Thursday, May 22, 2014
20140520 - Inspiring Spaces Committee Final Report
Stephen Shuford presented the information through a Power Point Presentation. 6 of the 15 members of the Committee were present including Mr. Shuford, Paul Kerchner, Don Norwood, Meg Locke, Scott Mitchell, and Nancy Zagaroli.
Mr. Shuford spoke of the notion of "The Charm of Hickory". Talks about Innovate Catawba Initiative and the idea of "Inspiring" and "Reinventing".
Talks about the Waterfront on Lake Hickory and creating a Riverwalk... about the support of that idea... connecting Geitner Park, the Lackey Conservancy, and the Baseball Stadium. Talks about the cities that Hickory Inc. visited over the last few years.
Talks about Downtown Redefined. Union Square Improvements. Main Avenue Linear Park. Talks about linking pedestrian, bikes, and possibly trolley trails to Downtown, the Riverwalk, and LP Frans Stadium. How do you rout people into the city by directing them through the primary Gateways (I-40 at LR Blvd, I-40 at Hwy 321) and secondary Gateways (Hwy 321 at Old Lenoir Road and Hwy 321 at Hwy 70). He got into Street scapes at LR Blvd, Hwy 70, Hwy 127, 4th Street SW extension, and Old Lenoir Road.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
20140520 - Hickory City Manager's Proposed Budget 2014-15
City Manager Mick Berry proposed a $95.8 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year. This is a 5.75% increase over last year’s $90.3 million budget. A 2¢ property tax rate increase is proposed bringing the rate to 52¢ per $100 assessment. This is the first tax rate increase in 19 years. The rate increase is attributable to road resurfacing issues and operational increase due to loss of "Hold Harmless" ($255,000) revenues coming from the State government.
There is very little natural growth in Hickory City Revenues, which is sales tax revenue and property tax base. This will cost the average homeowner ($151,000) a little over an extra $2.50 per month. May have to utilize the General Fund Balance for Operating Expenses in the upcoming year. $1.4 million General Fund balance has $900,000 designated for capital replacement. You may need the $500,000 left over for operational expenditures.
The Inspiring Spaces initiative was not included in the budget.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Thoughts about last night's Hickory City Council meeting - May 20, 2014
In the Chambers
This meeting (the Inspiring Spaces meeting) is all about Union Square. How do we direct traffic to Union Square?
Union Square Union Square Union Square yada yada yada
Wayfinding to Union Square
Who profits?
End of the great Kabuki part 1. Now on to part 2.
Let's see how this rolls.
2 cent property tax increase does not include Inspiring Spaces.
I repeat Inspiring Spaces not included.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Honestly, this budget was Mick Berry and Hickory Inc.'s finest hour during his tenure. The budget he put forth is fiscally responsible. Anyone should accept the additional penny for roads and the additional penny for operational costs due to the loss in revenue of the hold harmless monies that have been coming from the State Government. I can't emphasize enough that the action taken on this night is fiscally sound.
The talk that should be had with the Inspiring Spaces group comes back to a proposal from, I believe, 2004 -- The Business Improvement District (BID) tax. Businesses in the Downtown area balked on this proposal and so it fell on its face back in 2004. It is understandable why it did, when they (Downtown Business and Property Owners) have constantly gotten monies from the General Fund. The revenue that would be raised from the "Redefined Downtown" properties BID tax would go directly back into that area and the other areas of Hickory would not be paying for their area. Other BID tax areas could start in the other quadrants should the property owners choose. I also think the Downtown Development Association should be created as a Department with the city. If the City is going to pay monies, and with a BID tax structure, then City Hall should have complete oversight.
The presentation by City Manager Berry was rather short and directly to the point. Inspiring Spaces as a part of the 2014-15 budget was not mentioned. This was very surprising and my sources were wrong, so that makes me wrong about what was going to happen on this night. I wasn't wrong about what was presented by the Inspiring Spaces group, but I was very surprised when the follow through did not occur.
I was wrong, but happy with the result that no tax would be increased in the name of Inspiring Spaces... and this won't happen until a referendum takes place that will establish whether or not the public wants it. The City needs to come forward with specifics on how to raise the revenues and what the projects will cost. That is all that is being asked for... nothing more, nothing less.
This meeting (the Inspiring Spaces meeting) is all about Union Square. How do we direct traffic to Union Square?
Union Square Union Square Union Square yada yada yada
Wayfinding to Union Square
Who profits?
