People in Kirksville are concerned that the makeup of the city council does not reflect a realistic cross-section of the community. There appears to be a disconnect with what you are saying on the tax issue and what I’m feeling and hearing from my neighbors.

My question is: Will you support efforts to change our form of city government to change to a ward system of representation? If not, why not? Thank you.

Yes, but they are now expanding their operations and moving into a lot in our industrial park, inside the city limits. We voted to grant them a tract of land for their factory at the same council meeting.

Don’t let all of the negativity and misguided comments of many discourage you….

You have to make hard decisions from time to time. The tough part is motivating others to see why you had to do it. You have OBVIOUSLY motivated people… which is a GOOD thing!

You are doing a good job and made the right decision to do this. The timing may be bad, but hey! When IS the timing ever good?

Everyone has to do their part in America now… isn’t that what our president has pointed out? The days of sitting on our haunches while the government took care of everything are gone. Asking folks to pay a quarter cent for fire services is so small in the big scheme of things.

We all have to do our part and your service to our city is greatly appreciated…. Especially NOW when you are having to take so much heat!

Hang in there! You are doing a great job!

As I said, this is a first step in the right direction but it will not solve the problem. We will always have a challenge increasing revenues. If it does not improve, maybe we will eventually have to cut some services we now provide.

We do have people working very hard to bring industry and business to Kirksville and they’ve had some successes recently – two new businesses opened on the Baltimore strip in the last couple weeks, there’s HIT, and a new local business called Tub Connection is opening a small factory in our industrial park.

The smoking ban should be enforced as written – I’m not sure what you’re referring to here. Like any law, if you see a violation, you can notify the proper authorities.

Thank you for your comment. Other are are not necessarily “doing more with less” than us because you have to look at the full revenue picture – beyond sales tax. For example, property values in Kirksville are lower, so property taxes generate less revenue. Everything works in balance to bring revenue into the city.

Also keep in mind that there are several different entities pulling from the sales tax pie – the school district, the ambulance district, etc. There were three increases on the last ballot alone, and only one of them was a city initiative. Kirksville has also been a state leader in partnering with MoDOT to cofund state highway transportation projects, which are part of the current sales tax that you won’t see in other cities.

If not from the taxpayer, where you you suggest we find money to increase pay and job retention? Is there a revenue stream out there available to us that does not originate from the taxpayer?