Something isn't adding up with MI-Connection.
After reading the Mooresville Tribune's recent article on the town commissioners' planning retreat - http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/feb/19/cable-issue-hot-one-retreat/news-local/ - I was left with the impression that town officials may know more than they're letting on.
And that wouldn't be much of a surprise. After guaranteeing public money for MI-Connection, town officials quickly grew uneasy with public requests about the communication system's financial health and marketing/sales plans. While we own the system, we've been told that some information can't be shared with us. Why? Because it could end up in the hands of our competitors, which could prove detrimental to the success of our $92.5 million (so far) communications system.
The little that is being shared with the public is important. But what's typically more important is what is not being said. Such as this: a Feb. 2 letter from the N.C. Department of State Treasurer to Evan Webster, former Davidson town commissioner and chairman of the MI-Connection board of directors. The letter, in essence, states that the Local Government Commission, in its audit of MI-Connection's FY 09 financial statements, found that the system "has serious financial problems which the System's governing board must address immediately." To read the full letter, click on each document to enlarge:
Perhaps it's information like this that is causing our town board to seem a little off-kilter recently. The topic of MI-Connection apparently led to an exchange between Commissioner Miles Atkins and Mayor Chris Montgomery at the board's recent planning retreat, where Atkins - a member of the MI-Connection Strike Team - agreed to make a presentation about MI-Connection. (http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/feb/19/cable-issue-hot-one-retreat/news-local/)
But that exchange, taken in context, appears to be a small piece of a much larger picture. That "context" may have been provided in a letter sent by Commissioner Mac Herring to Montgomery earlier this week. In the letter, Herring confronts the mayor about his "lack of leadership."
Referring to the planning retreat in particular, Herring writes: "During the entire 2 day session you only made 1 comment, and that was a personal attack on Commissioner Atkin's [sic] presentation of where we are with MI-Connection. You contributed NOTHING to any other conversation. You were frequently doodling or texting. At least twice an hour you would get up and leave for 10-15 minutes, sometimes for 30 or more. Though present, you were absent.
"For you to sit in our Strategic workshop and not engage in the conversations, offer your opinion, ask questions and help provide direction for out Town's staff is inexcusable...especially as your attention was elsewhere and and you were frequently elsewhere," Herring continued. "It almost seems as if you are choosing to abandon the duties and responsibilities of the position to which you were elected."
To read Herring's letter in its entirety, click on the documents below:
After reading the Mooresville Tribune's recent article on the town commissioners' planning retreat - http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/feb/19/cable-issue-hot-one-retreat/news-local/ - I was left with the impression that town officials may know more than they're letting on.
And that wouldn't be much of a surprise. After guaranteeing public money for MI-Connection, town officials quickly grew uneasy with public requests about the communication system's financial health and marketing/sales plans. While we own the system, we've been told that some information can't be shared with us. Why? Because it could end up in the hands of our competitors, which could prove detrimental to the success of our $92.5 million (so far) communications system.
The little that is being shared with the public is important. But what's typically more important is what is not being said. Such as this: a Feb. 2 letter from the N.C. Department of State Treasurer to Evan Webster, former Davidson town commissioner and chairman of the MI-Connection board of directors. The letter, in essence, states that the Local Government Commission, in its audit of MI-Connection's FY 09 financial statements, found that the system "has serious financial problems which the System's governing board must address immediately." To read the full letter, click on each document to enlarge:
Perhaps it's information like this that is causing our town board to seem a little off-kilter recently. The topic of MI-Connection apparently led to an exchange between Commissioner Miles Atkins and Mayor Chris Montgomery at the board's recent planning retreat, where Atkins - a member of the MI-Connection Strike Team - agreed to make a presentation about MI-Connection. (http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/feb/19/cable-issue-hot-one-retreat/news-local/)
But that exchange, taken in context, appears to be a small piece of a much larger picture. That "context" may have been provided in a letter sent by Commissioner Mac Herring to Montgomery earlier this week. In the letter, Herring confronts the mayor about his "lack of leadership."
Referring to the planning retreat in particular, Herring writes: "During the entire 2 day session you only made 1 comment, and that was a personal attack on Commissioner Atkin's [sic] presentation of where we are with MI-Connection. You contributed NOTHING to any other conversation. You were frequently doodling or texting. At least twice an hour you would get up and leave for 10-15 minutes, sometimes for 30 or more. Though present, you were absent.
"For you to sit in our Strategic workshop and not engage in the conversations, offer your opinion, ask questions and help provide direction for out Town's staff is inexcusable...especially as your attention was elsewhere and and you were frequently elsewhere," Herring continued. "It almost seems as if you are choosing to abandon the duties and responsibilities of the position to which you were elected."
To read Herring's letter in its entirety, click on the documents below:
Posts
593 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 401 – 593 of 593Limited growth area, limited growth area!!!!!!!
Great. What is the maximum number of subscribers within your limited growth area?
Will we lose more if we sell it, or will we lose more if we keep it?
Facts. If you don't know, don't feel bad. We don't know either, Chicken Little. Just don't confuse facts with fear. Fear you've got. It's not enough for the overwhelming majority of us.
If the overwhelming majority of citizens wanted to sell it, the Board would have sold it already. Which is why we've been ignoring Green, and the other Green, and the other Green :)
Hey!! Tea Baggers from all over the state are planning to meet and protest during the President's visit at Celgard in Charlotte today.
If you want to protest what the President did to stop The Great Depression II and provide at least some Health Care Reform, and the fact that he's one of Larry Gregory's 'baby making people', head on down. You can yell and scream and spit and do what you guys do when you're protesting losing an election :)
The maximum # of households is available for your review by going to the census bureau's website and reviewing the estimates currently avialable -- Davidson is nice enough to have that information available on their website.
Yes, the subcriber base is limited, which is an undeniable and irrefutable piece of information. MIC started out with something like 15,000 but has lost some subscribers.
Some of Cornelius and Mooresville are serviced by TWC, so MIC isn't an option. Many folks have moved to Dish or DirecTV.
@ 6:07am -- I'm not bothered at all by comments -- but yes, I am happy that person is engaged in the conversation. I don't agree with much of what that person has to say, but they certainly have a right to say it.
We already knew that, Larry.
Your reason for wanting to sell it, sell it now is still based on the possibility of suffering more loses than we can possibly imagine, though?
Or are you waiting for us to find THAT website, too?
First -- speak for yourself.
Second, I've already stated why I think the town should divest itself of MIC. You don't agree with my position and I have no idea what your position is, so I have no idea whether or not I would agree with your position. Agreement is not required.
Third, I'm happy for you that you figured out how to insert bold into your responses.
If you have any other questions, feel free to call me and I'll be happy to discuss it with you. 704-237-0477. And just so you're not surprised, I block anonymous and unidentified callers, and all unknown callers must state their name before the call is put through to my phone.
First? Learn what question marks are for, Larry :)
Second? Don't dictate to other people. You aren't in church at the moment and your powers only reach so far :)
I asked if you were still trying to convince us that selling MIC because of your baseless fears of unknown potential losses was still paramount.
No need to answer. I just think it's important that people who respect you because of your position in the community understand that rallying behind you as you advocate the sell it, sell it now position is unwise. Since your position is premature, at best, and probably based solely on your limited government philosophy and your anger at Rader, and the rest, for buying MIC without your permission.
This is the problem with spiritual leaders entering the public arena. Hard to trust someone with spiritual matters when they advocate bad business decisions based on outdated 'beliefs' and ignorance of numbers.
Keep your phone number, Larry. My cat hasn't died and my grammy has her own copy of The Good Book. You and I have nothing else to discuss.
All you bring to the discussion of MIC are your camp followers and they're as lost as you are.
I'll stop using BOLD if it bothers you. We all know that Larry is special.
Thanks for not posting anonymously this time :)
No pork samich for you :)
Larry? Allow me to retort?
SELL IT, SELL IT NOW......THE SKY IS FALLING
Happy Easter Larry!!!!!!!!!!!
Hang in there, Green. We all know you're standing up for us and that you have all the facts we need. Somewhere. Maybe they are secret facts. You have them. Don't you? Are they on tablets or something? Real, real heavy, probably. Yeah, you have the facts. I have faith. I believe. In you.
Forth? Dye your eggs in please pastels. Offend not the Easter gathering with bright colors or 'busy' markings.
Fifth? Fill your Easter Basket with natural eggs and promote not the Chinese plastic OBAMAnations that are so popular.
Sixth? Give. Give more. Give and give and give until it hurts. Remember, we can only help the DESERVING poor with lots and lots of money and tax exemptions. We will not speak of grants for Faith Based initiatives until the third coming of the Bush.
http://www.asylum.com/2010/03/18/most-americans-believe-god-has-a-plan-for-them/
The majority of Americans think God intervenes in day-to-day life.
'Combining the results of two recent surveys on religious belief, sociology professor Scott Shieman calculated that 82 percent of Americans ask God for help and guidance in making decisions; 71 percent believe that when good or bad things happen to them it is all part of God's plan.
Another 61 percent say God has predetermined the course of their life, and 32 percent take that a step further by agreeing with the statement "There is no sense in planning a lot because ultimately my fate is in God's hands."
According to the findings, better educated and wealthier Americans are less likely to believe God plays an active role in their life.'
You can laugh at them, but, until people stop being afraid of the dark, you have to deal with them.
One only needs to watch "Back To The Future" or "Lost" to know the truth about the 11:25 post.
What other off-topic tangents can we explore? That's rhetorical.
I am against M-I. I am not a member of Rev Green's church nor have I ever met him. I am for the CAP to explore the potential exit strategy if it is even an option.
Several parties are accountable for how we got here and my concern is that we are stuck with this for the foreseeable future. Listen to Carney who now says that the financial arrangements were not shared with those voting. In my mind, that would have raised reasonable doubt. Cornelius let out a collective "WHEW".
Adelphia sucked; customers got the dish; Time Warner could do only what the bankruptcy court let it do while the Towns looked into buying M-I. I would venture a guess that more than half of the homes around here have a dish. There is a fact I would like the CAP to uncover.
Harder to get but I would like to know how other Adelphia areas that were taken over by TW or Comcast are fairing customer-wise 3 years later. The customer growth numbers that were originally presented were unrealistic even in 2006-2007's economy.
The dish has a good channel lineup and offers way more HD channels for a lower price. People are not signing up by the hundreds as projected-the 'break even' date of 2012 is also looking like it may be just a little 'off'.
Take a look at the parking area full of 'stuff' behind the M-I office on Broad Street-either somebody was planning on some major growth or fell asleep at the wheel. Can we sell that to make up for the half million?
We already knew that, Larry.
I think even you would agree that the pronoun "we" is plural -- and that you did not end that statement with a question mark.
Feel free to call me any time. The phone is always on and I'm always happy to talk. I'm glad to know your cat and grammy are well. Happy Easter to you as well.
I don't bother posting anonymously as I have nothing to hide or anything to be ashamed of.
Yes, I still believe getting rid of MIC is a good decision.
I got rid of MIC and went to DirecTV, and don't regret it at all. I get to watch lots of HD channels on my 50inch plasma TV and pay less then I did with Adelphia/MIC. I use Windstream as my internet provider and have had much better quality and consistency since moving away from Adelphia/MIC.
We're glad you're happy with Dish and Windstream, Larry.
Hopefully the CAP will be able to find out how much your decision cost all of us. Including you. I think we need to know how much of our next property tax bill is related to MIC.