End of the great Kabuki part 1. Now on to part 2.
Let's see how this rolls.
2 cent property tax increase does not include Inspiring Spaces.
I repeat Inspiring Spaces not included.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Honestly, this budget was Mick Berry and Hickory Inc.'s finest hour during his tenure. The budget he put forth is fiscally responsible. Anyone should accept the additional penny for roads and the additional penny for operational costs due to the loss in revenue of the hold harmless monies that have been coming from the State Government. I can't emphasize enough that the action taken on this night is fiscally sound.
The talk that should be had with the Inspiring Spaces group comes back to a proposal from, I believe, 2004 -- The Business Improvement District (BID) tax. Businesses in the Downtown area balked on this proposal and so it fell on its face back in 2004. It is understandable why it did, when they (Downtown Business and Property Owners) have constantly gotten monies from the General Fund. The revenue that would be raised from the "Redefined Downtown" properties BID tax would go directly back into that area and the other areas of Hickory would not be paying for their area. Other BID tax areas could start in the other quadrants should the property owners choose. I also think the Downtown Development Association should be created as a Department with the city. If the City is going to pay monies, and with a BID tax structure, then City Hall should have complete oversight.
The presentation by City Manager Berry was rather short and directly to the point. Inspiring Spaces as a part of the 2014-15 budget was not mentioned. This was very surprising and my sources were wrong, so that makes me wrong about what was going to happen on this night. I wasn't wrong about what was presented by the Inspiring Spaces group, but I was very surprised when the follow through did not occur.
I was wrong, but happy with the result that no tax would be increased in the name of Inspiring Spaces... and this won't happen until a referendum takes place that will establish whether or not the public wants it. The City needs to come forward with specifics on how to raise the revenues and what the projects will cost. That is all that is being asked for... nothing more, nothing less.
Heading to Kabuki Theater tonight
Opening act begins at 5:30pm at City Hall in Council Chambers. The Inspiring Spaces Committee is meeting together with the City Council. The purpose of this Special Joint Meeting is the presentation of the Advisory Committee's Final Report for the Inspiring Spaces Project.
The goal here is to make it look like Hickory Inc. has a plan. Last year Mayor Wright, Alderman Guess, and Alder Patton said they were not in favor of raising property taxes for 2013-14, because "we don't have a plan." The real reason was because they were facing re-election in a few months. So here we come to the night when the City Manager will present the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2014-15.. Everybody knows what is going on here. The truth is that they have no more of a plan here than what they had last year.
In my opinion, the Inspiring Spaces presentation is to set up what will take place during the second act, which is the regularly scheduled second meeting of the Hickory City Council for the month of May, in which the City Manager will present the proposed property tax increase for the upcoming year. The Inspiring Spaces meeting is to give you the reasoning for the tax increase and the City Manager is going to reemphasize that reasoning. Truth be told, the City Manager is the one behind, and fully vested in, the reasoning.
I have presumed, based upon information I was given and information provided involving this committee, that the City Manager will be requesting a significant property tax increase for City of Hickory associated properties. The majority of these revenues will be devoted to the Inspiring Spaces initiative.
My cynical side envisions the City Manager asking for a 15¢ property tax increase to 65¢ per $100 and the Mayor and other Council members saying that is too much and pulling back to 10¢, or 60¢ per $100, under the guise that they are protecting residents they know will have a difficult time with such an increase.
That is why I call this Kabuki Theater, because these folks are on the same page going into this meeting. This will be a show like so many manufactured plots we have seen before. They already know what is going down. It will still be entertaining to witness, because this has all the makings of a political drama in the coming months that will make the Referendum on Ward Specific Voting and last year's municipal election look like peanuts.
The bottom line, in my opinion, is that no tax should be increased in the name of Inspiring Spaces until a referendum takes place that establishes that it is what the public wants.
The proposed property tax increase coming on Tuesday night - 5/16/2014
Rudy and the City Council want to and will raise your taxes - 11/1/2013
The Complete "Platform for a 21st Century Hickory" - 8/31/2013
The goal here is to make it look like Hickory Inc. has a plan. Last year Mayor Wright, Alderman Guess, and Alder Patton said they were not in favor of raising property taxes for 2013-14, because "we don't have a plan." The real reason was because they were facing re-election in a few months. So here we come to the night when the City Manager will present the upcoming budget for fiscal year 2014-15.. Everybody knows what is going on here. The truth is that they have no more of a plan here than what they had last year.
