This link. Normally such details as whether it works or not are checked out in advance; but this IS Ramsey.
In fairness, starting down that sorry path was not a unanimous thing, with some more sensible than others. Whose brainchild was this hummer, anyway?
____________UPDATE_____________
Randy Backous took time to author a comment. Readers should not overlook that, reading only the posts here. I enjoy Randy taking time that way, as his thoughts are always clear, on point, and stated in a civil fashion.
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Jim Bendtsen also added a well thought out comment, more in line with the initial minority vote against the special tax/fee hybrid pass-through thing; and with a critical view of the CVB [Convention Visitors Bureau, their ways and means].
On this one I side with the naysayers.
Should Ramsey next consider a pass-through general business tax to benefit the Chamber of Commerce - paying membership fees, or taxing to give money to the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Ramsey Foundation, or yet some other non-governmental and unrelated thing or things falling outside of what normally is thought of as duties of local municipal government for towns the size of Ramsey? Remember the Chinese sister city spending, send a mayor to China, with zippo yielded to benefit local commerce, businesses, and employment (yet with a serendipitous personnel dimension for which some are thankful).
Should Ramsey fund employee activity such as police officer membership in the Blue Knights, which appears to be more of a fraternal thing than a professional association, and if doing it, should the town fund it by earmarking a substantial percentage of traffic ticket revenue? Should employee membership in Ramsey Lions or Rotary be a city expense, with a special tax pot to go with it?
If engineering staff belong to professional societies where an educational benefit dimension exists, and where they may interact with others in the profession and then have a better feeling on city professional services contracts, then paying membership fees could be justifiable as a normal expense, to be paid out of general funds, or not, as policy making people may think best. Paying for low percentage Vegas retail shopping center schmoozing is something you can criticize as unproductive and wasteful, but it is properly a discretionary decision for the council to consider.
I think Bendtsen is correct. Were there some insurance pooled membership thing, would it be proper for Ramsey to earmark a special tax/fee imposition on insurance brokers and then pay the bulk of raised funds for insurance broker memberships? Or what of a special tax on real estate brokerages and agents, with the money earmarked to pay multiple listing service memberships of the taxed firms?
Quite simply, these things are not government governing. It is market manipulation, market intrusion, and as such it appears to not be a legitimate municipal function.