I have to admit, the idea of you paying twice for cable makes me smile.
Thanks for standing up for us, Larry :)
And there's the problem with your logic (4:41) --one's choice of cable/internet providers should not be impacting anyone's next property tax bill. You're looking in the wrong direction. Your beef ain't with us, it's with the town.
I am one who also switched to DirecTV. Why should I be paying for you to sit around and watch TV and post on blogs? Next thing you know you'll be wanting me to pay for your mortgage and health insurance too.
You know, this is probably pointless. You're refuting my logic because it doesn't support your opinion.
Your opinion is that one's choice of cable/internet providers should not be impacting anyone's next property tax bill.
You're ignoring the reality of the situation that we're in.
My beef is with the Town? If you pay property taxes, to the Town, as I do, then we are the Town. And we own a cable company.
Every single one of us who fails to support MIC will make our property taxes increase to cover MIC's losses. Unless MIC is able to become profitable.
I don't know how you can argue that, but, I really do respect your opinion. I just hope no one considers it either logical or sensible.
Unless MIC shows a profit, you'll be paying more in increased property taxes because of your decision to refuse to support your Town.
You want to pay for DirecTV and MIC? It's your money. I'm not asking you to pay so that anyone can watch cable, but, you're going to. You just get to pay twice and make everyone else's taxes go up. So?
We get to pay for you. While you blog or watch TV, or whatever.
Just because my reality is different from your reality doesn't mean that it's illogical or not sensible.
I will agree -- we are the town -- but we have been put into a horrendous spot by our town leaders. Whether or not I choose to have DirecTV, Dish, Windstream, TW Cable, or whatever other service is out there is totally up to me and should not be dictated by anybody, and certainly not our town leaders. They have put us into a totally horrendous situation. I'm not making taxes go up -- our town leaders make that decision. I choose to speak with my dollars, just as you are. We just choose different paths.
If MIC is not showing a profit then that sends a clear message that the town (you and me) do not want the service. You are not paying for me to blog or watch TV -- I don't have MIC.
We're all going to pay 2x for the service -- you'll pay MIC as well as the increased taxes. I'll pay DirecTV as well as the property taxes.
I can't fathom the argument that my responsibility is to support the government just because they made a pathetic choice. I can't change the past decisions, but I can certainly choose to not support their continued misuse of funds -- both in person at town hall meetings as well as with my pocket book.
Your beef really is with the town, as is mine. So let's stay focused on that.
Nope. The beef of every citizen of Mooresville and Davidson who pays property taxes is with you.
You're making our property taxes go up because you're stupid.
Are you more stupid than the guys who bought MIC? Probably. At least they had the benefit of an economy that hadn't tanked and numbers that they didn't understand.
I pay for MIC and get cable. You pay for DirectTV and get cable and MIC loses revenues. Both of us pay higher property taxes as a result of the subsidy that the Towns give MIC as a result of the decision that you made.
So, yeah, I pay for your decision. While you blog or watch TV.
New Rule: Just because a country elects a smart president doesn't make it a smart country. A few weeks ago I was asked by Wolf Blitzer if I thought Sarah Palin could get elected president, and I said I hope not, but I wouldn't put anything past this stupid country. It was amazing - in the minute or so between my calling America stupid and the end of the Cialis commercial, CNN was flooded with furious emails and the twits hit the fan. And you could tell that these people were really mad because they wrote entirely in CAPITAL LETTERS!!! ......
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-maher/new-rule-smart-president_b_253996.html
Wow, you must be truly gifted to know what every citizen of Mooresville and Davidson thinks.
So much for civil discourse with you.
Now, if only your gubmint would force us all into submission to make you happy! Would you like them to send out the police to arrest us and charge us with a crime?
I guess those of us who don't believe your party line are just plain stupid. Thanks for trying to get me to buy the party line, but I'm not buying it. Maybe you can brow-beat somebody else into joining you on the MIC Kool-Aid bandwagon. Good luck.
Go dye your eggs and have a Happy Easter :)
Well, if Bill Maher said it, it must be true. He's as ridiculous as Limbaugh.
Go smoke some pot and watch some Maher. You'll be better in the morning after the Kool-Aid wears off.
And when you wake up, tell Rader and Thunberg hi for me.
Rader and Thunberg might have been wrong about buying MIC, but, you're still just stupid :)
Back to the doughnut shop.
You and I are brothers. Our dad was a drunk and bought a doughnut shop one day. Then he got hit buy a truck.
Now, you and me own a doughnut shop. We don't like the doughnut shop. But, no one wants to pay what dad paid for it, so, we can't sell it right now.
We charge a dollar for a bag of doughnuts. Every time we sell a bag of doughnuts, we make 50 cents? We don't get a discount.
I buy a bag of doughnuts from us. We just made 50 cents. You buy a bag from the guy down the street. He just made 50 cents.
End of the day, we're short 50 cents. What in the world do we do? We ask our grammy for a loan of 50 cents. Tomorrow? Same thing. End of the year, we owe grammy $4.00. We each reach into our savings and take out $2.00 and pay off grammy.
We lost $4.00 because you're a dumbass. I lost $2.00 because you're a dumbass. You? Just a dumbass.
If your dumbass had bought doughnuts from our doughnut shop we wouldn't have lost any money. At least we wouldn't have lost as much money.
I tried telling you that. All year. But, you're a dumbass.
We might be able to sell the doughnut shop someday. Not today.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_communism
Happy Easter
Yep, so we better sell it now before that $4 turns into $8 -- because apparently your doughnuts suck and nobody wants them.
Doughnuts are high in cholesterol and having too many in your diet is never good for you. Keep in mind people have said they would not buy your doughnuts and had sworn off doughnuts under the previous management because they left a bad taste in their mouths. Luckily a panel of 'experts' have told you that these doughnuts will be different-so different they will be good for you AND the entire community. The price of these doughnuts will be 'stabilized' and customers will enjoy lower prices and get even more doughnuts. Your Doughnuts will sell like hotcakes!!!!
Dunk'n Doughnuts had been running the store you want to buy in the interim and did an OK job but knew they had to alot of work to do to improve on the doughnuts. They have an established brand name and are the 2nd largest doughnut maker in the country. They also make some kick-ass coffee.
In return for allowing them to continue operating the doughnut shop-they will PAY you a percentage of monthly doughnut (and coffee)revenues. They will also be able to make much-needed improvements to the doughnut shop in a relatively short time due to the fact that they are the #2 Doughnut maker in the country. They have done this in other towns with little to no problems.
You say "Nope --I can do doughnuts my way because small doughnut shops are VERY successful and we're going to run it with the help of a BBQ joint" Can't resist the opportunity to fit in a pork sammich reference.
Upon purchase of the doughnut shop ***much to your surprise*** you discover that the cost of making doughnuts has exceeded your expectations and a well-informed public has decided that your doughnuts are not the best choice to bring into their homes. So to pay the rent, power & the skyrocketing price of sprinkles you have to raise the rates for your doughnuts to cover your costs. This causes your customers to stop coming to your doughnut shop.
In the meantime the Dunk'n Doughnuts in Huntersville, Troutman, Statesville and Harmony are serving those who choose to patronize their business. They are dealing with the soft economy, New Year's resolutions, bikini weather and STILL contributing CASH to each of the Towns they are in. Oh yeah, they now also offer wireless service in their stores. Meantime, small doughnut shop is cutting back on the number of napkins you get.
Lesson: If enough doughnuts are crammed down your throat you'll become unhealthy one artery at a time. Eventually you'll have all sorts of probes and invasive procedures and (say 2 1/2 years after you started your doughnut diet) you will be put on life support. No matter how much you pay the hospital, it's not enough to cover the bills and soon your quality of life starts to go downhill.
We're at the point where you weigh the cost of your funeral vs. the cost of keeping your doughnut-loving dumbass alive.
Doughnuts--like some theories--are full of holes. Instead of kick-ass coffee; we've been given the 'choice' of lukewarm sugar-free Kool-Aid. And if you don't like that you will be punished and be forced to pay for doughnuts you never ordered in the first place.
I'll stick with the bagels.
That was nicely done :)
Obviously, we're all free to choose. And no one, not even the Mayor of Davidson, is dictating what service we should subscribe to, if any.
We're in this position, together, collectively, whether we like it or not. I don't understand how refusing to subscribe to MIC punishes Rader or Thunberg, or how it punishes the Town. I think it's obvious that it punishes all of us, and I don't see the point in that.
Those who choose DirecTV or Dish, whether they prefer the services, or to make a political statement, reduce MIC's revenues. And that will result in higher property taxes and reductions in services.
Pretending that isn't the case isn't helpful. Or honest. Do what you want. This isn't Health Care Reform. Just don't pretend that everyone who pays property taxes isn't going to suffer.
6:34 -- you are the single most vocal poster on this site. If people don't agree with you, they are stupid, dishonest, illogical, irrational, tea baggers, or whatever else you want to throw around as a label. I can't take someone like you seriously.
6:15 made a very logical and well thought out rebuttal, which you obviously disagree with. As a result, you basically called him/her dishonest, unhelpful, and told him/her that he/she lives in some sort of alternate universe. Is that your stratey? Attack and belittle anyone who has an opposing point of view?
Your position is one in which individual liberties/choices are secondary to the needs of the government. The public's role, as I understand you, is to bail out the government by subscribing to the government owned media.
You critique others for being alarmist, yet time and time again you sound the alarm that property taxes will increase if I don't buy into it now. That may very well be the case, but there has been no move by ToD or ToM to increase taxes -- in fact they've all said they don't intend to do that as a way of solving this problem. Regardless, assuming the property taxes do increase -- how much will they increase to cover a shortfall? Any idea? You must have a really large amount of real estate if you're that concerned by what I anticipate will be a fairly minimal increase in property taxes -- if any increase at all.
The consultant's report indicated that MIC is substantially undercharging their clients. If I recall correctly, by about $15-$20 per month. So it would seem that their first step to resolve the cash-flow problem would be to increase their rates.
I'm sure you'll have quite a few negative and derogatory statements to make about my post, but I don't intend to pay any more attention to your rants.
To 8:07:
You're an amusing person. You direct criticisms to the Larry Gregory's and the Anons who call our Commissioners idiots and I'll take your complaints about the words I've used to describe people and their arguments seriously. Larry Green is fine with people calling those who bought MIC whatever suits them. And so are you. It's when the other side follows your example that you have an issue. That's pretty pathetic.
I actually complimented 6:15. Because I thought what they wrote was funny. It was nonsense, but, amusing. Then I disagreed with them.
You've mis-characterized my post. Either because you're obtuse (not name calling, it may be your condition), or because you're dishonest (again, if you're dishonest, it's a fact). You can chose. Or not. I don't care.
My position isn't that individual liberties/choices are secondary to the needs of the government. I never said that. You made that up out of thin air. What I've said, more times than I've counted, is that we, the property tax paying citizens of the Towns, own a cable company and that we should support it while we own it. While we own it. Never said we should have bought it. Never said anyone should make you subscribe to it. None of what you wrote about my position is true.
I never said that the public's role is to bail out the government. I said we are the government. We own a cable company. Mooresville just wrote a check for $400,000.00 to support MIC. Those dollars weren't budgeted for that purpose. If those kinds of subsidies continue, our services will be cut or our taxes will increase. If we subscribe to the cable company we own, we might be able to help prevent that from happening.
