Posted on 08/31/2011 1:19:03 PM PDT by MichCapCon
At a time when the city of Lansing is laying off police officers and contemplating raising taxes, it is losing about $400,000 a year on city-owned golf facilities. Lansing lost $431,073 in fiscal 2007-08 and another $398,452 in fiscal 2008-09 on its golf facilities, according to Angela Bennett, the city’s deputy finance director. The city also had to cover another $431,073 from golf facility deficits from prior years, Bennett wrote in an email.
The city budgets for 18-hole and 9-hole golf courses and a driving range/learning center. The city covered these expenses by taking money from its general fund and parks millage.
“No city can maintain money-losing golf courses and legitimately cry poverty,” said Michael LaFaive, the director of the Morey Fiscal Policy Initiative at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, in an email. “Government golf is the least necessary of public services. It frequently drains taxpayer resources and hurts private golf course owners. Why on earth does anyone believe that recreation should be a function of any government?”
There have been news reports of the possibility of another millage increase in Lansing. And the city sent layoff notices this summer to 44 police officers.
(Excerpt) Read more at michigancapitolconfidential.com ...
More golf. Fewer murdered dogs. WIN / WIN!
Sell off the golf courses. Keep the best police. Get rid of SWAT. Cut city welfare programs. Give contact numbers for private food pantries and charities.
I suspect most of these police are nothing more than revenue collectors (i.e., ticket writers). Who are we to criticize wanting to keep a golf course and ditch cops? We certainly don’t have to live there.
How about the cops work for the golf course? Winning!
Red light cameras at the tees; Fed funds for solar ball washers and gay minority events- they just aren’t trying!
Wiki: “The property tax rate is often given as a percentage. It may also be expressed as a permille (amount of tax per thousand currency units of property value), which is also known as a millage rate or mill levy. (A mill is also one-thousandth of a currency unit.) “
(Well, I didn’t know.)
My name is Detective Johnson. Would you like to hear about our breakfast special?
Priorities.
At least it’s a green space in the city that could be repurposed to agriculture later on ... and not some awful tax subsidized sports stadium or ‘convention center’.
cutting the pensions of city employees never comes to mind. always cops and firefighters first
which is basically saying, we will get our money... or we’ll make sure your family will be endangered
Ha! Haha! Hahaha!!!!
Sharp as a bowling ball up there in Lansing....
Gotta figure, the cops arrested Virg’s little girl a while back and he’s gonna get some payback.
You don’t need a Coleman lantern to light up the infuriating aspects of always keeping the gravy projects like golf courses while making cuts guaranteed to cheese off the populace so they’ll BEG to have their taxes raised.
Lansing Michigan, population 114,297 and 48 “medical” marijuana dispensaries.
MI has “Medical Marijuana?”
For now.
I don’t really have any issues with it but I’m enjoying watching them self destruct as they go hog wild. They didn’t count on things like competition or rules and its creating all kinds of problems.
The reason the mayor’s daughter was arrested was driving while intoxicated (pot)
A golfing population is a peaceful population. How many murders and robberies occur on golf courses? I rest my case.
Taxes should never be used for any type of entertainment.
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