South DaCola

Editorial Cartoonist from South Dakota

County Commission

County Commission Minnehaha County Pam Nelson

What has treasurer Nelson been saying for months?

l3wis 0Comments

That the state is freaking inept when it comes to license renewels and when are our mostly Republican county commissioners gonna fess up? Apparently never.

Statewide, about 50,000 renewal notices went out without information about the $1 per vehicle postage fee. About 11,000 Minnehaha County residents got notices for 21,000 vehicles.

Okay, we are talking about $21,000 or maybe more. So are county commissioners enraged over this lost revenue? Nope. Are they stomping around the state offices telling them how to do there job? Nope. So what are they doing?

“Why don’t we be the good guy and just eat it?” Twedt asked fellow commissioners.

Yeah, why not? We don’t have a problem with belittling Pam Nelson behind her back in commission meetings for something that isn’t her fault, but when the state really screws up, we just say, “Oh Well.”

Talk about gutless. But this isn’t the first time the state flubbed;

Nelson added that the state DMV contributed to longer lines in June, as well. Renewals sent out then referred to 50-cent or $1 dollar postage fees in a confusing enough manner to convince some people to come to the treasurer’s office and pay in person, she said.

“Oh, but hey, the state doesn’t make mistakes, it is all Pam’s fault, remember, she just needs to learn how to manage her lines” – Give me a break.

Hillmer promises the next series of renewal notices will be correct and clear.

“Definitely. I will make sure I look at them myself before they go out,” she said.

You should have looked at the first round. Are you so busy you don’t have time to proof read a couple of paragraphs? I have often thought the best way to solve this problem and reduce lines would be if renewal customers were sent a postage paid envelope AND just add an extra $1.00 to everyone’s renewel right off the bat so the postage and handling is covered. But of course, that makes sense, and that does not fly in Pierre.

“We had a perfectly good system working,” Nelson says of the license renewal procedure before the present one was adopted 13 months ago, “and now we’ve got one problem after another.”

I don’t think anyone is listening to you Pam. Maybe you should change your registration to Republican, wait, you are too smart for that party, nevermind.

County Commission

The REAL reason the hiring request was denied; Politics

l3wis 4Comments

It’s no secret that Pam Nelson (A Democrat) and County Commissioners Twedt and Hajek (Republicans) have never gotten along, so yesterday’s hiring request denial was no surprise. But it had little to do with the economy especially when the request was simply to replace someone who recently quit;

The Minnehaha County Commission on Tuesday denied a request from treasurer Pam Nelson to fill a vacancy in her office for a tax and license specialist, even though Nelson said she has money in her budget to do so.

Commissioners Anne Hajek and Carol Twedt questioned whether the treasurer needed to fill the vacant position because the 11 customer service windows in the treasurer’s office are not always fully staffed – especially now, during a recession.

What the Gargoyle Leader reporter leaves out in the article is that during the meeting Hajek brings up the fact that Pam Nelson supports our Tax Petition Drive, and says something to the fact that Pam should understand that during these economic times that in order to keep taxes low (which she is helping us with) we need to cut back on staff, and would think she understands. I guess Anne had no quarms about bringing it up during the public meeting. Though I agree with that argument it’s coming from the wrong person. The county receives funds from property taxes and fees not retail taxes, and Anne knows it.

So was it about saving coin, or about politics? I think we know.

Anne has also approached Theresa Stehly a few times and has given her a couple of good ribbings about our tax petition. I appreciate Anne’s honesty and passion about taxing us regressively to build playgrounds for the rich, but I double dog dare her to approach me about the subject. She’ll find out what a REAL ribbing is. Maybe she can borrow the Sheriff’s Armored Vehicle before she does it, you know, the ‘wise’ choice of spending tax payer’s money . . .

The Mummy’s Ghost psp

Citizens for Reponsible Sales Tax County Commission De Knudson Munson SF City Council Sioux Falls Taxes

We can’t cut taxes because we won’t be able to help the homeless?!

l3wis 0Comments

Now Councilor Knudson is claiming if we drop the 2nd penny tax back down to 1.9 we won’t be able to help the homeless.

(Click on Council/County Joint meeting, November 17 – Starts at 44:00 MIN)

You can also watch Munson do the Mexican hat dance with Commissioner Hajek about funding (50:00 MIN). Which is ironic, considering the county isn’t offering any figures.

First off, De, you told us we had to raise this tax to build NEW ROADS! That’s it! Not for homeless shelters, so cut the crap. As for the homeless shelter, I am 100% for it. I agree with Hajek, that this is an investment in safety and savings to the taxpayers in chronic homeless costs. The longer we dick around with finding a location and funding, the more taxpayers are losing. In fact Councilor Anderson and had a great discussion about it. I told him, and he agreed the best place for it would be next to the Law Enforcement center. Budget the money, stop the pissing matches with the county commission, lock yourselves in a room and negotiate a funding and location solution.

As for where the money should come from? Cut the parks budget to make it happen.

See how simple these things are when you use common sense.

County Commission Governor Rounds Pam Nelson

Pam Nelson gives credit, where credit is due; King Rounds

l3wis 0Comments

Nelson slams Mike Rounds for his incompetence on the licensing software. What I found interesting about the story was that the Argus Leader buried the story on page 7B in the dead tree version, and online, you had to do an actual search for the story because there was no links on the main page. Interesting.

She called out Mikey a couple of times;

As a county elected leader, I refuse to let Gov. Mike Rounds and the Legislature escape their fiscal responsibility to pay for the expenses their actions have caused by implementing this sluggish system. What remains to be answered honestly to taxpayers is whether Rounds’ Revenue Department employees were aware on July 1 that their online system was as incompetent and costly to implement as it has proven to be. So far I haven’t heard any straight answers, but I’ve seen quite a lot of buck passing.

AND

But I do ask that you hold your local legislators and the governor accountable for paying the tab for their mistakes. It’s your time and money. The buck stops in Pierre.

I also found this tidbit of information interesting, not only do we have to stand in long lines and waste our time, they also found a way to nail us on penalties, then keep the money in Pierre instead of giving it to the counties;

There is a fiscal benefit for Pierre, however, that you might not be aware of. The new online system allows the state to instantly track penalties and interest money assessed for people who fail to transfer titles within the state maximum timeline. In Minnehaha County alone, the state received $11,078 in July and another $14,763 in August that it would not have received without this new system.

I think this revenue needs to return here to help pay for our county’s increased costs. It’s only fair.

I applaud Pam for standing up to our Governor, I think he has gotten a little big for his britches.

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