And me saying that has stirred up all you folks. To the point where you lie about what I've posted. Jesus, all I have to do, all anyone has to do, is scroll up and read what you're responding to. You can only change it so much without being laughable.
You people talk about the government like it's some monolithic thing on a mountaintop. Sounds like Glenn Beck. The government he talks about is the Obamanation. The one you talk about is on Main Street. Pawn shop guy who just replaced the jeweler, a nurse, a postal clerk, whomever else. Hardly an Anti-Christ among them.
Larry Green, and unknown Anons, have said that we face unknown losses, catastrophe, losses beyond imagining if we don't sell it, sell it now. Alarmists.
I've said our property taxes might go up if we boycott MIC. I don't think that's untrue, alarmist, or unreasonable.
Here's where I love your post, you actually agree with me, and you push the alarmists back a bit:
"Regardless, assuming the property taxes do increase -- how much will they increase to cover a shortfall? .......what I anticipate will be a fairly minimal increase in property taxes -- if any increase at all."
According to you, even if property taxes increase to cover MIC's shortfalls, the increase will be minimal. Then sell it, sell it now really doesn't make any sense. I'm still right, supporting MIC might help prevent another payment to cover another shortfall, and the sell it, sell it now crowd is really just a bunch of tweaked up alarmists with no basis for their position.
Well said. Nice job. Thank you.
As far as additional rate increases are concerned, that seems unlikely. MIC is trying to build a subscriber base. But, while I'll continue to support MIC, and continue to recommend that everyone who owns it do likewise, thanks to you, when one of the alarmists says the sky is falling, I'll be able to laugh at them knowing that I'm not alone.
Now, it's okay with me if you ignore my rants. I won't ignore your rants, though.
I just hope that everyone agrees that your message is the right one. Even if MIC continues to lose money our property taxes won't go up and our services won't be cut. There is no reason, according to you, to sell it now.
http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/voting.html
"U.S. Voting Rights
When the Constitution was written, only white male property owners (about 10 to 16 percent of the nation's population) had the vote. Over the past two centuries, though, the term "government by the people" has become a reality. During the early 1800s, states gradually dropped property requirements for voting. Later, groups that had been excluded previously gained the right to vote. Other reforms made the process fairer and easier.
1790 Only white male adult property-owners have the right to vote.
1810 Last religious prerequisite for voting is eliminated.
1850 Property ownership and tax requirements eliminated by 1850. Almost all adult white males could vote.
1855 Connecticut adopts the nation's first literacy test for voting. Massachusetts follows suit in 1857. The tests were implemented to discriminate against Irish-Catholic immigrants.
1870 The 15th Amendment is passed. It gives former slaves the right to vote and protects the voting rights of adult male citizens of any race.
1889 Florida adopts a poll tax. Ten other southern states will implement poll taxes.
1890 Mississippi adopts a literacy test to keep African Americans from voting. Numerous other states—not just in the south—also establish literacy tests. However, the tests also exclude many whites from voting. To get around this, states add grandfather clauses that allow those who could vote before 1870, or their descendants, to vote regardless of literacy or tax qualifications.
1913 The 17th Amendment calls for members of the U.S. Senate to be elected directly by the people instead of State Legislatures.
1915 Oklahoma was the last state to append a grandfather clause to its literacy requirement (1910). In Guinn v. United States the Supreme Court rules that the clause is in conflict with the 15th Amendment, thereby outlawing literacy tests for federal elections.
1920 The 19th Amendment guarantees women's suffrage.
1924 Indian Citizenship Act grants all Native Americans the rights of citizenship, including the right to vote in federal elections.
1944 The Supreme Court outlaws "white primaries" in Smith v. Allwright (Texas). In Texas, and other states, primaries were conducted by private associations, which, by definion, could exclude whomever they chose. The Court declares the nomination process to be a public process bound by the terms of 15th Amendment."
Continued......
http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/voting.html
"U.S. Voting Rights
1957 The first law to implement the 15th amendment, the Civil Rights Act, is passed. The Act set up the Civil Rights Commission—among its duties is to investigate voter discrimination.
1960 In Gomillion v. Lightfoot (Alabama) the Court outlaws "gerrymandering."
1961 The 23rd Amendment allows voters of the District of Columbia to participate in presidential elections.
1964 The 24th Amendment bans the poll tax as a requirement for voting in federal elections.
1965 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., mounts a voter registration drive in Selma, Alabama, to draw national attention to African-American voting rights.
1965 The Voting Rights Act protects the rights of minority voters and eliminates voting barriers such as the literacy test. The Act is expanded and renewed in 1970, 1975, and 1982.
1966 The Supreme Court, in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections, eliminates the poll tax as a qualification for voting in any election. A poll tax was still in use in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia.
1966 The Court upholds the Voting Rights Act in South Carolina v. Katzenbach.
1970 Literacy requirements are banned for five years by the 1970 renewal of the Voting Rights Act. At the time, eighteen states still have a literacy requirement in place. In Oregon v. Mitchell, the Court upholds the ban on literacy tests, which is made permanent in 1975. Judge Hugo Black, writing the court's opinion, cited the "long history of the discriminatory use of literacy tests to disenfranchise voters on account of their race" as the reason for their decision.
1971 The 26th amendment sets the minimum voting age at 18.
1972 In Dunn v. Blumstein, the Supreme Court declares that lengthy residence requirements for voting in state and local elections is unconstitutional and suggests that 30 days is an ample period.
1995 The Federal "Motor Voter Law" takes effect, making it easier to register to vote.
2003 Federal Voting Standards and Procedures Act requires states to streamline registration, voting, and other election procedures."
Constitutional Conservatives. Waving a document that denied the right to vote to 84% of the population at Tea Parties as though it was the creation of the Lord and decrying the changes to it and the interpretations of it that have taken place over the last two hundred years as the work of Communists, Marxists, Satan and the rest.
Everyone posting about limited government and crying because the government bought a cable company isn't a Constitutional Conservative, a Tea Bagger, a lunatic or a hypocrite living off the droppings of the spiritually challenged, but, you should all get together at Denny's. You have a lot in common.
You're not being honest in your position. You are quite loudly saying that everyone needs to buy MIC because to not do so would cause MIC to fail. That's your basic statement -- with lots of flowery language. Your assertions are quite clear to anyone who reads them. You believe we, the citizens, have an obligation to support this thing -- and if we don't then we're just plain stupid.
So yea, you really do think we have an obligation to support MIC. To say anything else would be dishonest about your position. Your alarmist mentalit is no different than the alarmist mentality others have voiced.
As for whether or not calling people names is helpful, I really don't care. You're a big person and can make your own decisions about whether or not to call someone a name. Nobody is responsible for your actions other than you -- yourself -- and you.
We are not the government -- if we were truly the government then we'd have the ability to be involved in all the decision making. We are a representative government with elected officials who make those decisions on our behalf. You are a tax payer with voting rights, which right I hope you exercise.
Your flaming about constitutional conservatives is almost as ridiculous as your constant attacks and need to respond to every comment made to you or about you.
Move on and get a life if you can't contribute meaningfully.
My need to respond to every comment made to or about me? That's why you folks keep asking rhetorical questions and telling people whether they can respond, or not?
This isn't a Tea Party. You don't get to shout down someone you don't agree with on a blog. And whining like a little girl isn't going to help.
Now, to your nonsense:
"You're not being honest in your position. You are quite loudly saying that everyone needs to buy MIC because to not do so would cause MIC to fail."
Nope. I'm saying that, since we own it, we should support it. While. We. Own. It.
"You believe we, the citizens, have an obligation to support this thing -- and if we don't then we're just plain stupid."
Nope. I believe the people who pay property taxes should support MIC. While. We. Own. It.
I believe that if you are one of the ones who thinks we can boycott MIC and not see our Towns continue to do what we've seen them do already, subsidize MIC, then you're either stupid or in denial.
Rather than trying to fathom what I think or don't think, why not just trying reading the words?
One of the Anons just said that I was being an alarmist because I said that future subsidies would result in reductions in services or increased property taxes. They seem to feel that even if property taxes do go up that the increase will be minimal. So, what are you worried about? If I'm wrong, who cares? If the sell it, sell it now crowd is really just a handful of Rader haters, who cares?
I'm not an alarmist. Never said the Town would go bankrupt if we didn't subscribe to MIC. Never said we'd face unimaginable losses. You mistake me for one of The Sky is Falling crowd, members of the Church of Limited Gubmint.
And, just for the heck of it, I never said that the Towns should force anyone to subscribe to MIC.
We are the government, at least on the Town level. That's my opinion. Your opinion, or the opinion you think you have today, doesn't interest me.
Your constant need to try and upbraid me and tell me and others what I think and what I'm really saying, when anyone can read my posts is what's ridiculous. And pathetic.
Constitutional Conservatives, and people like you, are scared and sad. It sounds like my posts offend you. Good.
"Move on and get a life if you can't contribute meaningfully."
And you'll decide when I can contribute meaningfully. No. I don't think so. What you mean is stop posting. Give you and your fellow sell it, sell it now Chicken Littles the last word.
Freedom of Speech is fine. If it's your freedom of speech. When you and people like you call people names, it's fine. When you and people like you spew your opinions and present them as facts, that's okay. You only have a problem with other people saying things you don't like.
You could do everyone a favor and ignore my 'rants'.
The people who say we should sell it, sell it now have nothing to base that position on. We don't know what it will cost us to keep MIC, and we don't know what it will cost us to sell it. Selling it now makes no sense.
Those who say we should boycott MIC to teach the government a lesson are ignoring the fact that the Towns have already bailed MIC out once, with our money, and will likely do it again. And that continued subsidies may result in continued reductions in services and increased property taxes.
The sell it, sell it now people seem to be the same ones who favor a boycott of MIC. Since their positions make no fiscal sense, I'm assuming that they are the part of the electorate who think with their FOX, they are only interested in selling MIC to make their limited government fantasies come true at everyone else's expense.
I think we should all support MIC through subscriptions, hope it's enough to allow MIC to operate without asking the Towns for more money, until we decide if we should sell it or keep it.
BRAVO latest anon. Excellent, and well said. I've just had to walk away from this for a while because of the senseless babble about amendments, constitution, "our rights", calling of names to each other.......all just part of ignorant chatter.
At the end of the day........it doesn't matter if anyone wanted to vote, liked the vote, or disliked the vote of MIC. It is what it is. Locally owned by the TOM primarily!!!! Like it or not, put your arms around it if you are a tax payer, or not a tax payer.
Just read Dilbert today. That comic strip never lets me down. Always true to the internal management "missed management" of MIC. So pick up Dilbert and follow this each day, and you will all get a good dose of what is really wrong within MIC.
Happy Easter............m
Oh forgot to mention the donut story. That's just ridiculous halarious. MIC's donuts are not KK. Actually they are better than KK in many ways. The TOM and sorta TOD owns the donut shop, where the KK is owned by Bazillionaires (Private), and stock holders (other millionaires). The TOM and TOD have stock holders too......within the towns (regular joes and josephines). To think we want to compare MIC with a regular donut shop is in short, "tenitious in the box thinking". What the towns own is state of the art fast as you can drive on Lowes moterspeedway internet. The Krispy Kreams of our country are not deliverying this kind of services in towns this size. Maybe NY, Chicago........but not Mayberry USA. Can Direct TV (Krispy Kream) deliver Lowes mosterspeedway internet? NOPE.
m
For someone who doens't care what people think you sure do defend yourself an awful lot. Lots of trying to shout down your opponents. I guess it's OK for you, but not for others? It's OK for you to ask rhetorical questions and tell people what they can and can't answer, but when it's done to you it's somehow a huge insult from some tea bagger.
