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Show Thursday, June 11, 1981 THE SENTINEL 2 Page Opi nion "0 0' Ours by Barry McWilliams tie lfeu1&0W,flN"lH Gf&NFfOUS -- Mldvalo's budget noods more rovlow presented nor was the budget for Revenue Sharing. to hold another public hearing on Federal accurate Also accounting of fun1961-8-2 its proposed budget for the ds that the city has in interest fiscal year. notes was excluded from Tuesday night at the public bearing hearing on the proposed budget it was pointed out that the budget which was presented to the citizens of Midvale has several short comings and that more planA business license ordinance ning needs to go into the document passed last week was responsible that will guide the city for the next for a part of the large crowd that year. gathered Tuesday to discuss the A representative of the Utah Midvale City budget. Taxpayers Ass'n said that there are possible violations of the state . If the business license ordinance was as hastily conceived as the statutes in the way that the budget city's proposed budget appears to was presented to the public. The only budget that was be, then businessmen are right in asking that the city council give presented for the public to conordinance a thorough review, Fund General the sider was city's business license ordinance The water the for budget. The budget not was language that would and sewer departments Hie Midvale City Council needs OUR Nft),8lGGf:R GARKN the budget. The citizens of the community are entitled to a detailed explanation of the way that their tax dollars are going to be spent and to how the money that is being held in reserve is to be utilized. 6HOUlDCUf$300fi?OM OlHOUr 1 y fx. j Businoss liconso ordinanco should bo roscindod allow the city to review the books of the business, a right normally reserved for the Internal Revenue and State Tax Commission. Most businessmen feel that this language gives the city too much authority to investigate the private affairs of private business, Cities have rescinded ordinan-th- e ces before and this one should definitely be rescinded bgL : ns mediately. SURVEY CLASS Sound 0af255-355- 6 The following survey is published at the request of a Midvale City councilman. He said that the survey was done last March and that he would like to see its publication because of the publication of the Midvale city salary schedule last week. All of P the salary figures are averages of those paid by other munic-palities.NC- means that no comparable position exists in those cities. Laborer A A Jurisdiction Salt Lake City Sandy West Valley Bountiful So. Salt Lake Murray West Jordan Centerville Kaysville Sunset No.Ogden Spanish Fork Payson Off! ft iomfhfng bugging you? Do you hovo o common! to moko on o currant issuo? Tho Sontinof wonfi to hoar from you. Cad end (ell us what you think about anything. Dial wkdoyt bthvoon fho hours of 8 a.m. and 12 noon or I and 5 p.m. No nood to givo your nam. Light Equip. Operator 854 1173 954 815 NCP NCP 925 881 NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 950 NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 1073 537 821 NCP 850 1096 NCP Pleasant Grove Averages 1981 Survey" ' 6 AllJurisdic. 807 838 ' ,s'-"- NCP 19881 Survey ' j, NCP . ,,: r Medium SALARY SURVEY SURVEY CLASS City Manager - Juris. Clerk Typist Janitor Jurisdiction Salt Lake City Sandy West Valley NCP NCP NCP Bountiful South Salt Lake Murray 3212 780 2752 827 1348 820 799 NCP NCP Police SURVEY Chief A CLASS 3779 2275 2895 2517 Jurisdiction Salt Lake City Sandy West Valley Bountiful So. Salt Lake Jordan 2950 788 Centerville Kaysville Sunset No.Ogden Spanish Fork Payson Pleasant Grove Averages 1981 Survey AllJurisdic. 1961 Survey 1960 NCP NCP NCP NCP 2367 924 962 2171 NCP NCP 702 NCP 1524 NCP NCP NCP 2101 845 1037 2101 Murray West Jordan Centerville Kaysville Sunset No.Ogden Spanish Fork Payson 1841 678 537 1577 Pleasant NCP 1715 2256 West 2609 NCP 2261 NCP NCP 2472 781 940 NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 2500 1760 Medium Juris. NCP Police Officer Admin. Secretary Dispatcher Sergeant A A A A 1619 1168 1124 2901 1130 1128 866 1532 1250 1074 NCP 1486 SURVEY . 1350 1100 1100 1877 NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 1300 968 NCP NCP NCP 1302 940 1500 1322 NCP NCP 1322 1606 950 888 1404 NCP NCP 1308 NCP 1073 853 NCP NCP NCP NCP 1500 NCP 1513 1354 ByDwightR.Lee Economics at Virginia Polytechnic and State University (c) Public Research, Syndicated, 1981 The blue whale is being driven toward extinction and the federal government is spending far too much of our nation's wealth. The connection between these two problems may not be immediately obvious. But if you believe that blue whales have been slaughtered excessively (and they have), then logic also compels you to see the need to limit the growth in government. Too many blue whales have been killed and the government has grown too large because both the blue whale and the government provide opportunities for some people to receive benefits by imposing costs on others. From a population of approximately 200,000, it is estimated that fewer than 6,000 blue whales NCP are still living. But even though all whalers would like to see more whales live to bear young and increase in size, each knows