Editorials

All about those taxes

Why else tell people where to live?

Hand at least this much to Pine Bluff's city council. When it comes to this proposal to make all new hires live inside the city limits, the aldermen are being honest.

It's all about getting more money--through taxes, of course.

Last week, the city council passed an ordinance that would require new employees of the city to prove they live within city limits. The city's mayor, Debe Hollingsworth, vetoed the thing. And good for her.

Why would a city like Pine Bluff--with all of its problems, a city literally falling apart--want to limit the pool of possible applicants for important jobs? Is that somehow going to make those buildings caving in downtown upright again? Is that going to somehow prevent crime, or open a business?

Here's the city council's thinking, such that it is. And again, at least aldermen are honest about it: Requiring more folks to live in the city might increase the money in the city's bank account, through more taxes.

"The city is a large employer," said Steven Mays, an alderman who drafted the ordinance. "And the wages of its employees are funded by taxes, much of which is generated by the activities and transactions of city residents."

The wording of the ordinance lays it out even plainer: "The injection of city employees as new residents, who are paid a living wage on a regular basis, must result in increased economic activity, which consequently increases tax collections."

And if the best person available to help Pine Bluff out of its doldrums lives on the other side of the city line? The city would be required to say no thanks.

How short-sighted.

How about this instead: Hire the best people who are willing to work for the city of Pine Bluff no matter where they live, make the city vibrant again, clean up the downtown and restore its buildings, make the place attractive for businesses, and improve the city's bottom line--its take through taxes--that way? And everybody wins. Especially the people of Pine Bluff.

Mayor Hollingsworth said it best: "The city has much bigger things to focus on than where workers live."

She's right. Here's hoping the city council figures that out and doesn't override her veto. Pine Bluff needs the best people on the payroll. No matter where they live.

Editorial on 03/25/2015

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