You keep shouting and screaming all you want. Drink some more MIC Kool-Aid to quench your thirst and keep your throat from going raw. You're a moron who is trying to convince people to use MIC because you believe that's the best option. Wouldn't surprise me if you're in with all those big gubmint folks who think the citzens are simply too stupid to think for themselves.
As for "M" -- I don't own stocks in ToM or ToD. Maybe they need to take MIC public and sell stocks. That would help them offload this piece of crap. MIC is not offering me anything I don't get through other service providers.
J
The people who say we should sell it, sell it now have nothing to base that position on. We don't know what it will cost us to keep MIC, and we don't know what it will cost us to sell it. Selling it now makes no sense.
Those who say we should boycott MIC to teach the government a lesson are ignoring the fact that the Towns have already bailed MIC out once, with our money, and will likely do it again. And that continued subsidies may result in continued reductions in services and increased property taxes.
I think we should all support MIC through subscriptions, hope it's enough to allow MIC to operate without asking the Towns for more money, until we decide if we should sell it or keep it.
They've actually bailed it out through their reserve funds, which did not impact any budget items, nor did that result in a reduction of services.
I'm not teaching the government a lesson, I'm getting better service elsewhere.
Actually, we're talking about two Towns here. Davidson has had a reduction in services and, at the meeting where the Mooresville Board voted to approve the $400,000.00, they reduced the planned amenities for a park off Mazeppa Road.
And, to your point, Mooresville's reserve fund is now down $400,000.00. Due in part to those who refuse to subscribe to MIC.
You have the right to chose your cable provider. Just as you have the right to deplete your Town's reserve fund and potentially force additional cuts in services and cause an unnecessary increase in property taxes.
Most people protest their government's decisions at the ballot box. Not on the backs of their neighbors.
Is somebody going to ask the question?
People are saying sell it, sell it now, right? Our losses will be more than we can imagine if we hold on to MIC.
But, if we aren't going to lose services and if our property taxes won't be going up, at least not by much, if we refuse to subscribe to MIC, why does it make sense to sell it now?
Where are the huge unimaginable losses going to come from, if we don't sell MIC?
Allow me:
The huge losses are going to come when MIC has to start paying the principal on the bond payments which are several million dollars above the current shortfall. Up until now, they have only been making interest payments.
There is a great concern over the trend and MIC's own Board has stated that they could need another $20 million over the next few years if these trends continue. Let's say that amounts to $4 million a year for the next 5 years. Now we're at 10x what TOM contributed. You have what financial minds call a Money Pit or in other words a Crack Addict.
THAT'S the issue.
So, how much will property taxes have to increase to cover an extra $4 million each year?
Sounds like it's time to move to Troutman and let you guys figure this out :)
Now there's a great fact we can all agree upon -- and extra $4,000,000 per year to cover the losses.
With 15,000 subscribers that would mean MIC would need to increase their rates by $22 per month to cover their shortfall.
Simple solution to your complex problem. And that fits right into the picture given by MIC's analyst -- someone who has been in the field for quite a while and obviously has the respect of the MIC board or else they wouldn't have hired him.
That would mean the average household would have to forego eating out once per month, may have to forego a trip to the beauty shop, or cut back on on something that you spend money on which is not an essential item for your survival.
So are those of you who want MIC willing to cough up the extra cash to cover the shortfall or do you want to place that burden on the rest of us who choose another service?
No tax increases--no more dipping into the reserves--no more issues for the town as a whole.
oh, and you can cut out going to Dunkin Donuts to help save a few bucks!
Or, you can divide the loss by the total # of households in Cornelius, Davidson, and Mooresville and add under $200 per year to each taxpayer's annual tax bill -- assuming they only add that tax to real property taxes. If you spread it out to also include personal property taxes, then you're looking at something like a $10 per year tax added to everybody's tax bill (real and personal).
I'm sure some of you would prefer to spread the cost, but as one who has no interest in MIC I really would prefer you pay for the services you get and cover the costs. But if you need me to pitch in $10 per year, I certainly don't mind donating to system.
Sounds like there are three things we don't know. How many new subscribers would it take to drive up revenues enough to prevent a shortfall. Is MIC budgeting the debt service, or are the Towns. What would it cost us to service the debt on our own if we sell it now?
MIC does budget debt service according to their current budget.
Then, if we keep MIC, they'll pay to service the debt. If we sell it, the Towns will have to pay it?
Still sounds like the more subscribers we have the better. I can't understand how boycotting MIC helps anyone who pays property taxes.
if MIC subscribers are willing to foot the bill to cover the loss, then keep the thing until we can sell it
If MIC has debt service budgeted, and can maintain or exceed it's current subscriber base, then MIC shouldn't have to ask the Towns for more money.
However, if the debt service is $4 million and MIC can't cover it, that's $400.00 per household, if we use 10,000 homes for the two Towns combined.
Hardly sounds like the end of the world, in either case.
Since MIC is trying to add new subscribers, it seems unlikely that they will raise rates.
If we sell it now, we're still on the hook for the debt service. Sounds like it makes more sense to hold on to MIC, push for new subscribers, and hope MIC can cover the debt service as well as their other expenses.
Sell it, sell it now, and a boycott both sound like bad ideas that make no sense for the citizens of Davidson or Mooresville.
makes sense to me -- not to you
We're going to be responsible for the debt service whether we own it or not. If we own it we at least have the chance that MIC will pay all or a portion of the debt service.
Selling it now makes sense if you work for Time Warner. They pay $30 million, we get stuck with a loss of $60 million, and service on debt for 7 years.
But, we've been over this.
I know enough to know that we need someone to consult with or validate Mr. Cashion's statement taken from the comment section of this article. A
300% increase in annual revenues doesn't happen when you add 11 customers in a month.
http://davidsonnews.net/2010/01/26/will-cable-systems-financial-woes-hit-town-budget/
Bobby Cashion says:
I agree with Mr. Graham that MI-Connection has a great product offering and probably is the best provider in the area with the latest technology.
However, I spend my days restructuring distressed companies. The reality for M-I Connection is that it is a good company with a bad balance sheet. MI-Connection will not perform well until the company has executed a significant balance sheet deleveraging. We just paid too much for the asset.
Currently, MI-Connection could not service debt payments at even half the debt service level. For budget year June 2011, payments for interest, principal payments, and capital expenditures to maintain the system will sum $10.1 million. Based on this year’s June 2010 budget presented on Davidson News.Net, operating income would have to improve approximately 300% over the current budget to achieve cash flow breakeven operating performance.
Hoping for the best is not a plan. So until we deal with the overleveraged balance sheet, we will be in the waiting place as Dr. Seuss states in “Oh, the Places You’ll Go”. It is not good or bad place it is just where we are.
<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Wow...go away for a few days and it gets feisty here in MIC-ville.
I really enjoyed the Dunkin' Doughnuts analogy...but I do question whether customers should be willing to pay more for an inferior product (speaking primarily about HD offerings) simply because it's "the right thing to do" to support the town.
It's an interesting dilemma... If you can get a better entertainment value for your family RIGHT NOW but it may cost all property owners in the town later...which do you do? You may personally save more than the likely tax increase by getting a lower cable/sat bill.
I hope the CAP gets some real numbers of the various scenarios.....otherwise we're just flapping our gums in the breeze.
Arguing about this has been fun, but, if 11:09 is right, it's time to move to Troutman :)
bye
http://www2.statesville.com/content/2010/apr/05/mi-connection-elect-officers/
Guess we need to start subscribing to MIC before our taxes go up.
Wouldn't it suck? Paying for Dish or DirecTV all year, then getting this HUGANTIC property tax bill to pay for MIC and having to cancel Dish and DirecTV because you can't afford the service?
Too funny :)
You know, you can get basic, real basic cable from Time Warner for like $9 a month. Not sure about MIC.
won't be a gigantic bill -- do the simple math
Somebody better tell Larry that. He's all freaked out, man.
That's more of that Rader math, what you talkin' about :)
If it ain't gonna cost us nothing then what is everybody so pissed off about? We just get whatever service we want and pay our property taxes and quit fussin'.
Hey People!
More subscribers is not the answer! If you continue to build a subscriber base and the profit margins aren't there, you just have a bigger subscriber base and marginal profits. A larger base, on the other hand, means you'll need to either hire more support troops or provide less service. Both of which are not very palatable.
I do not buy into build it bigger and it will make money scenario nor do I think anyone should boycott the service but to push the service because 'we own it' is just inane.
There are few options open to TOM and Davidson. They blew it BIG time this time.
Inane. They blew it BIG time this time is an inane comment. Saying that we shouldn't push the service we own is just as inane.
We own the thing. Investing in one we don't own just does not make sense. A minimal profit margin that helps reduce subsidies is not a bad thing.
It's okay to be stupid. Nothing you can do about it. Prayer won't help. Just pay your property taxes, okay?
Someone dared to disagree with you -- ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK! You big stupid head! Shame on you for not being as smart as 9:40. Everybody knows 9:40 is correct. Don't you know better than to disagree with 9:40? He is the smartliest pusson i ever knowed.
Maybe we can get 9:40 to teach a class on economics at MCC for all of us stupid people, because we apparently need his knowledge and smarts.
We won't have to pay additional property taxes if you MIC customers would pay $22 more per month to cover the deficit. Wait, you'd have to pay more for your service? That's just not fair.
Wait for his response -- you damn tea baggers, limited government dumbasses, who hate African-Americans and want to go back to an all white society. Yes, 9:40 actually believes that crap.
3:16 -- thanks for posting your thoughts. I was hoping 9:40 had already moved to Troutman.
I forgot to add -- go eat a pork samich before you go to your mindless church activities
A repost from 4/3 -- no really valid argument against this analogy other than the ramblings of a lunatic flamer on here.
Doughnuts are high in cholesterol and having too many in your diet is never good for you. Keep in mind people have said they would not buy your doughnuts and had sworn off doughnuts under the previous management because they left a bad taste in their mouths. Luckily a panel of 'experts' have told you that these doughnuts will be different-so different they will be good for you AND the entire community. The price of these doughnuts will be 'stabilized' and customers will enjoy lower prices and get even more doughnuts. Your Doughnuts will sell like hotcakes!!!!
Dunk'n Doughnuts had been running the store you want to buy in the interim and did an OK job but knew they had to alot of work to do to improve on the doughnuts. They have an established brand name and are the 2nd largest doughnut maker in the country. They also make some kick-ass coffee.
In return for allowing them to continue operating the doughnut shop-they will PAY you a percentage of monthly doughnut (and coffee)revenues. They will also be able to make much-needed improvements to the doughnut shop in a relatively short time due to the fact that they are the #2 Doughnut maker in the country. They have done this in other towns with little to no problems.
You say "Nope --I can do doughnuts my way because small doughnut shops are VERY successful and we're going to run it with the help of a BBQ joint" Can't resist the opportunity to fit in a pork sammich reference.
Upon purchase of the doughnut shop ***much to your surprise*** you discover that the cost of making doughnuts has exceeded your expectations and a well-informed public has decided that your doughnuts are not the best choice to bring into their homes. So to pay the rent, power & the skyrocketing price of sprinkles you have to raise the rates for your doughnuts to cover your costs. This causes your customers to stop coming to your doughnut shop.
