Kohut: Leeches, Snake Oil, Sunday Booze For City Ailments

Jeff Kohut, a 2011 independent candidate for mayor, takes issue with the political prescription to heal the city’s economic woes. Check out his commentary.

The remedies being prescribed by our city leadership to heal Bridgeport’s grave, long-standing socioeconomic wounds are nothing more than leeches and snake oil. Ditto, regarding most of the new state legislation designed to “help” cities, such as Bridgeport, (e.g., the comprehensive education bill, new revenue from Sunday alcohol sales), which will only exacerbate our social, economic, and political dysfunction.

The sad thing is that the long-suffering, over-taxed, underserved, Bridgeport electorate is too dazed and numb after so many years of political and economic oppression to realize their inaction at this critical juncture may well be the political death knell of our city. (If only we could muster the degree of anger that would translate into a massive, potent response to all of the years of injustice perpetrated upon us by the state/regional hegemonists and the Bridgeport parasites who do their bidding in Bridgeport City Hall and Hartford … Can the people of Bridgeport say “Tax Strike!”?)

At the present time, our mayor, and his minions on the city council, are preparing to foist an unaffordable tax increase on the financially-stressed families and senior citizens of our city, most of whom are already doing without necessities at some level–be it medical insurance/medicine, heating oil, electricity, and even food–just so they can afford to pay their mortgages/rents and current, exorbitant city taxes.

The official poverty rate in Bridgeport is close to 30%, with the near-poverty rate being about the same–which means in the area of two-thirds of Bridgeport’s population is either below, or just slightly above the poverty line. Most of the other third of Bridgeport’s population is desperately trying to avoid entering this painful demographic.

Bridgeport is a very distressed city, full of very distressed working families and senior citizens living on the edge and in no position to pay any additional taxes.

As for those who can afford a tax increase; they will tell you it is impossible to rationalize paying more taxes to a city government that has shown no indication of any serious intention of cultivating “positive” tax base/revenue growth (such as through the revival of our once-prodigious manufacturing sector). The past several city administrations, as well as the present, have advocated only “negative,” municipal-infrastructure/city-services-intensive development, and non-taxable development, such as workforce housing (Steel Point), jails, and new train stations, designed to serve the wealthy suburbs at Bridgeport’s expense …

It will be argued by Mayor Finch and his appointed henchmen, this tax increase is “for the children,” because about 25%–$7 million–of the increase will be used to mollify the state into giving us $3.5 million more in education cost-sharing revenue, which would otherwise be denied to us by a politically-rigged, state cost-sharing formula that has the smaller cities of Hartford and New Haven receiving tens of millions of dollars more than much larger Bridgeport. How could our own mayor look us in the eye and ask for a tax increase in those terms? He is blackmailing us in order to mollify the state blackmailers! That is not how a leader operates …

Most of the other 75% of the tax increase–about $20 million–will be used to put a “nick” into our huge pension-fund liabilities–which will remain huge, intractable liabilities even with this untimely tax increase. (In order to generate enough money to make meaningful inroads into the funding of our projected billion-dollar pension/benefits liabilities, we will need $10+ billion of new, “positive” tax base that will pay the city much more than it consumes in services and infrastructure. There is nothing currently on the city drawing boards that even slightly resembles this description–because it would require Bridgeport’s labor force, currently being held captive by the wealthy Gold Coast/suburbs to maintain their tax base and lifestyle, would have to be “freed” for use in the development and maintenance of a greatly-enlarged Bridgeport tax base. This won’t happen under the current Gold Coast-puppet city administration of Gold Coast cheerleader Mayor Bill Finch …)

As far as the $7 million that is “for the children;” those children, if history is any indicator, will never get any real benefit from that money, once it is given to the patronage-blighted school system; in any event, they will lose it on the “family end” anyway, when their parents have that much less for necessary household expenses, such as mortgages. (And no, our new, expensive, “miracle worker” schools superintendent hasn’t reduced the central-office budget, and in fact is likely to substantially increase it–if recent hirings for newly created “special positions” in the central schools office are any indication of what’s in store for Bridgeport patronage …)

Furthermore, with all of the new school buildings and programs being planned by the non-elected, state-appointed, suburb-dominated, Bridgeport board of education, the $7 million requested in this budget will turn into $70 million faster than you can say “Bridgeport arson fire” and “insurance fraud.” (Yes; watch the arson fires light up the night sky in Bridgeport when this tax increase goes into effect …)

Make no mistake; the snake oil and leeches being prescribed for Bridgeport’s ailments are only designed to make us weaker and more exploitable–to put us even more at the disposal of “the region.” Without a local political revolt by the taxpaying Bridgeport electorate, in the form of a demand issued to the state legislature and the governor for a state/regional development policy favorable to Bridgeport, along with a demand issued to City Hall for its implementation at the municipal level, Bridgeport’’s unmanageable pension liabilities will remain so, our school system will never see “lift off” and our socioeconomic and political conditions will further deteriorate.

Bridgeport voter-taxpayers; just say “no!” to the proposed property tax increase, and let Mayor Bill Finch and your councilpersons know you refuse to pay another dime in city tax and they won’t be getting your money or your vote if the tax increase goes through. Send a similar message to your state representatives and state senators, as well as “Snake Oil Salesman-in-Chief” Dannel “Sunday booze” Malloy to let them know they will not be getting your vote when they’re up for re-election if Bridgeport doesn’t get fair treatment ($!) from the state. [By the way; a 1998 study by the Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) provided information that shows the effects of alcohol abuse costs Connecticut, and other states, about $3 for every $1 taken in by taxes on alcohol sales … Sunday Sales! Way to go, Dannel! Who did you say you’re working for?!]

Bridgeporters; can you say “Tax Strike!”?