Walton Maurras, Fact Is, George Catsavis Represents the Average Taxpayer

Submitted by Jack Swink on Sun, 10/14/2012 - 1:45pm

I found the ad in Sundays SWTR against George Catsavis quite interesting. The ad was paid for by Walton Maurras and stated “George Catsavis voted twice in the last 12 months to increase your monthly Sanitation Fee by $2.63 per month; city wide this is an annual increase of $904,919.”  What Mr Maurras didn’t state was George Catsavis was clearly representing the citizens of this great city, which is virtually non-existent today,  and more specifically, the neighbors of Park Hill in their attempt to maintain trash pickup in the alley, the way the neighborhood was originally designed.   Fort Smith city management singled out the residents of Park Hill by threatening to raise the Sanitation Rates $2.63 for those residents wanting to continue with manual trash pickup and not the forced automated trash pickup by a non-competitive, “city only” sanitation department.
 
Bottom line, Jonesboro growing at 21% versus FS at 7%. Jonesboro sales tax 8.5% INCLUDES trash pickup.  FS sales tax 9.25% and charges approximately $14 monthly for residential trash pickup. FS city management threatened an additional $2.63 for neighborhoods wanting to continue with manual trash pickup.  The additional $14 a month received from residents is $4,816,896 a year.  Add the $904,919 the city of FS was threatening to add for neighborhoods who wanted to continue with manual trash pickup and the total revenue for “city only” sanitation comes to approximately $5,721,815 per year, when Jonesboro residents pay “ZERO” trash pickup.  This issue alone, makes it very clear George Catsavis supports the wallet of the hardworking taxpayers of Fort Smith.

Five Star: 
Average: 3 (6 votes)

Comments

Anyone know what ward Park Hill is in?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 10/15/2012 - 9:01am.

I don't. I live in Ward 4, and if Park Hill is NOT in ward 4, then what was he sticking his nose in that business in the first place? And glad to see that you ONCE AGAIN. brought up Jonesboro. Glad to see you've got nothing new to add to the discussion beyond the same one line stats.
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Would You Rather Compare with Terrific Growth from NWA

Submitted by Jack Swink on Mon, 10/15/2012 - 2:58pm.

I'm sure there are a few who would agree with you and don't want to compare Fort Smith with any of the nearby comparable cities. Because if you do, you begin to ask too many questions. Growth, Incomes, Sales Tax rates, water rates, Non-Profits, etc. It just doesn't compare out very good. The citizens have less disposable income in Fort Smith and has had 3 water rate increases within the past 4 years and director George Catsavis can relate to the working class.
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issues

Submitted by happy times on Mon, 10/15/2012 - 9:24am.

we all know that george catsavis has consistently voted against excessive city spending and tax increases during the worst economic times that most people have seen in their lifetimes. fort smith needs jobs and a more business friendly city government to get us moving in the right direction and these attacks on a city director that has a record of saying no to higher taxes is distrubing. the current city budget exceeded over 220 million dollars of spending and everything possible should be done to hold the line on spending until more business and jobs can be created to increase city revenue. tax increases are job killers and george catsavis has always said no to higher taxes and deserves another term in office.
we all know that george catsavis has consistently voted against excessive city spending and tax increases during the worst economic times that most people have seen in their lifetimes. fort smith needs jobs and a more business friendly city government to get us moving in the right direction and these attacks on a city director that has a record of saying no to higher taxes is distrubing. the current city budget exceeded over 220 million dollars of spending and everything possible should be done to hold the line on spending until more business and jobs can be created to increase city revenue. tax increases are job killers and george catsavis has always said no to ...>> Read the entire comment.
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fact check jack

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 10/16/2012 - 7:14am.

and if you do, you'll see that most of Park Hill (who responded to the survey) wanted automated trash pickup service. George didn't serve his Ward, only a select few.
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More Fact Checks

Submitted by Jack Swink on Tue, 10/16/2012 - 8:08am.