In the meantime the Dunk'n Doughnuts in Huntersville, Troutman, Statesville and Harmony are serving those who choose to patronize their business. They are dealing with the soft economy, New Year's resolutions, bikini weather and STILL contributing CASH to each of the Towns they are in. Oh yeah, they now also offer wireless service in their stores. Meantime, small doughnut shop is cutting back on the number of napkins you get.
Lesson: If enough doughnuts are crammed down your throat you'll become unhealthy one artery at a time. Eventually you'll have all sorts of probes and invasive procedures and (say 2 1/2 years after you started your doughnut diet) you will be put on life support. No matter how much you pay the hospital, it's not enough to cover the bills and soon your quality of life starts to go downhill.
We're at the point where you weigh the cost of your funeral vs. the cost of keeping your doughnut-loving dumbass alive.
Doughnuts--like some theories--are full of holes. Instead of kick-ass coffee; we've been given the 'choice' of lukewarm sugar-free Kool-Aid. And if you don't like that you will be punished and be forced to pay for doughnuts you never ordered in the first place.
I'll stick with the bagels.
11:23 said...
We won't have to pay additional property taxes if you MIC customers would pay $22 more per month to cover the deficit. Wait, you'd have to pay more for your service? That's just not fair.
But, rates for MIC customers won't be going up $22 per month. MIC is trying to increase it's customer base. Raising rates would make MIC even less attractive to current and future customers. That's the supply and demand aspect of this that does apply.
If rates go up we lose subscribers. Then we lose revenues. We can argue that we also reduce costs because we're servicing fewer subscribers, but, we don't know the details. MIC does. Since MIC seems to believe that adding subscribers will make them more profitable, I see no reason to believe that they are intent on increasing the subscriber base in order to lose more money.
The Towns are going to continue to subsidize MIC. Which means we're going to continue to see reserves depleted, services cut, and likely see property taxes increase. Until MIC builds a subscriber base that will provide the revenues it needs to become self supporting.
The people who say we should sell it, sell it now have nothing to base that position on. We don't know what it will cost us to keep MIC, and we don't know what it will cost us to sell it. Selling it now makes no sense.
Those who say we should boycott MIC to teach the government a lesson are ignoring the fact that the Towns have already bailed MIC out once, with our money, and will likely do it again. And that continued subsidies may result in continued reductions in services and increased property taxes.
I think we should all support MIC through subscriptions, hope it's enough to allow MIC to operate without asking the Towns for more money, until we decide if we should sell it or keep it.
This remains the simplest and most accurate analogy. There was a long, rambling convoluted reply, but, the intent there was to vent the author's frustration over the original purchase. Those who believe we should sell it, sell it now because they believe we're going to suffer huge losses also believe that we should boycott MIC in order to teach the government a lesson. And they say that property taxes won't be going up, so, there is no need to add to the subscriber base. Their arguments conflict if we're trying to solve a fiscal problem, which most of us are. They just want MIC to fail. That's the only goal that their conflicting arguments support.
Back to the doughnut shop.
You and I are brothers. Our dad was a drunk and bought a doughnut shop one day. Then he got hit buy a truck.
Now, you and me own a doughnut shop. We don't like the doughnut shop. But, no one wants to pay what dad paid for it, so, we can't sell it right now.
We charge a dollar for a bag of doughnuts. Every time we sell a bag of doughnuts, we make 50 cents? We don't get a discount.
I buy a bag of doughnuts from us. We just made 50 cents. You buy a bag from the guy down the street. He just made 50 cents.
End of the day, we're short 50 cents. What in the world do we do? We ask our grammy for a loan of 50 cents. Tomorrow? Same thing. End of the year, we owe grammy $4.00. We each reach into our savings and take out $2.00 and pay off grammy.
We lost $4.00 because you're a dumbass. I lost $2.00 because you're a dumbass. You? Just a dumbass.
If your dumbass had bought doughnuts from our doughnut shop we wouldn't have lost any money. At least we wouldn't have lost as much money.
I tried telling you that. All year. But, you're a dumbass.
We might be able to sell the doughnut shop someday. Not today.
Ring and Rant thinks that it's okay to call people inane. And to call Commissioners idiots. Telling people that their logic is flawed is okay. That's how Ring and Rant and the other members of the Church of Limited Government believe civil discourse should be handled. They say what they want, whatever they want, and then they rant about Freedom of Speech.
Ring and Rant doesn't believe that those with opposing viewpoints should either be allowed to post, or sink to the same level as those who support his opinions. Ring and Rant doesn't like being called a Tea Bagger, or stupid.
Ring and Rant calls people idiots. Then when he's called a Tea Bagger, he complains about the level of civil discourse. Ring and Rant posts and tells people that there's no need to reply. Ring and Rant wants this to be a Tea Party, full of those who agree with him. And he just doesn't like having anyone around to point out that his arguments don't make sense.
We own MIC. If it fails it will cost us more money. Reserve funds are not a bottomless pool of money. We need more subscribers and we need them now.
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
MIC's immediate solution to their problem is to raise rates. You can blame your neighbors all you want, but it's clear MIC needs to raise rates to cover shortfall.
You're the only person who has complained about civil discourse and blamed others for allowing people to call names. You're position is buy it, buy it now. But your donught theory was shot to hell. If you look at the "inane" comment you'll see that the the person posting called the position "inane" -- you interpret that to mean that you are inane -- which is probably an accurate statement.
Better go back and study grammar.
We know what it's currently costing us to keep MIC and can certainly make projections about continued ownership. If this were a true business, the decision would have already been made -- the owner would have closed the doors because of the rapid and continuous loss of blood.
So you stick to your position that the citizens are letting you down if you want. That position isn't valid and absolutely indicates that the citizens have an obligation to bail out the government.
As for me, I'll stick with the services which I have and will be prepared to pay a nominal fee for the rest of you to utilize the system. In the long run, I'll save money for my family by having a better product at a cheaper rate and only pay the minimal tax increase.
And just for the benefit of conversation, let's suppose that we do sell it today and lose $60,000,000 on the deal. That would mean the citizens of Mooresville and Davidson would experience about a $2000 tax bill to cover the losses. Spread the tax over the next 6 years since the bond can't be paid until 2017 and that would equate to an additional $333 per year if they only assess the tax on real property. If, as you say, we keep it an continue to push for the citizens to get on the government-run bandwagon, we will continue to lose $ because, as you've said, MIC will not increase rates. The rate of loss will continue to climb, which will add to the debt we already owe.
Your donught theory, again, is full of holes.
The people who say we should sell it, sell it now have nothing to base that position on. We don't know what it will cost us to keep MIC, and we don't know what it will cost us to sell it. Selling it now makes no sense.
Those who say we should boycott MIC to teach the government a lesson are ignoring the fact that the Towns have already bailed MIC out once, with our money, and will likely do it again. And that continued subsidies may result in continued reductions in services and increased property taxes.
I think we should all support MIC through subscriptions, hope it's enough to allow MIC to operate without asking the Towns for more money, until we decide if we should sell it or keep it.
Back to the doughnut shop.
You and I are brothers. Our dad was a drunk and bought a doughnut shop one day. Then he got hit buy a truck.
Now, you and me own a doughnut shop. We don't like the doughnut shop. But, no one wants to pay what dad paid for it, so, we can't sell it right now.
We charge a dollar for a bag of doughnuts. Every time we sell a bag of doughnuts, we make 50 cents? We don't get a discount.
I buy a bag of doughnuts from us. We just made 50 cents. You buy a bag from the guy down the street. He just made 50 cents.
End of the day, we're short 50 cents. What in the world do we do? We ask our grammy for a loan of 50 cents. Tomorrow? Same thing. End of the year, we owe grammy $4.00. We each reach into our savings and take out $2.00 and pay off grammy.
We lost $4.00 because you're a dumbass. I lost $2.00 because you're a dumbass. You? Just a dumbass.
If your dumbass had bought doughnuts from our doughnut shop we wouldn't have lost any money. At least we wouldn't have lost as much money.
I tried telling you that. All year. But, you're a dumbass.
We might be able to sell the doughnut shop someday. Not today.
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
Perfect World:
The purchase price set was $3810 per subscriber for an outdated system-that number was based on the overall price that Time Warner and Comcast paid Adelphia. With +/- 15000 current customers, let's round it up to $60M. That leaves you at a $33M shortfall for the Sell It Nows-essentially the cost of upgrading the system.
The MIC Board, BVU and other financial experts have stated that as much $20M will be needed to help prop this thing up over the next few years until they are out of the woods (maybe).
The debt service is the mitigating factor here as the most recent payment was made using leftover funds from the initial borrrowing (kind of like paying your credit card bill with the very same credit card) and the TOD/TOM additional funds. Now that all the extra money is gone things could get real scary real quick. Davidson has already felt the pinch.
Following this line of thinking does the taxpayer and/or M-I customer wish to share the burden of $33M or $53M (or more)? $33M sounds a lot better to me.
If by some miracle you got apples for apples or in this case Dollars to Doughnuts:
You bank the $60M and spread the $33M out over the 10K approximate homes for 7 years and you are looking at approx $500 in additional property taxes per year. Bring Davidson into the fold and we're looking at $315 per year.
For less than $1 per day we could rid ourselves of this albatross.
Not-so-perfect problems:
Time Warner has and will continue to lay lines in M-I areas thus diminishing the selling price if TW was to even consider bidding on it. Obviously TW was ticked off when the Towns decided to go ahead with the purchase.
AT&T has also started offering their TV product in M-I areas in Meck County-resulting in customer erosion.
BVU has some pretty sweet payoff provisions in their contract should the system be sold or contract terminated.
As has been posted earlier-Dish and Direct are both offering way more HD channels. Why would I switch and pay more for less? Just because "We. Own. It." as some would suggest...Does that also mean we should also go out and buy golf clubs and pay greens fees so we can help with the Municipal Golf Course-even if you do not know the difference between a Samich and a Sandwedge? Or are we back to doughnuts?
If enough people use it-that equates to more profits?? Not necessarily. It costs money for installation labor and materials; equipment and general upkeep-you may not see profits for several months after promotional pricing on the service.
M-I's entire Pollyanna business plan was based on 2 factors:
High residential growth based on previous and projected new home construction
Business Development
From what I have read the growth in these categories has been flat at best-while larger companies like TW and Comcast are posting strong results. The only positive for M-I is that the revenue per customer is heading in the right direction. But one should expect that with higher rates and a new product in the mix (telephone).
Of course the ironic thing about all this is that if we do stay the course and continue to fall short of M-I's Budget, property taxes will go up & the less likely people and businesses will move to Mooresville; the less likely businesses will grow and stay in Mooresville; the more likely people are to move out of Mooresville. So much for the economic development this 'cash cow' was going to bring to those who were too ignorant to understand.
No matter how Bold your post or how many times you repeat your post doesn't make it any more true.
well said!
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
Yeah!
Well said!!
Quite so!!! :)
I agree with myself once more!!!!!!!!
We're not going to learn anything new until Mitch Abraham stops preventing appointments to the CAP.
We can keep saying the same things over and over, calling one another names, it's not going to solve anything.
No one is planning to sell it, new subscribers can't hurt, and, if you don't believe that? Fine. That won't change anything, either.
As much as I enjoy the back and forth rantings (like 2nd grade recess.."I know you are but what am I")...Does anyone know WHEN the CAP will be appointed and WHEN we can expect to hear some answers?