In my opinion, the Inspiring Spaces presentation is to set up what will take place during the second act, which is the regularly scheduled second meeting of the Hickory City Council for the month of May, in which the City Manager will present the proposed property tax increase for the upcoming year. The Inspiring Spaces meeting is to give you the reasoning for the tax increase and the City Manager is going to reemphasize that reasoning. Truth be told, the City Manager is the one behind, and fully vested in, the reasoning.
I have presumed, based upon information I was given and information provided involving this committee, that the City Manager will be requesting a significant property tax increase for City of Hickory associated properties. The majority of these revenues will be devoted to the Inspiring Spaces initiative.
My cynical side envisions the City Manager asking for a 15¢ property tax increase to 65¢ per $100 and the Mayor and other Council members saying that is too much and pulling back to 10¢, or 60¢ per $100, under the guise that they are protecting residents they know will have a difficult time with such an increase.
That is why I call this Kabuki Theater, because these folks are on the same page going into this meeting. This will be a show like so many manufactured plots we have seen before. They already know what is going down. It will still be entertaining to witness, because this has all the makings of a political drama in the coming months that will make the Referendum on Ward Specific Voting and last year's municipal election look like peanuts.
The bottom line, in my opinion, is that no tax should be increased in the name of Inspiring Spaces until a referendum takes place that establishes that it is what the public wants.
The proposed property tax increase coming on Tuesday night - 5/16/2014
Rudy and the City Council want to and will raise your taxes - 11/1/2013
The Complete "Platform for a 21st Century Hickory" - 8/31/2013
Monday, May 19, 2014
Economic Stories of Relevance in Today's World -- May 18, 2014
Gas prices shouldn't be high, but are: What gives? - CNBC through USA Today - Javier E. David - May 18, 2014 - Rumors about the demise of U.S. gasoline demand have been greatly exaggerated. Until late 2013, most energy observers forecast the world's most reliably gas-guzzling market to consume less fuel this year. What was once thought to be a structural decline in demand, however, has proven more durable than expected. As the summer driving season nears, retail gas remains stubbornly lodged near $4 per gallon. According to the Energy Information Administration, gas prices rose for 12 straight weeks through late April, and were 20 cents a gallon higher than the same point last year. So what gives? "The world's not swimming in crude or gasoline yet," said Francisco Blanch, commodities strategist at Bank of America-Merrill Lynch, in an interview. "Despite all the crude and gasoline production in the U.S., international markets are not tagging along." International developments matter, analysts say, because gas prices are linked to internationally priced Brent crude. Turmoil in Ukraine and spotty supply from the perennially unstable Middle East has conspired to keep oil above $100 per barrel.
Fed Laundering Treasury Purchases to Disguise What’s Happening-Paul Craig Roberts - USA Watchdog - Greg Hunter - May 14, 2014 - In his latest article, former Assistant Treasury Secretary Dr. Paul Craig Roberts says, “The Fed is the great deceiver.” Why is he making this shocking accusation? The reason is tiny Belgium’s whopping purchase of $141 billion in Treasury bonds earlier this year. Dr. Roberts explains, “We know that Belgium didn’t have any money to buy $141 billion worth of bonds over a three month period. That sum comes to 29% of the Belgium GDP. So, they don’t have a surplus in their budget that is 29% of their GDP, and they don’t have trade or current account surplus in that amount. In fact, everything is in the red. Their budget deficit is in the red, and their trade and current accounts are in the red. So, Belgium didn’t have the money, and yet, they managed to pick up $141.2 billion in U.S. Treasuries over a three month period. So, where did they get the money?” Dr. Roberts, who holds a PhD in economics, goes on to say, “We know their central bank couldn’t have printed euros to buy the bonds with because the Belgium central bank can’t print euros. Belgium is part of the euro system and has lost the ability to create its own money. So, the only source for that kind of money would have been the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve thought it needed to hide the fact it was buying $141 billion in bonds over a three month period when it was officially reducing or tapering the quantitative easing down to $65 billion. It didn’t want to have to admit it was really purchasing $112 billion a month, almost double the announced purchases.”
