Editor,
I would be remiss if I didn’t take a few minutes to view my thoughts on the issue of Mayor (Jim) Brainard and his proposed spending on certain improvements.
First of all, are the roundabouts expensive? Yes. Was the Palladium expensive? Yes. Are the unbelievable parks, including a state of the art dog park and Monon center expensive? Yes. Are road improvements and bike paths expensive? Yes, and I can go on and on.
Our property taxes are the lowest in the state, or right up there for all the things we have, and compared to the nation, probably the lowest. I moved here from the Boston area 25 years ago and was paying $9,000 in taxes then at a home worth less than my current one, and I pay a third of that now. Smell the roses, people.
Are we highly leveraged? Maybe a bit, but look at your own home mortgages. Aren’t you well-leveraged? There isn’t a resident in this town that doesn’t brag about this wonderful city. Admit it. I see national articles time and time again about Carmel. And look at the awards we get. We do have a check-and-balance in place in this city, and it’s not all the mayor saying yes, it is a group of smart people who do the due diligence and figure it out, trust me.
When I moved here there was a population of maybe 30,000 people living here. Now, there’s almost 100,000. This doesn’t happen by accident. I don’t know of one person who has sold their home recently who didn’t make a great return on their investment. Give the mayor, who has done an unbelievable job turning this town into a first-class city, a break. He hasn’t let us down yet. Oh, and one last thing, everyone is so afraid their taxes will go up because of all this investment spending. First of all, let them go up a bit, if necessary. It’s worth it, and taxes are limited on increases, so don’t panic here, people. I love America, and what’s so great about it is, freedom of speech. If people want to send out petitions and voice their opinion, so be it.
Doug Knott, Carmel