With out some real numbers it's just gum flapping...
Feel the same way, Jim. We're all in the same boat.
Hypothetical? If 100 new subscribers would make MIC profitable, eliminate any concern over additional subsidies and make rate increases unnecessary, could everyone support that kind of public relations campaign?
7:20....
How do you make up projected millions in shortages with 100 customers? A hundred customers wouldn't even bring us close to the number of homes we bought three years ago...
I would view that kind of PR campaign as more BS from a deal that has never smelled good.
Want to keep me from calling Dish? Get the Peachtree TV channel they had last year so I won't have to watch stick figures of the Braves game on MLB.com!
Oh....and Dish has it in HD for less....
That wasn't the question, Jim :)
IF 100 new subscribers would make MIC profitable, eliminate any concern over additional subsidies and make rate increases unnecessary, could everyone support that kind of public relations campaign?
8:50,
I answered your hypothetical question...
"I would view that kind of PR campaign as more BS from a deal that has never smelled good."
It's the same "the people who live here (not in Bristol) are idiots and will buy whatever we say" mentality that got us in to this mess.
While it's a nice jingle, the majority of potential customers are smart enough to know better.
You would view that as BS because you know that 100 new subscribers won't solve the problem. The premise, Jim, is that they would.
Would it help if the number was 3123?
bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thanks for playing Jim, have a doughnut and the rest of the night off :)
Jim, welcome to the inane world of 9:52 :) who expects citizens to buy MIC because that's what he/she expects of a good citizen. He/she repeats the same stuff over and over again, and dismisses any logical responses as untruthful, unhelpful, and illogical. He/she just gave you the night off b/c he/she doesn't like your response.
I'm beginning to think this person has a vested interested in making MIC work -- which would lead me to believe they took part in the formation of MIC. Rader math donught shop just adds to that suspicion, as do the persistent references that we aren't good team players when we don't buy it, buy it now.
You can't talk logic with this person because their theory has been blown out of the water several times.
I'll play!
If the 100 new customers yield $4000 PER MONTH EACH in pure profit and M-I doesn't lose a single customer until the end of time-then YES, those new subscribers would be worth it!!!
The $4.8M generated by these very important customers will help offset the large principal payment that is due. Up until this point, M-I has only been making interest payments and we've seen how well that's worked out.
It will also make up for the 1000 or so lemmings-oops-subscribers they were supposed to have by now.
Time to make the doughnuts????
Does anyone have an opinion that makes any sense?
Sell it, sell it now doesn't. We have no way of knowing what it will cost us.
Raise rates doesn't. MIC is trying to build a subscriber base and raising rates won't help MIC do that.
Boycott MIC, for whatever reason, doesn't. That isn't going to help us address the issue of shortfalls, or build revenues.
Subscribe to it, build up revenues, and hope our property taxes don't go up. Nothing else seems to make any sense.
That still doesn't sound dangerous. Why do some people act as though it is?
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
Since the original doughnut analogy was too complicated for some.
Wrong again -- thanks for playing -- MIC is responsible for the shortfalls. Increase rates for their current subscribers and there you go. Oh, but that won't work -- because then you'd have to actually stop asking for subsidies.
Maybe your donut crap makes sense to you because that's what you want to believe -- but I don't like donuts so I'd never buy them in the first place. They give me gas -- Radon gas.
MIC is not going to raise rates while they are trying to increase the subscriber base.
That isn't that hard to grasp, is it?
7:37 wants to pretend that we don't own MIC.
That's why there's no point in him playing.
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
9:52PM (MIC Marketing manager),
OK....let's buy in to your premise:
"IF 100 new subscribers would make MIC profitable, eliminate any concern over additional subsidies and make rate increases unnecessary, could everyone support that kind of public relations campaign?"
As someone said earlier, unless you're making thousands per month off of each customer it just doesn't add up to $4 million.
Are you talking about just one hundred customers a month, a week, a day?? I'm not a Davidson grad like our former commissioner at large but to my simple caveman brain it doesn't add up.
The only options available now are bankruptcy, bailout from Mayor Foxx's buddy Obama( will claim those new in-house jobs as jobs created), or the destruction of the private industry by the Marxist-in Chief taking down AT&T, Dish companies, and Time Warner. The Constitutional Republic is dying fast!
Hi Jim,
I picked a low number, just to keep it simple.
Let's say that the number is more like 3200 new subscribers. If that was the magic number, revenue from that many new customers would eliminate the need for more subsidies, would you support that kind of campaign?
Just say it's a good idea?
The alternative would be depleted reserves, cuts in services and possibly higher property taxes until 2017.
Here we go.
The only options available now are bankruptcy, bailout from Mayor Foxx's buddy Obama( will claim those new in-house jobs as jobs created), or the destruction of the private industry by the Marxist-in Chief taking down AT&T, Dish companies, and Time Warner. The Constitutional Republic is dying fast!
Wonderful sound byte. Sounds like something you'd hear on FOX.
'The Constitutional Republic is dying fast!'
What exactly does that mean?
Isn't the Public Library a perfect example of Socialism? No. Wait. That's Marxism?
We didn't have free libraries before Obama, did we?
If you forgot about the 'baby making people' or our leading Constitutional Conservative, enjoy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mze2fdSw_m0
He's teaching a little gubmint class :)
What about Public Utilities? Water coming right to the house? What happened to Americans working for what they get and paying whatever the market demands?
Shouldn't we have choice of who we want to buy water from? I don't want to buy Town water!!!! Can we all meet down at Town Hall tonight at 7:02pm to have a Prayer Service? I'll bring candles and some crayons and we can protest not being able to CHOOSE our water supply.
We can pray for a return to Our Constitution!!!!
What is a representative republic?
Answer
A republic is representative in some form by nature, so "representative republic" is a redundant term that is no more meaningful than the word "republic".
I still can not believe how close you people came to electing this moron.
the soviet union also considered itself a republic -- maybe you should move over there and get them reorganized again so you can have your state run television.
a representative republic is an appropriate description of the US system of government - it represents even morons like you
and if you don't want to move to that particular republic -- how about choose one of these:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Republic
Be careful now, I'm running for Mayor :)
yea, right -- you'd have to have a name and be public -- can't be an anonymous mayor. I hear the people's republic of china will be looking for like-minded despots to take over when long duck dong dies
All,
Please stop your bickering for a few minutes and read the following.It sounds vaguely familiar!
City of Manassas to End BPL Service (BPL=Internet Service)
Once touted as "the most successful BPL deployment in the nation," the City of Manassas, Virginia has decided to get out of the BPL business, once and for all. At a Special Meeting on Monday, April 5, the Manassas City Council -- acting on a recommendation from the Manassas Utilities Commission -- unanimously voted to discontinue Broadband over Powerline (BPL) Internet service as of July 1, 2010 to the approximately 520 residents and businesses who currently subscribe to the service; these customers were told that they have three months to find a new Internet service provider.
According to Manassas City Clerk Andrea Madden, there was no discussion on the resolution to discontinue service and the motion was passed "without incident."
With the motion made by Councilman Jonathan Way and seconded by Mark Wolfe, the City Council cited three reasons for discontinuing BPL service: a declining customer base, an annual income deficit of almost $166,000 from providing Internet service, and a determination that AMI [Advanced Metering Infrastructure] platforms don't require BPL. Way and Wolfe favored shutting down the BPL system in November 2009, the last time this matter was brought to the Council's attention. "The City needs to get out of BPL forthwith," Way said back in 2009. "It's not a good product. The whole business is not financially sound and it never has been."
Manassas residents pay $24.95 each month to receive Internet service via BPL. In November 2009, the Utility Commission showed the Council that little more than 500 residents and 46 businesses currently subscribed to the service, which since 2008, has been run by the City. "It's costing a little more to maintain the system than we projected in the budget," Manassas Director of Utilities Michael Moon told the Council.
"The original projections were that the customer base would be double this." In September 2008, the Manassas City Council voted to assume control of the BPL service from COMTek, the private company that served (back then) approximately 675 residents.
In January 2009, there were 637 residential and 51 commercial BPL subscribers in Manassas. In February 2010, those numbers had shrunk to 457 residential and 50 commercial subscribers. The Utilities Commission said that the total revenue brought in by BPL for FY2010 was almost $186,000, but the expense of keeping up the City-owned system was costing the ratepayers a little more than $351,000, resulting in a net loss of almost $166,000.
In October 2003, the Manassas City Council was told that it could expect as much as $4.5 million in revenue from awarding a 10 year BPL franchise, Instead, six months later, BPL had turned into a money pit for the City of Manassas. Anyone thinking of investing in BPL would do well to learn from the Manassas experience.
Don't we already have state run television in Mooresville? And Public Works? Roads? Libraries?
Try to understand the difference between Social Programs and Socialism. We can talk about Commernist Gubmint tomorrow :)
As we prepare to bid farewell to April 8th, let us reflect on the fact that we don't seem so upset about not having a choice about buying Town Water :)
No one showed up at the Prayer Meeting/Tea Bagging tonight.
There will be a protest march tomorrow, April 9th.
Bring your copy of The Constitution and the Bill of Rights (the white property owner's version of the ONE LAW handed down by God). Leave all them Commernist Amendments at the house with your womens.
We're protesting the end of slavery, women's rights, social security, medicare and how Obama is only half a President, not to mention MIC and Town Water (Communist Water)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Mooresville Konstitutional Konservatives Klub will be meeting outside the Communist Public Library on Saturday, 04/10/10 to cry like little girls about MIC, Town Water and how hard it is to find really nice white sheets and pointy hats.
@11:13pm -- guess again
u sure do post a lot, by the way. You may want to wait more than 5 minutes between posts.
@10:11 -- the problem is that the citizens must not have heard about the donut shop that anonymous and his brother inherited from their drunk father. Those stupid citizens in Manassas obviously didn't understand that as the owners of that business they had an obligation to subscribe to it. Manassas residents should have bought it, bought it now in order to keep the business going.
It really doesn't matter which Konstitutional Konservative Klub member you are, does it? Really?
As long as you and your friends are 20% of the electorate most of us are safe.
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
they're already more expensive -- so people are disinclined to purchase it ....
Go eat your donuts with your brother and cry over the decisions made by your drunk father (may he rest in peace)
those who have no valid arguments stoop to the same senseless BS -- it is not helping your argument to use the KKK as a term of reference for those who disagree with you.
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
about the same as your argument -- it's their opinion (and mine -- minus the communist, pro-government rhetoric)
I guess we're all just plain stupid and have no idea what we're talking about. Re-elect Thunberg and Rader!
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
Anonymous said AGAIN:
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses.
I have said:
M-I has been only been paying interest payments on the $90M+ bond and in the upcoming year the principal payments start. The money used to pay the latest installment was LEFT OVER/RESERVES from the original loan and they still fell short recently to the tune of $.5M. They paid the credit card bill with the same credit card.
M-I's Board has said it may need as much as $20M over the next few years. I contend that looks like $4M per year over the next 5 years.
Bobby Cashion had the following to say on Davidson News.net:
'Currently, MI-Connection could not service debt payments at even half the debt service level. For budget year June 2011, payments for interest, principal payments, and capital expenditures to maintain the system will sum $10.1 million. Based on this year’s June 2010 budget presented on Davidson News.Net, operating income would have to improve approximately 300% over the current budget to achieve cash flow breakeven operating performance.'
