In one of the recent updates on DM a different commenter suggested opposing the plan and raised the issue of “massive government takeover or private property rights and individual responsibility. ‘ While that view seems a bit overboard for simply wanting to manage canopy and control invasive plants, the commenter did raise the issue of an increasing tax burden. (It’s not our CoD gov’t that we need to worry about… but that’s a different topic.) The comment raised a good point about how we fund these programs. I think it is fair to suggest restraint in potential increases to any millage or fee rates that might be needed to fund any new programs – at least in the near term. For the time being I hope the plan will simply guide how existing funds are utilized and not so much how we establish new programs that require additional funding.

This is a nice plan and I don’t have any reason to think the City wouldn’t be cautious and responsible. Personally, I’ve always been quite pleased with the level of service that I get for my tax dollars. Just wanted to throw in a couple of cents that we don’t try and do it all, i.e., fund it all, at once. I like that Goal 10 and Task 10C in particular discuss fiscal responsibility. It’s been my opinion that my tax dollars are well spent on a very good level of services.