14 JUN 06: THE 92-PERCENT SOLUTION

Before we get to our topic, a big welcome to all of you who learned about us Tuesday from WRCG's "Talkline." I'm hearing so many people heard about our blog, the station's signal may be more powerful than we imagined.

We'll get to the TalkLine buzz, but we start with the end of Columbus Council budget season. The councilors approved a $193 million budget Tuesday - an amount which comes to a bit more than $1,000 per resident. And since much of that money comes from sales taxes, I'm not sure a local "Tax Freedom Day" ever comes.

The Columbus Council vote was unanimous on the fiscal 2007 budget -- and it was taken while Mayor Bob Poydasheff was out of the country on the Chamber of Commerce trip. If he comes back and claims this as his own personal victory, ask him to show the photos of Japan again.

As you may know, the big question in the Columbus city budget was how much public safety workers would be paid. The good news for them is that they'll get a raise. The bad news is that no deal was reached to add them to the "military
discounts" offered at stores.

Columbus Council decided on a three-tier raise for all city workers, with a five-percent base. People who served the longest with the city will receive a 7.5 percent raise. And if Councilor Red McDaniel was on the city payroll, he might become a millionaire.

When we say all city workers will get a raise, we mean ALL - including a raise for City Manager Isaiah Hugley. Does this mean people with Sate Farm insurance policies through his wife can get a premium reduction?

In addition to the overall raise, Columbus Council approved a couple of incentive bonuses for attracting new public safety workers. But of course, critics will say it's still not enough to match what burly men can get in the National Football League.

Columbus Police Chief Rick-to-the-Y Boren is hopeful a $1,000 package of incentives will attract more police officers at job fairs. If that doesn't work, I have some suggestions - scrambled dogs at the recruiting table, or specially-made AFLAC ducks.

WRBL reported the Columbus city budget provides 92 percent of the amount recommended by an outside study. But why 92 percent? Why not round it down to 90 percent, and claim you're tithing?

So is everybody happy with city workers getting raises? Of course not. This is Columbus, you know. The only thing which might make everybody happy is an announcement that the Third Brigade will never go to Iraq again.

For one thing, the new city budget means layoffs for 33 full-time city workers and 17 part-time workers. Many of them will receive a severance package - which I hope doesn't insult them, by including a Char-Broil grill.

Then there was the jail officer who told a reporter it doesn't make sense to pay city employees 92 percent of their estimated market value when they do "100-percent work." Imagine how much cows would complain, if they learned they were giving two-percent milk.

The pay increases approved Tuesday will take effect July 1 - but officials say it may take until November for all city employees to see the change in their checks. If I were you, I'd watch my speed VERY carefully when Independence Day weekend comes....

E-MAIL UPDATE: Here's an interesting issue from our InBox, which relates to local budgets:

It would be interesting to see how many soldiers living in Columbus claim as their home states those that don't have state taxes..I think these states that let non-residents claim them as home states yet own no property there should pay school taxes to the states they live in...

Hmmmm - so a Fort Benning soldier might claim he really lives near Fort Hood, Texas to take a tax deduction?! Considering how much most soldiers are paid, you'd think they'd be praised for their strategy.

This writer may be hinting at a way Muscogee County schools can obtain extra money, to pay for extra soldiers and families being reassigned to Fort Benning. Yet there could be a problem, because I've heard Alabama tends to have lower property taxes than Georgia. Call it the "lottery player's revenge."

BLOG UPDATE: Oh dear - our Tuesday blog entry apparently touched a nerve with some people. And sadly, it has nothing to do with our admission about watching "How to Get the Guy...."

I'm hearing Tuesday's post made supporters of Jim Wetherington livid, especially after "TalkLine" brought it up. But as of Tuesday afternoon, none of them had written the blog in response - so perhaps the law officers are conducting a criminal background check on me first.

Supporters of Jim Wetherington apparently think I'm the Bob Poydasheff camp, when it comes to the mayor's race. But if that's true, the incumbent would have stayed around to hear my speech at the Columbus Kiwanis Club last September - and he didn't.

Some people reportedly even called TalkLine to verify the spelling of my last name. Is this to send the blog donations - or to get me on a mailing list, for rumors in the other direction?