For those who like to repeat the same thing over and over aagin:
'...income would have to improve approximately 300% over the current budget to achieve cash flow breakeven operating performance.'
So the huge losses are coming soon to the tune of about $4M a year for the next 5 years. Putting M-I's total debt at $113 Million-almost twice what the TOM/TOD paid for it.
Are you hard of reading?
The subscribers are not there to generate the revenue they need to sustain this thing. Let's say they got the 3200 customers today at an average rate of $75-a number cited by the consultant as the current revenue (not profit) per customer. Let's use that $75 and treat it as 100% profit---now you've got $2.88 million in additional revenue. You're still short $1.12M of the $4M needed to cover all costs. Nevermind the costs of installing all those new customers and losing all the others that are switching companies.
I believe the last reported numbers were 11 new customers in January. Not a favorable trend.
I am in the camp of the CAP studying the feasibility of Sell It Soon. Davidson has already cut back on positions and spending; Mooresville has cut back on some of the amenities for a park. We spotted this iceberg 3 years ago--but there are those who maintain we stay the course and the iceberg isn't nearly as large as it seems. Guess what? It's gotten larger every year and there's no telling what's under the surface.
The 2011 Fiscal Year is approaching quickly-let's see if M-I and TOM/TOD come up with line items for "Powerball Purchases".
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
"Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up."
Then when MIC amasses huge losses, people start moving out of town, the tax base dwindles and businesses refuse to set up shop here maybe the 4 responsible for the purchase of MIC can make up for the shortfalls.
Can one of you "Buy It Nows" tell me one thing other than the beterment of mankind and life as we know it that 'Kumbayah Cable' has over the dish? What it comes down to for me is why would I give up HD Channels and NFL Sunday Ticket?
Save the property tax increase, loss of services, wild locusts arguments and repeated posts.
Service vs. Service/Apples to Apples as a consumer if I have been dining on Prime Rib why would I pay more for a hamburger??? I understand tremendous & miraculous things have been done to improve things from the Adelphia days. But if you are satisfied with what you have you are not inclined to change.
The ability to choose should not be punishable by higher taxes.
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
well there you have it...the "buy it or you're not a team player" has pasted it several times. Why can't you people just take his/her point of view. If you'd just be a team player we'd all be just fine. But no, you insist on keeping your blasted Dish/DirecTV, TW, Windstream, or whatever other service you have.
Let the property taxes increase, along with the personal property taxes. I'll still be paying less money and getting a better product with my services -- you, on the other hand, will be paying more money for MIC AND will also have the taxes. Looks like I keep money in my pocket at the end of the day, which, by the way, I can then use to by donuts from a good donut shop not run by your sorry ass.
And just to save you the trouble:
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
Dumbass said:
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Well no shit sherlock. You are a clever little rascal, aren't you? I bet you spent all day coming up with that argument -- which is the really sad part.
BTW, Frank, do you still have that dent on your forehead from playing football at Davidson? That must have really caused some damage to your internal organs.
If the commissioners are still following this, which I'm sure they are -- I hope you have a better argument than this copy/paste person. You better get CAP up and running soon to save your rear ends from having to make a decision on your own.
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
The line for M-I-Cool-Aid and stale doughnuts forms to your left.
I think the dumbass will take grape flavored Kool-Aid and a stale donut w/ some stale sprinkles on top. I'll pay for it because I have some money left over from stopping by Dunkin Donuts this morning.
MIC-Kool-Aid Supporter believes:
The Towns should get in line with MIC.
The Towns should subsidize MIC by not raising rates.
New subscribers are needed despite the fact that new subscribers won't cure the bloodloss.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is a Tea-Bagger.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a stupid Christian.
Anyone who believes otherwise is just plain stupid.
Anyone who believes otherwise must be a racist.
Anyone who believes otherwise must be a right-wing fanatic.
Anyone who believes otherwise must be a limited government nut-job.
Huge losses will be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge property tax increases and tremendous loss of services, but can't tell us which services or how much in taxes. Subscribers is the only viable solution, despite the fact that MIC loses money with each new subscriber.
All he/she leaves us with is buy it, buy it now because we'll face huge losses that we we'll feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. Buy it, buy it now or we'll really regret it. Buy it, buy it now or you're not a team player. Buy it, buy it now because we own it. What does that leave as the basis of his/her argument?
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
The Mooresville Konstitutional Konservatives Klub will be meeting outside the Communist Public Library on Saturday, 04/17/10 to cry like little girls about MIC, Town Water and how hard it is to find really nice white sheets and pointy hats.
We were going to do it yesterday, but, there was a black kid on a bike and we felt intimidated. Once again robbed of our right to choose.
Kool-Aid drinker is back. Get ready for the copy and paste discussions to return.
Discussions?
One opinion is that we support the service we own until we determine whether keeping it or selling it makes the most sense. That's what you call a Kool-Aid drinker. And others have called a Communist. Or Frank Rader. One rational opinion answered by two or three people who simply can't accept the fact that the Towns own a cable company.
I believe your 1 Kool-Aid position has been countered by several counter-arguments which are quite rational. So even in this little "discussion" (if we go by your #s of 2-3 people) 66% to 75% of the public are opposed to this. I guess then, that 66-75% of the public are simply irrational.
Only 1 of you is logical ... right.
I think the pool might be too small to consider statistically viable. We can agree that we disagree, though. I suppose that's something.
We probably agree that the Towns own a cable company, as well. Beyond that, the 'discussion' seems pointless.
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
OK......I hate to be the only one to try and introduce some civility here....but here goes.
How about we start with each picking a name so we know who we're talking to here. I only post as "Jim"....since...well...that's my name. Unless there's only 3 people each posting a 100 times it's kind of silly to refer to people by time of day.
I appreciate the fact that Ms.Gatton has allowed her blog to be a place to discuss MIC. However, I don't believe a lot can be accomplished by this anonymous name calling, bold type or not.
This is essentially a nice place to live. I don't believe anyone on this board would be so rude that they would insult one of their neighbors in the checkout line at Food Lion for having a different opinion.
Over 550 posts on this one entry....and it's just a whole lot of he said/she said.
I would bet our town board....and our potential CAP members read this blog. What would you like the CAP to accomplish? How about some polite discussion?
It's been tried before, Jim. In fact, one reason why the other side of the discussion decided to stop being quite so civil was to make a point.
Your own posts, not to put too fine a point on it, have been less than civil.
If you'd like to lead the way now......toward civil discourse, it's certainly welcome.
No one being called names here, Jim.
Anyone who subscribes to MIC will help increase revenues. Additional revenues will offset costs and reduce the need for subsidies.
Subsidies will come from reserves, cuts in services, or increases in property taxes.
Those who subscribe to Dish or DirecTV, rather than MIC, will be responsible for shortfalls and cost everyone else money in the form of depleted reserves, reductions in services, or in increased property taxes.
MIC won't be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base. When you tell people something is more expensive they are disinclined to purchase it.
Those who refuse to accept that the Towns own MIC are those responsible for our shortfalls and will make everyone's property taxes go up.
Or here. The following are things that those who have posted have said:
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
If the guy who thinks that supporting the company we own, until we decide whether we want to keep it or sell it is a Kool-Aid drinker, then the guy who calls him that is? Exercising his right of Free Speech?
We can all act like assholes, Jim. We can point to people like Larry Gregory and say he's a Konstitutional Konservative Klub member, based solely on his comments regarding 'baby making people'. We can point to people like Larry Green and call them hypocrites for encouraging name calling, telling us he's just happy that the people calling our elected representatives idiots are engaged in the process. Rather than standing up for us by reminding us of, oh, I don't know, Jesus, Larry just talks about limited government, standing up for us by condemning a purchase that took place three years ago.
Civil discourse is a fine thing. No one should expect one side to be civil while the other side acts like rabid dogs or rude children, though. If you look back at some earlier posts you'll actually see the shock and surprise in the reactions of the sell it, sell it now folks when they started being treated the way that they were treating other people.
We are all entitled to our opinions. And we all deserve to be treated the way we treat others.
That's just my opinion, of course.
Jim, if you think you can get everyone to play nice, I'll certainly follow the examples that are set.
Do you have the entire reference for the baby making people? I think the comment was not racially motivated, but was a comment on a system which appears to reward some struggling Americans for having children despite the fact they may not be able to provide for the child's welfare.
You might also want to take a look at scripture and find those references when Jesus quite clearly calls people defamatory names -- and combine that with the Old Testament in which "name callin" is part of life.
What's most interesting in your statement (10:38pm) is that you apparently will follow someone else's lead regarding behavior instead of being responsible for your own behavior/actions. Jim can't control what anyone says any more than Green can tell people to quit calling people names. We are all grown up and can make decisions about our own words actions -- so quit basing your actions on the actions of others.
Well. Apparently some of us have to play nice :)
I think you're masking a racist remark, using Jesus to excuse the behavior of Tea Baggers, and are apparently naive enough to say that people don't base their actions on those of others.
The blog administrator didn't want you to suffer my original comments regarding you and people like you.
Jim suggested that we try to be a bit more civil. I don't think the sell it, sell it now crowd is up to it. Too busy eating pork samiches and worshiping at the church of limited gubmint.
Free Speech, though, as we've just learned, only goes so far on The Gatton Report :)
Well...it was worth a try.
Anonymous 10:09,
I don't recall ever being uncivil, though I can tell you that I have seen posts signed by a "Jim" that were not written by me. If I have said something to anyone that was perceived as uncivil or inflammatory, I sincerely apologize.
I think there is some common ground here that can be a starting place for a civil discussion.
While we can debate whether buying the Adelphia system was a smart thing to do or not (and I was pretty vocal in my feelings against it) the fact of the matter is, we own it. We can also debate whether to sell it now, sell it later, or keep it forever. The fact is...well, we don't have the facts needed to make a smart decision. You wouldn't sell your house unless you knew the bottom line of the transaction.
My hope is the CAP and the board will work together to put every possible scenario on the table and, while I hate the expression, it's important that they "think outside of the box" on the road ahead. We, as citizens need to see all of the numbers, all of the possibilities, all of the risks, etc. (Can town property be sold to make up the shortfall.....what if Davidson backs out of the deal....what if MIC declared bancruptcy?)
I admire the passion of the posters here...we all really care about our town's future. Any idea where we are on the formation of the CAP?
Good Morning,
Jim, my understanding is that the CAP will be up and running in May. I don't know if Mitch Abraham will be able to delay it beyond the May board meeting.
For some reason, Commissioner Abraham doesn't think anyone other than 'electeds' needs to know the whole story. It may be that he had more to do with the negotiations than he admitted during his last campaign. Mr. Abraham has been involved in every interesting deal made over the last few years. No reason to think he wasn't at the heart of this one, too.
goodness -- they can't even get their story straight anymore. Here's your big gubmint at work again - they're doing such a good job.
http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/apr/14/loan-mi-c-actually-not-loan-after-all/news-local/
Oh my. The sky is falling. Again. The nurse didn't understand the interlocal agreement? Or the construction foreman and part time developer lobbyist? The marketing dude didn't explain the loan properly? Or the postal clerk who was going to set us free from the shackles of MIC?
Crying about big government, when discussing what is barely government, just doesn't make any sense.
I don't understand why anyone has high expectations of local government. The Mayor runs a pawn shop. The Commissioners are professionals of one stripe or another, but, none of them are any better or smarter, and none more capable, than anyone who reads and posts on this blog.
