M in 2010.”
WEEKLY WHOPPER: A2 Streets Are Being Cleared of Snow So Slowly Because, “This Was One of the Wettest Snows in Two Years.”
WEEKLY WHOPPER: “The City will fix the Stadium bridges next spring.”
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Ahhhhh the Stadium Bridge, that ode to dilapidation, with cracking and chipped concrete with exposed iron reinforcing rods and discolored facade. Some have wanted to rename it the “Marcia Higgins Bridge”.
I like the Stadium Bridge saga myself because it is a hilarious exercise in futility and citizen righteous indignation.
At one point even our beloved Commander-in-Chief had experienced the bumpy ride when he came to deliver a commencement speech at U-M.
How many times have we been told financing was secured only to realize that further mountains of red tape had to be yet overcome.
There is no bigger source of embarrassment to the Mayor and City Council than that eyesore.