But perhaps I was a bit too unbalanced with Tuesday's post. So today, I'll make a suggestion in the other direction. Will the people spreading rumors about the Columbus High School arson fire of 1981 please present their evidence NOW? Don't wait until October. Give us time to examine it. You can pick the secluded parking lot.

(Come to think of it, when Power Frisbee has its Columbus round in late October, I may have to avoid asking the mayoral candidates to throw out the ceremonial first disc. Unless they play catch with each other....)

LAUGHLINE FLASHBACK: We've written about rumors concerning Bob Poydasheff, too - and for a national audience at that. Here's what appeared in LaughLine issue #654, of 22 Jul 02:

LaughLine received a letter the other day, claiming a candidate in the Columbus, Georgia mayor's race was in a hit-and-run car wreck last month. The letter had an Atlanta return address on the envelope. Some people are so concerned about cleaning up our town that they've moved 100 miles away from it.

The return address on the letter raised suspicions right away. It had NO zip code, and a post office box of "4-1-1." If the box number had been 9-1-1, we would have called police for an anthrax check.

(And another thing: the return address said "Atlanta" - but the postmark said Columbus, last Wednesday. We all know the wrong city's postmark would have delayed this letter at least a week....)

Inside the envelope, we found an actual Columbus police report on the collision involving mayoral candidate Bob Poydasheff. Either someone's trying to keep him from winning the election - or they think we saw this wreck, and we're engaging in a dastardly cover-up.

LaughLine went downtown to confirm the police report was legitimate. We noticed someone in front of us with the same envelope, acting exasperated -- so when he stepped inside the police office, we decided to wait him out. It turned out NOT to be a campaign worker, but a newspaper reporter. We miss the days when journalists wore press hats....

Our own check of the Bob Poydasheff collision showed the police report was real - but the damage was slight and NO hit-and-run charges were filed. So is this collision really a big deal? Should someone get bumped from an election for one wrong bump with a car?

(If one bump with a car disqualifies a candidate from victory, Dale Earnhardt's family should give back about half his NASCAR wins....)

A letter with the Bob Poydasheff police report claims the candidate asked a Columbus police officer to contact the other driver, and may have "verbally abused" that driver's mother. What did he say -- "I hope you'll vote for me" ?!?!

Bob Poydasheff told the local newspaper [ledger-enquirer.com] he never remembered hitting another car, and was on his cell phone when the collision happened. Uh-oh - another politician who didn't keep his hands free of trouble....

The Bob Poydasheff letter happened to reach LaughLine only three days after we broke news about the billboard problems of another mayoral candidate, Jed Harris. We're tempted to say the Harris campaign is behind this letter -- but then again, maybe some local cheapskate is trying to finagle us for a free subscription.

(We have to note the letter making these claims has at the top: "Issue #650." Either the writer used our issue of last Tuesday as a basis for this letter - or 649 more charges are coming out before next month's primary.)

Back to the present now, for some final thoughts from Tuesday:

+ A six-city survey by the group "Public Citizen" rated the Chattahoochee Valley Regional Library System among the best libraries in the country. It seems safe to assume this survey was taken after the Albert Paley sculpture debate was over....

+ A new Manpower survey found 30 percent of Columbus employers plan to add staff between July and September. The hot job areas include construction and education - so you can save the Muscogee County School District money by building your own classroom..

+ Russell County Emergency Management Director Chance Corbett told WRBL he's applied for federal grant money to create "safe rooms." Some of us can remember when these were located in banks....

+ Georgia gubernatorial candidate Mark Taylor told GPB's "Georgia Weekly" state officials now have to justify to potential investors why money for education was cut. Apparently it worked with Kia - or maybe that company plans to hire all the dropouts it can find.

(Mark Taylor kept bringing up the word "priorities" during the GPB talk show, concerning education. The host never asked why Taylor considered it a priority years ago to put his son in a private school in Atlanta, instead of a public one in Albany.)

+ Instant Message to Macy's: Let me get this straight. You're having a one-day sale today, on the Wednesday before Father's Day - and you're marking down WOMEN'S swimsuits 60 percent?! Are you saying the gift Dad really wants is a hotter-looking Mom?

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