Washburn: Another City Of Concord Giveaway

It would appear from the headline in the Concord Monitor that the geniuses in the Green Street Puzzle Palace have been working overtime again at the expense of the Concord property taxpayers with the lease of highly valuable city property for a much-needed commercial parking lot.

When city property is converted to commercial use, it becomes fully taxable. The area in question is of high commercial value and as such has a relatively high fair market rental value. So, the administration will be asking the council to approve is a lease that ignores collecting rent on the property and collecting property taxes on the property only as some kind of a deal for the city. This amounts to another lump of coal in the property taxpayers' Christmas stocking.

So, how will the council deal with this matter? My bet is that the mayor will effusively praise the administration, call for a vote, and the majority of the council will go along with this travesty rather than question the wisdom of such a lease with all the benefit going to the other party and little going to the taxpayer.

Also, have you noticed all of the phony signs claiming there is a penny shortage? Horsefeathers!

Standard rounding eliminates the need for pennies. You know $.03 or above become $.05 and $.02 or below become $.00. Better yet, instead of pricing at $2.99, pricing at $3.00 or $2.95 also eliminates the need for pennies too.