Grandys, if you like it here so much, why are you always complaining?

Robert_Lord_of_Tokyo: Really? Western European countries have a higher standard of living, better health care, better education, much lower infant mortality rates, and happier citizens. Makes you wonder what the good old USA is doing wrong. Oh, I guess nothing. We're #1 right?

Close the school! We the tax payers are done paying for something we do not get any returns on.

Roboto said: Danger Will Robinson!!! Danger!
*
Read the story android, the tax is going up less than 1% per state law (RE: Governor Stewpid) for dept service only. In other words, unplug thyself roboto.

When looking at these numbers, it appears BTC did a fairly decent job. They had an increase in expenses of $4 million. Yet, they only increased the levy by $160 thousand.

It seems to me, in an economy where nearly every taxing entity has been struggling to cut as much as possible while seeking new ways to increase revenue, BTC is doing pretty well.

Sure, it's still a tax increase. Yet, given the higher expenses, they only looked for 4% of the new expenses to be paid for by the taxpayer.

They all do that.

Robot_Lord_of_Tokyo: I won't argue, you're only going to view it as how you see it. No new taxes Ok! (But will raise fees so you think were not raising taxes.)

June 29, 2009: Gov. Jim Doyle signs a new state budget that raised taxes and fees by more than $2 billion, raised spending by $3.6 billion, let property taxes jump by another $1.5 billion, and left the state with a structural deficit of upwards of $2 billion.

Duhhhhhh. No they don't. It's history. Learn it.

My point is don't say you are not going to raise taxes but then raise all fees. They are going to get the money some how. It's hypocritical to say your not going to raise taxes but then raise fees. This is exactly what they are doing. Democrats will at least tell you straight to your face that we are going to raise taxes on certain things. Republican act as if they are pulling the wool over everyone's eyes.

I don't mind paying taxes. We pay a lot less than Socialist countries do. But look at them. Like the Scandinavian ones. How does that fit into your life of an average of 70 years or so? You want to live like they do, or give that to your kids, or your siblings kids? I don't. There is a reason that Europe is screwed up. Our forefathers left for that reason, I guess (not into the religion thing, you know), and that was a good thing. So why do we want to make something bad out of something good, if even a couple of hundred years old? They had the right idea. We screwed it up out of a lack of responsibility and fortitude. Who is to blame?

agreed - taxation without representation

If you disagree with that, you need to learn how this system works, and why we need to change it from Boss Tweed to reality. That does not, however, mean socialism. We can fix it without that. You just have to grow something and realize that responsibility is not just a word.

Democrats do the same thing. Look at it, or look as ignorant as that sounds.

Let me re-phrase that, they force people to raise every fee imaginable.

This is what happens when Republicans are in office. They always so they don't want to raise taxes. Instead they raise every fee imaginable!

Look into it frogger, you won't like it though.

Bend over for one and bend over for the rest too.
Water
school
wheel tax
garbage TIMES 2
btc
gas
PB and J
food
Registration
pet registration went up last year quite a bit also!
when does it stop????
They have had highest number of students going there in the last few years- why would you need more money? make the student pay not the whole darn city!!!!!

I also understand the reasons, but I struggle because the technical colleges have the ability to raise taxes at a time when the rest of the state colleges and universities are about to take another massive budget hit in order to repair the budget lapse. The salaries of technical college employees are significantly higher than those in other 2 and 4 year institutions across the state. In ten years, I think we've seen 2 maybe 3 years when we actually received raises, which were no more than 2%. So, we aren't keeping up with cost of living; there is no ability to reward merit, and in fact, we've lost around 10% of take home pay due to health care and retirement contributions. This is not to say that I think we should all have it bad, but I think the system is skewed, and admittedly, I find it a little sad when there is such disparity between the technical colleges and the rest of the state colleges and universities. I hate us versus them, but it's hard to avoid with such dramatic differences in funding and salaries.

Understand the reasons. But lets see. so far this year. School going up. Now BTC going up. Wheel tax coming. Water going up. Garbage going up. I have had 4 raises in the last 10 years now. Three at 2% one at 2.5%. Wage freeze the rest of the time. I deal with people applying for jobs. I hear how many say I have been laid off for how long? My budget as with many others keeps getting smaller. We can not spend more than I make. Maybe these others need to learn the budget word also.

deputydog-If you have an issue with how BTC is run, then I encourage you to apply/run for a Board position when one opens up. Here's how...

http://www.blackhawk.edu/CollegeGovernan...

BTC-Taxation Without Representation