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What About the Other Money?
The Hillside Township Council never misses a chance to praise themselves on how well and how often they spend local Urban Enterprise Zone funds.
Machines, automobiles, sidewalks, landscaping, and more. All at "no cost to taxpayers", they quickly add.
A reasonable person would think the Council is pulling all this UEZ cash out of thin air. On the contrary, UEZ funds are derived from the same source all other government monies are derived: taxes. In this case, sales taxes.
It is good that Hillside Town Hall is using the funds to promote "economic growth", but the residents of Hillside deserve to hear from their elected officials exactly how this "growth" is coming to fruition, if at all.
The Council and Mayor will exclaim of how many jobs and "tax ratables" all these "new businesses" are bringing into Hillside. But can we see some figures, please? Because it's hard to believe that yet another car lot, and yet another nail salon, and yet another bank, and yet another bar or liquor store are really going to create a great economic boom in town.
With all the Council's talk of UEZ money, a reasonable person would also suspect that Hillsiders do not pay any property taxes whatsoever. But the reality is that Hillsiders pay some of the highest property taxes in the county. We know what Town Hall is doing with the UEZ money - they always tell us that - but what are they doing with all the other money?
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