The proposed property tax increase for 2027 has me frustrated on a level I've yet to reach as a Billings homeowner.
In the right world there would be no need to question a proposed tax increase for more funding where it concerns things like public safety, parks, etc., because these are all important targets, but I'm not sure that's the world we live in anymore. Sucks to say, but I have lost so much faith in the people pushing me to widen their access to my wallet. Will what they've taken be managed responsibly? Has it ever been managed responsibly?
I'm at a point now where I want obvious tracking, honest auditing, open reporting, and actual accountability out of the folks demanding more out of me. An accessible, automated portal outlining all of the City's daily spending, department-to-department, would be even better. Let us have eyes on the machine we've been blindly feeding money into. I'd love to have a system where a citizen's skeptical inquiry about specific spending initiates a required explanation from the department that created the cost.
I know I'm fantasizing wildly here, ("venting uselessly" is probably a better description), but it's our money and a person can dream.