In a survey on the southside, over 70% of the residents stated they were satisfied with Altes Sanitation, but it didn’t stop Kevin Settle from leading the charge to expand “city only” trash pickup over private companies. It is simply wrong for municipalities to force private companies out when there are clearly qualified companies willing to bid on such jobs. Our current city management is wanting to grow city government at the expense of the private sector and the results are clearly showing up in higher costs and less job opportunities for the community. How pathetic are the voters options, “forced automated” or “forced manual” trash pickup by city only. And we wonder why our growth is anemic?.
In a survey on the southside, over 70% of the residents stated they were satisfied with Altes Sanitation, but it didn’t stop Kevin Settle from leading the charge to expand “city only” trash pickup over private companies. It is simply wrong for municipalities to force private companies out when there are clearly qualified companies willing to bid on such jobs. Our current city management is wanting to grow city government at the expense of the private sector and the results are clearly showing up in higher costs and less job opportunities for the community. How pathetic are the voters options, “forced automated” or “forced manual” trash pickup ...>> Read the entire comment.
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big business

Submitted by happy times on Tue, 10/16/2012 - 11:55am.

sanitation is big business and money maker for a city like fort smith but the question really should be decided by a vote of the people. is it ok for a city to compete with and eliminate a private sector business that has been in the city for generations? would it be ok for the city to get into the battery business and drive the company that mr settle works for out of business in fort smith?
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Happy Times not so happy

Submitted by Anon Y Mouse (not verified) on Wed, 10/17/2012 - 8:29am.

You really have an axe to grind with Kevin, can you elaborate on why you must always look for ways to attack him and his family?
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And while you're grinding your axe...

Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/17/2012 - 3:00pm.

...why don't you look up what an enterprise fund is? For good reason, municipalities are granted the right to operate enterprise funds in only certain sectors, battery manufacturing not being one of them.
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axe grinding

Submitted by happy times on Thu, 10/18/2012 - 8:40am.

it appears that it is you that has a razor sharp axe because my comment was about the city forcing a family owned business out of fort smith that had been doing business in fort smith for generations! its just wrong and heavy handed government action! just because the enterprise fund allows the city the power to act, it does not mean that the city should use it power to run a monopoly. speaking of an axe to grind, do you remember the city sanitation worker that showed up at a citizens front door with a pick axe and threatened to kill the citizens dog? it appears that the city using heavy handed tactics showed up at the door of altes sanitation with a broom and swept them out. fort smith is constantly accused of not being a business friendly city and this is just another reason that it could be true! just because the law may justify an action, common sense should always be used before that action is taken.
it appears that it is you that has a razor sharp axe because my comment was about the city forcing a family owned business out of fort smith that had been doing business in fort smith for generations! its just wrong and heavy handed government action! just because the enterprise fund allows the city the power to act, it does not mean that the city should use it power to run a monopoly. speaking of an axe to grind, do you remember the city sanitation worker that showed up at a citizens front door with a pick axe and threatened to kill the citizens dog? it appears that the city using heavy handed tactics showed up at the door of altes sanitation with a broom and ...>> Read the entire comment.
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no axe

Submitted by happy times on Wed, 10/17/2012 - 3:55pm.

the comment was about the city forcing a family business out of business in fort smith that had been here for several generations. kevin settle was the leading city director that promoted this effort and the question was appropiate to ask. how would he feel if the city went into competition with the battery company that he works at and forced them out of business? there was no comment about kevin settle's family! do you feel that it is proper for the city government to compete with the private sector and drive the private sector jobs out of fort smith? last report was that fort smith had lost over 12,000 private sector jobs and we don't need the city of fort smith trying to compete with the private sector because it appears that they have enough problems to deal with like collecting loans and past due water payments.
the comment was about the city forcing a family business out of business in fort smith that had been here for several generations. kevin settle was the leading city director that promoted this effort and the question was appropiate to ask. how would he feel if the city went into competition with the battery company that he works at and forced them out of business? there was no comment about kevin settle's family! do you feel that it is proper for the city government to compete with the private sector and drive the private sector jobs out of fort smith? last report was that fort smith had lost over 12,000 private sector jobs and we don't need the city ...>> Read the entire comment.
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Yet More Fact Checks

Submitted by Yet More Fact Checks (not verified) on Tue, 10/16/2012 - 10:32am.

So Jack, what you are saying is that 30% of the people polled were unhappy with the trash service being provided by Altes Sanitation. 30% of the people-WOW!!! That is a very high failure rate. Thankfully the city paid attention to those responses and got rid of a service provide that 1 out of every 3 citizens polled thought was doing a very poor job.
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you keep boasting

Submitted by valis on Tue, 10/16/2012 - 11:31am.

About Altes' 30% failure rate as if that's acceptible. It's pretty poor when you consider they were just picking up trash. Personally, I wouldn't want to be forced to give my money tgo a person like Denny Altes.
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Over 70% Is Over 70%

Submitted by Jack Swink on Tue, 10/16/2012 - 2:59pm.

