My Side of the Fence

The danger isn't going too far. It's that we don't go far enough.

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TEA Party Beer Summit

Date is as yet undecided, I’m kicking around the 14th of May but that may move as I haven’t really talked to anyone yet…:).  Steve, check your facebook…:)  As always, these are reasonably direct affairs.  We sit around my living room, we have some great beer and we talk about it.  In this case, we’ll be drinking Dogfish Head and I’m buying.  We’ll have great Root Beer for those that aren’t so inclined.

These have been great fun in the past and we’ve had people of wildly different viewpoints.  You need to bring your “A” game but it isn’t a debate, it’s a discussion and we will part as friends.  The usual suspects are automatically invited.  The Chair of the Manassas Tea Party is invited (you guys will all know each other, Manassas is a small town).  There are two slots open for others.  Email or post if you’re interested. 

 

Budget Work Session

The Council met to discuss the results of the public hearing this evening.  The meeting was about 3 hours long.

There were 2 changes made to the money side of the budget.  The first was to convert one Batallion Chief position to be filled by a volunteer.  This was unexpectedly contentious and there may be more work done on the position to ensure that the Council is getting what we expect to get. 

The second was to triple the BPOL exemption to $150k to help small businesses grow. 

Many more were discussed, some were voted on and some were just discussed but we’ve got a propsed budget.  One last thing: for all of you out there that believe the Council doesn’t listen and you’re wasting your time by speaking, you’re wrong.  The objections to the BPOL schedule were brought forward Monday morning and a solution crafted by about 3 that same day.  Input does matter.  Sometimes input is recieved and the answer is no but it isn’t always so.  In this case, input by local business owners and the Tea party (is that supposed to be all caps?) made for better tax policy.  Thanks to all who participated. 

Maybe we should have a beer summit with the TEA party folks…In any event, the budget is largely done and I’m glad, I need to get back to working on my business.

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