that the whale he does not harpoon today will probably be harpooned by someone else tomorrow. The whaler who harpoons now gets all of the immediate benefits and suffers only a small share of the future cost that results from a diminishing whale population. Most of this cost is spread over others. Of course each whaler also loses . from others' excessive har- pooning. But this loss would only be increased for any individual whaler who reduced his own harvesting. The incentive is for each to continue killing whales as rapidly as possible even if this means the eventual extinction of a majestic species. A similar situation exists when special interest groups capture benefits from government spending. Many government programs convey benefits to specific groups CLASS Jurisdiction Salt Lake Gty Sandy West Valley Bountiful So. Salt Lake Murray West Jordan Centerville Kaysville Sunset No.Ogden Spanish Fork Payson Park Water Heavy Equi Operator Supervisor Street Supervisor Supervisor A A A A NCP NCP NCP 1193 1767 1566 1890 1076 NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 1585 2643 1302 2062 NCP NCP NCP NCP 1200 1100 NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP 1200 1416 NCP 1420 1550 1133 2253 1410 NCP NCP NCP 1011 1964 1804 1651 1131 1461 1461 1461 1160 1681 1400 1245 1152 1622 1563 1736 1166 NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP Pleasant Grove Averages 1981 Survey AllJurisdic. 1981 Survey Medium Juris. NCP 1148 NCP 788 1579 1250 1024 1023 1585 NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP NCP by spreading costs over all taxpayers. Farm subsidies, Amtrak subsidies, urban development programs, and the Chrysler bailout are but a few examples. Federal spending on programs of this type has been increasing at an alarming rate. Programs which serve the primary purpose of simply transfering wealth from one group to another are taking approximately $350 billion of the federal budget in fiscal 1981. This lf is more than of the 1981 budget, and more than the entire federal budget of 1975. All special interest groups may be aware of the tremendous burden that comes from rapidly enlarging the size of government. But each group also knows that passing up an opportunity to expand its favorite' program will merely make it easier for other special interest groups to expand theirs. The motivation is for each to continue pressuring the government to spend more even if this means the eventual collapse of the one-ha- Grove Averages 1981 Survey AllJurisdic. 1981 Survey Medium Juris. Blue whales and bloated government Dr. Lee is Professor of NCP MIDVALE CITY economic productivity that supports all government spending. And there should be no mistake about it. Just as the blue whale can be driven to extinction by excessive harvesting, so can our economy's productivity be extinguished by excessive government. There are two ways an individual can acquire wealth. One way is to produce something. The other way is to capture the wealth that others have produced by engaging in what are called transfer activities. Some transfer activities (such as theft) are illegal; others (such as lobbying government for preferential treatment) are perfectly legal and widely accepted. In either case, transfer activity directs otherwise productive effort into channels that create no new wealth. Of course, it has always been an important function of government to discourage the illegal transfer of wealth. By creating a limited government, our Founding Fathers also attem pted to reduce the opportunities for using government itself as an instrument for transfering wealth legally from one group to another. This was to be a nation in which individuals advanced themselves, not at the expense of others, but by creating new wealth. In the course of the 20th century, the limits on direct government involvement in economic affairs have steadilybroken down. As a result, growing numbers have found it profitable to use government to confiscate the wealth of others. As such transfer activities increase, productive effort becomes less and less profitable. But this only encourages more people to employ their time harvesting government favors, with further adverse effects upon production, and so on, and on. This trend cannot long continue g without threatening the of all, the producers of wealth as well as those they support. When all ships are busy transporting valuable products, the first one to well-bein- become a pirate can do very well indeed. But as more turn to piracy, fewer find advantage in continuing to ship the goods. Unless strict sanctions are imposed against piracy the end result will be the impoverishment of shippers and pirates alike, as ocean transportation comes to a halt. If the blue whale is to be saved from eventual extinction, limits will have to be placed on its slaughter. And for the same reason, if the productivity of our economy is to be saved from eventual collapse, limits will have to be placed on the growth of government. As important as it is to protect the blue whale, it is far more important to maintain our economic productivity. Destroy the economy's productivity and you destroy the wealth that allows us to take our food, clothing and shelter for granted, and worry about such things as the blue whale. |