How many were elected with no more than 1300 votes and how many ran unopposed? Because no one wanted the seats.
Commissioner Abraham has worked for a very long time to make this a better Town. For a few very special friends. He could use a break.
Just one professional manager or lawyer might make all the difference. The question is whether anyone really wants Mitch's seat.
The crying won't ever stop. You can have what we have in Mooresville, regular people elected to jobs that no one wants, or we can hire more staff, actually find and pay qualified people, growing the gubmint and raising taxes to pay them. No one will ever be satisfied.
Read the Constitution. Saw that on a car last night. Sounds real simple. Simple minds need simple solutions. They need something they can believe.
but one would expect that the professional town manager, town attorney, and director of finance would understand the difference between a loan and a gift.
Who manages them?
town manager is responsible for managing everything and everyone -- gets all the business items set up before the board meets to hear what he's put on their agenda for the meeting
Who manages him?
The Board of Commissioners. With the Mayor casting tie breaking votes. The Board of Commissioners and the Mayor are part time office holders. They are untrained, barely more than volunteers and are completely unqualified to 'manage' or direct the Town Manager.
The Town Manager runs the Town.
Then if 'they' can't get their stories straight, it's either because 'they' aren't paying attention, or because the Town Manager doesn't have a clue?
Do the Mayor and Commissioners get paid, or are they volunteers?
paid i think
Anyone know how much?
They are paid but it's not much. I believe they do get a phone and maybe a computer or some money for a home office.
In the "number of hours + amount of BS" equation they are probably below minimum wage.
I believe the town manager and the assistant town manager are over $100k a year.
Does anyone know if surrounding towns have both a town manager and an assistant town manager? While I don't claim to know what each does, it does seem like we've gone through extended time periods with just one of them, due to extenuating circumstances.
Both the TM and Asst. TM make over 100K, which can be verified by reviewing the town's budget. The goal of the TM, based on what he said he wanted to do, was to create strong leadership at the head of each department and then use the leaders as some sort of leadership council. Theoretically, this would eliminate the position of the Asst. TM, which has been a discussion for quite some time as the Asst. TM does not appears to have the academic qualifications to be in the position he currently holds. There was discussion of firing him when he was the interim town manager, but the attorney said that would simply mean he'd return back to his position as Asst. TM.
I'm not sure if other town around here have Asst. TM's -- if they do I'm sure they get much better quality for their $$$$.
and they get free use of the workout facilitis at the police department (or at least Frank Rader did), money for a gym membership, money to pay for memberships in civic organizations, use of a car while on gubmint business, mileage reimbursements, and expense reimbursements.
God Almighty!!!!! They get ALL THAT?
Big Gubmint at it's worst. Next thing you know they'll want you to pay their mortgages and pay for their hookers.
If we'd just go back to The Constitution (the white male only version) and get rid of all this big gubmint then small towns and states could do whatever they wanted to.......like they do now.
Nevermind :(
White male property owners version, thank you.
All white men are NOT created equal. At least not according to Our Founders :)
According to Glenn Beck our Rights are bestowed upon us by God. We don't need no stinking badges.
Eventually the idiots will realize that this is what they REALLY want:
http://www.usconstitution.net/articles.html
If y'all can get The Constitution repealed along with that Obamacare, Whitey can RULE :)
The Konstitutional Konservative Koalition, the 15,321 Tea Parties, and the Wing Nuts of the Republican Party support The Articles of Confederation (or we will once our Pastors and Glenn Beck read them to us).
Don't support The Communist Founders, support the original Original Intent of The Founders before they became Communists:
Vote to Repeal The Constitution in favor of The Articles of Confederation.
"You White? Be Right!!" - Michael Steel :)
Thanks for info from Davidsonnews.net
http://davidsonnews.net/2010/04/15/mi-connection-board-confirms-chair/
Wow....so I appeal to the concerned citizens here to make this space an area free of "the playground pissing match" mentality so that concerned citizens could discuss a major issue in our town...we are about to head in to some REAL budget problems.....and it turns into a "Constitutional He said/She said"....
good luck y'all......I'm done.
Jaime....you may want to charge the children to play in your sandbox....Monkey Joes does.
Good luck in Troutman, Jim :)
REAL budget problems. Whoowee. We sure better Read the Constitution and get rid a all them baby making people fast. Maybe another unfunded Konstitutional Konservative Koalition war someplace where there's oil?
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
YAWN
Re-poster said:
'Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes'
Your contention that taxpayers won't feel the pain of a shortfall of $5M-$6M in the upcoming fiscal year is not the belief of this MIC Non-Supporter.
MIC Non-Supporters want the facts on what the costs of keeping it & feeding it are versus shopping it around.
So far the budgets that have come from MIC and BVU, including the original business plan, have missed the mark repeatedly. Why should we continue to have faith that they'll get it right this time around????
The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result-something our Re-Poster knows a thing or two about.
Try bringing some data to your argument as the person below did.
Re-Poster said AGAIN:
'In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.'
Here's your factual answer taken from the comments section of:
http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2010/apr/14/loan-mi-c-actually-not-loan-after-all/c_1/#comments
'The first two years of this venture was structured to make interest payments only on the debt, i.e., no principal reduction. Next year, approximately $3.5 million of principal will need to be paid, in addition to interest. I don't know the exact terms of the repayment schedule, but even this amount will require 25 years or more to pay down.'
'Assuming there is no more "loaned" money available, MI-Connection faces about a $7-9 million dollar shortfall in next year's budget....of this amoun, Mooresville is responsible for approximately 2/3...or $5-6 MM dollars.'
Nice long blog post. You missed the point, though.
The bold re-post doesn't say what you took out of context:
'Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes'
It says:
'Those who oppose MIC believe: Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes'
Your argument isn't with me. It's with those who oppose MIC.
My contention is that we support MIC until we know whether it makes more sense to sell it or keep it.
Those who oppose MIC, and attack anyone who disagrees with them, have presented conflicting arguments that simply don't make any sense.
The 'data' that you presented should help convince some of the sell it, sell it now folks that our property taxes may go up in order to support a $7-9 million dollar short fall. Unless we all support MIC by subscribing to it.
Thank you for your help.
What 12:16 knows about is taking things out of context and insulting people. The re-posts are intended, very simply, to ignore the quips and insults and restate one person's opinion.
Like this:
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
In the process of making the argument that we should not support MIC they lie, they taking posts out of context, they cherry pick information, call any number that anyone posts anywhere as 'data' regardless of the source provided that it promotes their only argument: fear.
The people who oppose supporting MIC want us to be afraid. For no reason. They oppose MIC because they support limited government. That ship has sailed. Davidson and Mooresville own a cable company.
Those who oppose MIC believe:
The Towns should not have bought MIC.
The Towns should sell MIC now.
The Towns should not subsidize MIC.
MIC does not need new subscribers.
New subscribers means MIC loses money.
Anyone who suggests otherwise is Pro-Government.
Anyone who believes otherwise is a Communist.
Keeping MIC will result in huge losses.
Huge losses will not be felt through increased property taxes.
In short, huge losses if we keep MIC, only they can't tell us where we'll see or feel those huge losses. Subscribers cost more money, so, increasing the subscriber base is a bad idea.
All they leave us with is sell it, sell it now because we'll face huge losses that we won't feel through increased property taxes or reductions in services. What does that leave as the basis of their argument?
In the process of making the argument that we should not support MIC they lie, they take posts out of context, they cherry pick information, call any number that anyone posts anywhere 'data' regardless of the source provided that it promotes their only argument: fear.
The people who oppose supporting MIC want us to be afraid. For no reason. They oppose MIC because they support limited government.
That ship has sailed. Davidson and Mooresville own a cable company.
And all you leave us with is the same BS -- over and over and over again. I am glad, though, that you changed your post a bit and added some more BS to it.
FYI -- I just purchased some donuts from Dunkin Donuts. I was going to get some Krispy-Kreme from the store, but they were stale and cost more than Dunkin Donuts. With the money I saved on a better quality product, I am now happy to contribute my $10 extra in tax so you can enjoy our town owned cable company. I'm still saving about $300 a year with my non-town owned cable/internet company.
And just so you know how I came up with $10 -- that would be the shortfall, which would be covered by ToM and spread it across the real and personal property taxes due from the citizens of Mooresville.
An even better idea would be for you subscribers to pay more for your service to cover the shortfall. But that wouldn't work because that's somehow not fair. So I'll send in a $30 check to ToM to cover my part of the shortfall -- that would be 2 cars and my property tax bill.
4/17/10 12:16 here...a/k/a The Fearmaster
In a post on this thread from Miles Atkins on 2/28 at 5PM he very clearly stated that a $5M shortfall was very much a reality for the upcoming M-I budget year. I will not copy and paste at the risk of being accused of taking things out of context.
If this is the first principal payment and all things stay equal (i.e. zero to minimum customer/revenue growth) then the argument for "Sell it Soon" should be made. In order to hit that $5M mark you would need the equivalent of 4167 (rounded up) new customers on 7/1/10 clearing a profit of $100 each just to cover the Mooresville portion. You also could not lose any customers during the same 12-month period. Does M-I have the resources and manpower to install 2K new customers per month for the next 2 1/2 months?
These are numbers that everyone here and the CAP need to understand to see that the 'fear' is real and an uphill battle in the best of times. BVU has said that the cost of adding a new customers runs between $1000 to $2000, depending on the level of service.
13th paragraph of the following article:
http://www2.mooresvilletribune.com/content/2009/sep/02/keep-growing-mi-c-will-need-more-dollars-towns/
Davidson and Mooresville (We) own a cable company-regardless of how I feel about the purchase I do agree with that statement.
However-Cornelius does not own a cable company and they are very, very happy about that. Do their citizens have the same obligation to do the right thing and sign up? They represent the largest number of potential new customers. They also pose the greatest number of defectors with AT&T now offering 'advanced cable' with U-Verse.
We owe it to ourselves to look into selling this and that is what the CAP will be doing. That's my position.
M-I, TOM & TOD will be working on budgets for the next 60 days-also in that time the CAP should have at least one meeting under its belt. I will be interested to see if my projections are based more on fact or scare tactics.
Until then I will refrain from any additional postings as I have presented my case.
Fearmaster Out
9:19 said...An even better idea would be for you subscribers to pay more for your service to cover the shortfall. But that wouldn't work because that's somehow not fair. So I'll send in a $30 check to ToM to cover my part of the shortfall -- that would be 2 cars and my property tax bill.
In 603 posts no one has said that raising subscriber rates 'somehow isn't fair. Not once.
What has been said, over and over, apparently because you and others, if anyone other than you is posting your line of BS, is that MIC is not going to be raising rates because they are trying to increase the subscriber base.
Quit lying. Quit re-writing what other people say. Learn to read. Don't be stupid.
And, thank you. You have put the massive losses, the unimaginable losses, into perspective. If your $10 per person in increased property taxes isn't just another of your lies.
Between 9:19 and Fearmaster the case seems to be made for supporting additional subscribers so we can all avoid seeing our property taxes go up by between $10 and $20 annually.
What's the big deal? Fearmaster mentioned what Miles said about a $5m shortfall. We're going to face that shortfall without the 4000 new subscribers. Whether we sell it now, or whether we hold on to it. Because we'll have to pay to service the debt whether we sell it or not.
Take a deep breath. Nothing to be afraid of. Our massive losses amount to $10 or $20 each, even without new subscribers.
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