When over 70% of the surveys returned were satisfied with Altes Sanitation, is it right for a city management to seek expansion at the expense of private companies? Better yet, when you have communities like Jonesboro providing trash pickup at no charge, ZERO, to residents, provided through the 8.5% sales tax, is that considered more citizen friendly than charging an additional $14 a month, which totals approximately $5,000,000 in additional city revenue per year? If our city management was so confident residents were so dissatisfied with Altes, then why do the residents get such pathetic options as “forced automated” or “forced manual” by “city only” sanitation? Why not free market “competitive bidding”? George Catsavis represented the people who lived in the neighborhoods designed for alley pickup. He also supported a private company coming in and providing manual trash pickup at the same price, not a increased rate the city was threatening to do.
When over 70% of the surveys returned were satisfied with Altes Sanitation, is it right for a city management to seek expansion at the expense of private companies? Better yet, when you have communities like Jonesboro providing trash pickup at no charge, ZERO, to residents, provided through the 8.5% sales tax, is that considered more citizen friendly than charging an additional $14 a month, which totals approximately $5,000,000 in additional city revenue per year? If our city management was so confident residents were so dissatisfied with Altes, then why do the residents get such pathetic options as “forced automated” or “forced manual” by “city ...>> Read the entire comment.
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1 in 3 Failure

Submitted by 1 in 3 Failure (not verified) on Wed, 10/17/2012 - 6:40am.

Jack, you are the only person I know that would argue that a company which was rated as sub-standard by 1 out of every 3 customers was doing good and deserved to be rewarded. In the world of reality, when 1 out of every 3 customers think your product or service is sub-standard you lose business. That is exactly what happened to Altes Sanitation. Thank heavens Altes did not build airplanes. I suppose you think it is ok if only 1 out of every 3 airplanes falls out of the sky. Jack, your position is ludicrous.
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Two comments

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 10/17/2012 - 10:10am.

There's Jonesboro again. You must be paid by their promotion committee to pimp that town every time you get. Also, I lived on the southside of town when Altes was there. If I polled the ten neighbors in my neighborhood that were serviced by them, (and I did once when we were all outside at one point chasing our trash cans down the road) not a single one of us wanted them versus the crummy job Altes would do, especially after we'd all call to complain as the city told us to do.
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Trash Isn't Rocket Science

Submitted by Jack Swink on Wed, 10/17/2012 - 7:24pm.

Trash Isn’t Rocket Science, It is simply a business and Altes is simply a privately owned sanitation company that had a very long history with Fort Smith. Sure city management along with Mayor Sanders can force Altes out of doing business in Fort Smith. They can threatened to raise rates to neighborhoods preferring manual trash pickup, but directors like George Catsavis wouldn’t allow them to raise rates on trash pickup. Fort Smith already charges $14 for trash pickup and Jonesboro doesn’t charge residents to pickup trash. And Jonesboro has a 8.5% sales tax versus FS at 9.25% sales tax. How good is competitive bidding when city management doesn’t accept the winners in the competitive process? Well it is beginning to show in our growth numbers. I know there are some who despise the Jonesboro comparison, but the beautiful thing is…..Jonesboro serves their citizens well!
Trash Isn’t Rocket Science, It is simply a business and Altes is simply a privately owned sanitation company that had a very long history with Fort Smith. Sure city management along with Mayor Sanders can force Altes out of doing business in Fort Smith. They can threatened to raise rates to neighborhoods preferring manual trash pickup, but directors like George Catsavis wouldn’t allow them to raise rates on trash pickup. Fort Smith already charges $14 for trash pickup and Jonesboro doesn’t charge residents to pickup trash. And Jonesboro has a 8.5% sales tax versus FS at 9.25% sales tax. How good is competitive bidding when city management doesn’t accept ...>> Read the entire comment.
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Then move to jonesboro

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 10/18/2012 - 8:59am.

Can you make an arguement that doesn't include Jonesboro? And let's be clear here. Catsavis only voted against it when it was finally made clear that his ORIGINAL idea of allowing them to keep their inefficient method of trash pickup would cost the city more than by having the same method all over the city. Your great "refuse to increase tax" vote ONLY happened because he caused the situation to occur in the first place. It's easy to claim that you refused to raise taxes when you realized your half baked ideas would cost more than you thought it would and then backed out amazingly quickly alongside everyone else when it became obvious that the city wsa going to vote you down with a petition in November.
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