A friend recently was telling me about a burglary in their home in another nearby city. They had an alarm system and arrived home within five minutes of the alarm sounding, but the burglars were gone. It took another 25 minutes for the police to arrive. It made me think about our police force in Covington, which is pretty darn good even with budgets the way they are.

I have previously complained about the utility tax and the building permit fees in Covington. The issue with the utility tax was the kind of tax that requires no voter review and approval periodically. The issue with the permit was the cost. I’m in the process of getting another building permit and it seems to be going well this time, but I was informed of the cut backs in the planning department and that means about six weeks or more to approve the permit. The cutbacks are due to reduced income to the city during these down times.

In the ensuing discussion with the plan reviewer, I was informed of the number of staff reductions in city staff that have been made to keep aligned with the available funds. As citizens, we hear a little bit about these cuts, but not a lot of details. The City Council has not come to the citizens and demanded a tax increase or else face cutting police and the like which are highly visible. I absolutely detest that kind of ultimatum. They seem to understand the priorities of the citizens. Faced with the same circumstances, these are the kinds of cuts I would have made in order to keep the most importance services intact. I am impressed by the priorities the council has maintained.

However, I have enjoyed the level of services we have had in Covington. I had to ask myself would I be willing to pay another $10 a month to keep those or get them back to previous levels. The answer was an easy yes. Would I be willing to pay another $20 a month – probably. This is about the same as the utility tax now. I think I just reversed a long standing position and said I would support a tax increase! As long as the money stayed in Covington, and as long as the council maintains this trust it has earned regarding expenditures, then I think I’m ready to pay a little more. I still can’t believe that I just said that, but I did.

Gary Wigle

Covington