Thread by @kendrainmontana

I've got a story to tell you about Montana local government, which is that for SOME REASON a significant number of people believe cities should be able to operate on the same budget year after year, while simultaneously calling on government to act more like a business. /1

Please tell me which businesses freeze employee salaries for years on end. Which businesses don’t have to deal with inflation? Businesses regularly raise prices to cover inflation, but when government does the same we're vilified as politicians out to "raise people's taxes." /2

Yes, cities/towns have to incrementally raise taxes. OF COURSE WE DO. Taxes are the price tag of living in civilization and year to year sewer pipes cost more, as do street lights, MET buses, police salaries, city engineers, and fire apparatus (trucks). /3

It's actually a good thing when cities keep up with inflationary increases year to year. If Billings had committed to this over the last 2+ decades, we wouldn't now have to deal with major tax spikes to combat the explosion of violent crime. But the city didn't. So now we do. /4

I don't think many people know this, but in most towns and small cities, local government is your largest nonprofit. Across most departments, salaries are the largest expense. We pay people to do good work for our cities. That's what local government does. /5 #mtpol

Fire, library, sewer, water treatment, airport, buses, parks, street maintenance, police. Did you know Billings Public Works is actively removing lead pipes all across the city? Or that the new water treatment plant on the west end will also be a new, massive city park? /6

Local government is not a business. If it operated like one you’d pay probably 20% more for water, sewer, garbage, parks. Government makes no profit, we have no shareholders. If water costs $1/gallon we charge you $1/gallon. It's honestly a screaming deal. /7

It can’t be both ways. If government operated like a business we'd need to close the libraries, public transportation, and parks; these departments do not pay for themselves. They're funded largely via taxes; without those taxes they would not exist. /8

Private businesses have their role in society, and it's a critical one, but SO DOES LOCAL GOVERNMENT. If we're asking for increased taxes it's because there's a need, and that need is likely something along the lines of paying garbage truck drivers a living wage. /9

The idea that local politicians want to "raise your taxes" for the hell of it is wild. I pay the same rates, remember! I'd love to chop your taxes, but our kids need to grow up in a safe city. Right now both can't happen. That's the kind of choice we make on city council. /10