Xenia City “No New Taxes” Levy Passes … Ha! Ha!

While discussing the levy yesterday, a fellow Xenian informed me that the operating levy was originally supposed to be temporary. You know he was 100 percent correct. The temporary operating levy lasted 5 years; and, like Arby’s 5-for-$5 deal, Xenia voters renewed the temporary levy for another five.

The 490,000 dollar question is this: Does the definition for temporary in tax levy terminology every mean permanently ended–as in no more? The traditional answer seems to be not on your life. In tax jargon, a temporary tax is synonymous for a permanent tradition. The federal goverment’s temporary wartime welfare program, Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA and now “No Child Left Behind”), and similar tax and spend programs are prime examples of permanently temporary tax programs. it was one of of those life-long career goals of politicians like Senator Edward Kennedy.

Anyway, as reported by Greene County Board of Election, 72 percent of Xenia voters said YES to a renewal of the city’s operating levy and 23 percent said NO way.

My vote counted for 5/100 of a percent, which means almost nothing.
The real troubling statistics is that only 7.4 percent of voters showed up at the polls. Out of 28,349 registered voters, only 2,103 voted. It is no wonder why the proponents of the levy–city and school employees and dummies like me–won by such a huge margin. Maybe, the other 92.6 thought it was not worth risking the possibility of being drowned or struck by lightening or some similar hazard. Or, maybe their fear or lackadaisical outlook was really just a silent way of supporting the levy. Some might even in a nose thumbing kind of way have been exclaiming who cares!

Well, I care because the good news for me is that the crappy turn out increased the political significance of my vote. Instead of my vote being of only 5/100 percent relevance, it rose to a statically significant 67/100 of a percent.

As you can see, my political ego has been boosted to a level of almost being significant in the bigger off-season special election scheme of things. But, at least, it was good for a few laughs…well, maybe, but you should have been there.