If Economic Cycle Theorists Are Correct, 2015 To 2020 Will Be Pure Hell For The United States - Michael Snyder - May 12th, 2014 - Does the economy move in predictable waves, cycles or patterns? There are many economists that believe that it does, and if their projections are correct, the rest of this decade is going to be pure hell for the United States. Many mainstream economists want nothing to do with economic cycle theorists, but it should be noted that economic cycle theories have enabled some analysts to correctly predict the timing of recessions, stock market peaks and stock market crashes over the past couple of decades. Of course none of the theories discussed below is perfect, but it is very interesting to note that all of them seem to indicate that the U.S. economy is about to enter a major downturn. So will the period of 2015 to 2020 turn out to be pure hell for the United States? We will just have to wait and see. One of the most prominent economic cycle theories is known as "the Kondratieff wave". It was developed by a Russian economist named Nikolai Kondratiev, and as Wikipedia has noted, his economic theories got him into so much trouble with the Russian government that he was eventually executed because of them...
The Demographic Cliff: How to Survive and Prosper During the Great Deflation of 2014-2019 (2014) - Amazon List - Bestselling author and financial guru Harry Dent shows why we’re facing a “great deflation” after five years of desperate stimulus — and what to do about it now.
Throughout his long career as an economic forecaster, Harry Dent has relied on a not-so-secret weapon: demographics. Studying the predictable things people do as they age is the ultimate tool for understanding trends. For instance, Dent can tell a client exactly when people will spend the most on potato chips. And he can explain why our economy has risen and fallen with the peak spending of generations, and why we now face a growing demographic cliff with the accelerating retirement of the Baby Boomers around the world. Dent predicted the impact of the Boomers hitting their highest growth in spending in the 1990s, when most economists saw the United States declining. And he anticipated the decline of Japan in the 1990s, when economists were proclaiming it would overtake the U.S. economy. But now, Dent argues, the fundamental demographics have turned against the United States and will hit more countries ahead. Inflation rises when a larger than usual block of younger people enter the workforce, and it wanes when large numbers of older people retire, downsize their homes, and cut their spending. The mass retirement of the Boomers won’t just hold back inflation; it and massive debt deleveraging will actually cause deflation—weakening the economy the most from 2014 into 2019. Dent explores the implications of his controversial predictions. He offers advice on retirement planning, health care, real estate, education, investing, and business strategies. For instance . . .
HARRY DENT: America Is Headed Off The 'Demographic Cliff' And Another Crisis Is Near - Business Insider - Steven Perlberg - December 12, 2013
Here are some of his main points:
High Frequency Trading And Artificial Bubbles - Harry Dent - May 15, 2014
Fed Laundering Treasury Purchases to Disguise What’s Happening-Paul Craig Roberts - USA Watchdog - Greg Hunter - May 14, 2014 - In his latest article, former Assistant Treasury Secretary Dr. Paul Craig Roberts says, “The Fed is the great deceiver.” Why is he making this shocking accusation? The reason is tiny Belgium’s whopping purchase of $141 billion in Treasury bonds earlier this year. Dr. Roberts explains, “We know that Belgium didn’t have any money to buy $141 billion worth of bonds over a three month period. That sum comes to 29% of the Belgium GDP. So, they don’t have a surplus in their budget that is 29% of their GDP, and they don’t have trade or current account surplus in that amount. In fact, everything is in the red. Their budget deficit is in the red, and their trade and current accounts are in the red. So, Belgium didn’t have the money, and yet, they managed to pick up $141.2 billion in U.S. Treasuries over a three month period. So, where did they get the money?” Dr. Roberts, who holds a PhD in economics, goes on to say, “We know their central bank couldn’t have printed euros to buy the bonds with because the Belgium central bank can’t print euros. Belgium is part of the euro system and has lost the ability to create its own money. So, the only source for that kind of money would have been the Federal Reserve. The Federal Reserve thought it needed to hide the fact it was buying $141 billion in bonds over a three month period when it was officially reducing or tapering the quantitative easing down to $65 billion. It didn’t want to have to admit it was really purchasing $112 billion a month, almost double the announced purchases.”
If Economic Cycle Theorists Are Correct, 2015 To 2020 Will Be Pure Hell For The United States - Michael Snyder - May 12th, 2014 - Does the economy move in predictable waves, cycles or patterns? There are many economists that believe that it does, and if their projections are correct, the rest of this decade is going to be pure hell for the United States. Many mainstream economists want nothing to do with economic cycle theorists, but it should be noted that economic cycle theories have enabled some analysts to correctly predict the timing of recessions, stock market peaks and stock market crashes over the past couple of decades. Of course none of the theories discussed below is perfect, but it is very interesting to note that all of them seem to indicate that the U.S. economy is about to enter a major downturn. So will the period of 2015 to 2020 turn out to be pure hell for the United States? We will just have to wait and see. One of the most prominent economic cycle theories is known as "the Kondratieff wave". It was developed by a Russian economist named Nikolai Kondratiev, and as Wikipedia has noted, his economic theories got him into so much trouble with the Russian government that he was eventually executed because of them...
