2017 Versus 2021

Let's take a look at an Alvey campaign mailer from 2017 and grade it by 2021 standards:

• "DAVID ALVEY WILL REDUCE TAXES AND WASTE"
  Please! Take a good look at your property tax bill -- which way has it went in the last four years?
• "Too many big businesses and developers are receiving "special" deals while we are stuck with higher property tax assessments."
  You mean like the "Foodie Park" fiasco that has still not turned a single shovel at Indian Springs but got the land for pennies on the dollar? We're seeing development all over Wyandotte County, but so far no real relief for homeowners.
• "For lots of residents who are already paying high property taxes, the County adds a PILOT tax to our utility bills... I believe we can find ways to reduce the UG PILOT tax on our BPU bills."
  Well? You've had FOUR YEARS to do something, and so far, NOTHING.
• "As mayor, I will go through the budget line-by-line and discourage any spending that is not essential to our local community."
  From one of the groups that railed against the former Mayor, one of the spending cuts you've made is to essential safety by closing a fire station.
• "All over the county, people are paying more on their tax bills but they are getting less back from the county. We were promised that Consolidation would result in lower taxes and more efficient service, but that hasn't happened."
  That could be said about the last four years.......

Now, let's look at the latest joke in your mailbox:

• "A PLAN FOR OUR NEIGHBORHOODS"
  The only plan I've seen is to tax people out of their homes.
• "Attracting new, neighborhood-focused development sparks local investment, improves community engagement, and increases property values."
  Garbage. "Neighborhood-focused development" is the buzz word for selling Land Bank properties to out-of-town developers and fly-by-night rehabbers, who then flip the properties and leave the new owners with inflated values that aren't sustainable.
• "By modernizing local code enforcement, we can make our neighborhoods more attractive and take greater pride in where we live."
  More LIES. "Modernizing local code enforecement" means when you protest your property valuation, the Appraiser's Office sends the Code Enforcement goons out to your property to nit-pick you into spending money (that you might not have) on "repairs" that the Appraiser's Office then uses to inflate your valuation - that's a "modernization" we can do without.
• "As mayor, David lowered the property tax rate and continues to expand the tax base by bringing new taxpayers to Wyandotte County."
  PARTIAL LIE, at the best a deceptive "truth". The UG may have lowered the mill levy, but the Appraiser's Office has done all they can to raise valuations more than the mill levy decrease. The result? Higher property tax bills.