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12/26/2006
Televising and Franchise Taxes
Word is that Menasha Mayor Joe Laux supports a referendum asking whether the citizens of Menasha support using city funds to televise common council meetings.
That is ridiculous.
The common council should simply reconsider their previous action (discontinuing televising in 2007), and this time around suck it up and approve the necessary spending.
(The council vote December 18 was 4-4, Alderpersons Merkes, Taylor, Wisneski and Hendricks for the motion to televise; Pack, Ecstein, Michalkiewicz and Chase against. Because it was a tie vote, Mayor Laux could have voted for or against, but instead chose – as is permitted – to abstain.)
Here’s the deal. Menasha received over $150,000 in fees from Time Warner (well, from cable subscribers) in 2006; every year thereafter revenues will increase still further, as subscribers and rates increase. In addition, in 2006, Menasha received a one-time $62,000 settlement from Time Warner. At the time, all franchise fees were applied to general fund spending (some call that “property tax relief”), except $32,000, which was specifically set aside to pay for televising council meetings.
Televising in 2007 was budgeted to cost $17,500. So that $32,000 would cover about 2 years of televising on the public access cable channel.
Ok - as I’ve said before, yes, it costs money – the city’s money and the taxpayers money (unlike what the Post-Crescent says today) - and I never consider spending taxes lightly. I’ve also said franchise fees are a ripoff. Nevertheless, if franchise fees are being received, at least a small portion of them should be used to take government proceedings to the people via televised city meetings.
Lots of reasons were offered by the 4 nay voters why televising doesn’t work. And ok, the ratings won’t hit the top of the charts. But whatever the reasons, you address the reasons and you make it work.
If you live in Menasha, call your alderperson and lobby to have council meetings televised. Then watch the meetings! Or maybe even run for alderperson yourself! (Nomination papers are due January 2 – so see the City Clerk immediately.)
As Mike McCabe, Wisconsin Democracy Coalition puts it, refusing to use a portion of franchise taxes for local public access programming (like televising Council meetings!) is “an affront to open government.” My sentiments exactly.
COMMENTS
The cost of televising is already covered by the franchise fees, what is it that they do not want you to see?
Perhaps there is some misconduct going on and they are afraid they will be held accountable for their actions and statements.
I say, it's about time that they are televised for the whole area to see, listen and then decide.
Ken Shearer (Wed Dec 27 09:18:40 2006)
Thanks Jo. I've always believed in open government, and offering the public access to city meetings is one method of ensuring that the citizens of a community have the opportunity to follow how their elected officials are spending money and shaping policy. Without tools like televised meetings, and now blogs, few people knew how their government worked and that was a shame. By being informed we can all work together to make our community better. The best policy rarely comes from one person, usually it is a conglomeration of ideas from a multitude of people in the community. It has been, and will continue to be, my goal to involve many in the community so that we do have the best policies for the citizens as a whole. Ald. Don Merkes
Don Merkes (Tue Dec 26 08:13:06 2006)
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