The Demographic Cliff: How to Survive and Prosper During the Great Deflation of 2014-2019 (2014) - Amazon List - Bestselling author and financial guru Harry Dent shows why we’re facing a “great deflation” after five years of desperate stimulus — and what to do about it now.
Throughout his long career as an economic forecaster, Harry Dent has relied on a not-so-secret weapon: demographics. Studying the predictable things people do as they age is the ultimate tool for understanding trends. For instance, Dent can tell a client exactly when people will spend the most on potato chips. And he can explain why our economy has risen and fallen with the peak spending of generations, and why we now face a growing demographic cliff with the accelerating retirement of the Baby Boomers around the world. Dent predicted the impact of the Boomers hitting their highest growth in spending in the 1990s, when most economists saw the United States declining. And he anticipated the decline of Japan in the 1990s, when economists were proclaiming it would overtake the U.S. economy. But now, Dent argues, the fundamental demographics have turned against the United States and will hit more countries ahead. Inflation rises when a larger than usual block of younger people enter the workforce, and it wanes when large numbers of older people retire, downsize their homes, and cut their spending. The mass retirement of the Boomers won’t just hold back inflation; it and massive debt deleveraging will actually cause deflation—weakening the economy the most from 2014 into 2019. Dent explores the implications of his controversial predictions. He offers advice on retirement planning, health care, real estate, education, investing, and business strategies. For instance . . .
- BUSINESSES should get lean and mean now. Identify segments that you can clearly dominate and sell off or shut down others. If you don’t, the economy will do it for you, more painfully and less profitably.
- INVESTORS should sell stocks by mid-January 2014 and look to buy them back in 2015 or later at a Dow as low as 5,800.
- FAMILIES should wait to buy real estate in areas where home prices have gone back to where the bubble started in early 2000.
- GOVERNMENTS need to stop the endless stimulus that creates more bubbles and kills the middle class, and should assist in restructuring the unprecedented debt bubble of 1983–2008.
HARRY DENT: America Is Headed Off The 'Demographic Cliff' And Another Crisis Is Near - Business Insider - Steven Perlberg - December 12, 2013
Here are some of his main points:
- Young people cause inflation because they "cost everything and produce nothing." But young people eventually "begin to pay off when they enter the workforce and become productive new workers (supply) and higher-spending consumers (demand)."
- Unfortunately, the U.S. reached its demographic "peak spending" from 2003-2007 and is headed for the "demographic cliff." Germany, England, Switzerland are all headed there too. Then China will be the first emerging market to fall off the cliff, albeit in a few decades. The world is getting older.
- The U.S. stock market will crash. "Our best long-term and intermediate cycles suggest another slowdown and stock crash accelerating between very early 2014 and early 2015, and possibly lasting well into 2015 or even 2016. The worst economic trends due to demographics will hit between 2014 and 2019. The U.S. economy is likely to suffer a minor or major crash by early 2015 and another between late 2017 and late 2019 or early 2020 at the latest."
- "The everyday consumer never came out of the last recession." The rich are the ones feeling great and spending money, as asset prices (not wages) are aided by monetary stimulus.
- The U.S. and Europe are headed in the same direction as Japan, a country still in a "coma economy precisely because it never let its debt bubble deleverage," Dent argues. "The only way we will not follow in Japan's footsteps is if the Federal Reserve stops printing new money."
- "The reality is stark, when dyers start to outweigh buyers, the market changes." It all comes down to an aging population, Dent writes. "Fewer spenders, borrowers, and investors will be around to participate in the next boom."
- The U.S. has a crazy amount of debt and "economists and politicians have acted like we can just wave a magic wand of endless monetary injections and bailouts and get over what they see as a short-term crisis." But the problem, Dent says, is long-term and structural — demographics.
- Businesses can "dominate the years to come" by focusing on cash and cash flow, being "lean and mean," deferring major capital expenditures, selling nonstrategic real estate, and firing weak employees now.
- The big four challenges in the years ahead will be 1) private and public debt 2) health care and retirement entitlements 3) authoritarian governance around the globe and 4) environmental pollution that threatens the global economy.
High Frequency Trading And Artificial Bubbles - Harry Dent - May 15, 2014
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