TOWN of BUFFALO REDUCES

ADMISSION FEE TO MUNICIPAL POOL

Buffalo? A Tax Cheat?

While other cities and towns all over America are having to raise the admission fees to their municipal facilities because of increased costs, inflation, and basic economic failures, the Town of Buffalo has reduced the admission fee to their municipal pool from $1.00 to 91¢ per day.

The wages the Town pays their Pool Manager have gone up, by law, 3 years in a row. Costs have increased astoundingly. Over $30,000.00 was spent on the pool last year. Total revenue for the pool was around $3,000.00 (with concession revenue included which failed to cover electric, payroll and costs of labor). We're not complaining that the admission fee was reduced, rather, we're applauding the Town for providing the municipal pool for the Town's residents. It's required! Costs and revenue are irrelevant and mean nothing. The pool is a service supported by taxes and is a necessary service the Town must - MUST - provide.

Buffalo Kidsitting & Babysitting Service NOW OPEN!

Now that the municipal pool is open for business it is the best value for a babysitting service available in the NW Oklahoma area.
Maybe it’s the best child watching and babysitting service value in the whole entire World!

Where else can one go – drop off their child and take off for the day knowing full well that the lifeguards and pool manager will take very good care of your youngster for 91¢ a day?! - Less than a buck!

Do you have any idea what the going rate is Nationwide for babysitting services?
Visit: http://www.babysitting-rates.com/ Click Here

Where you can find this:
“In short, the average babysitting rate is typically around $8 - $12 per hour but babysitting wages can vary widely anywhere from as little as $4 per hour all the way up to $18 per hour or more! Why such a wide range? The reason is what rate to pay a babysitter depends on many factors, the most critical of which are location, experience, number of children, and any other additional requirements from parents.”

ONLY 91 Cents! The cost is less than a dollar because tax is being backed out of the $1.00 entrance fee. Please understand that the town, in their infinite wisdom, has made the decision, prompted by Buffalo’s treasurer, to go against the Trustees prior resolution regarding sales tax and back it out of the dollar admission.

WHAT A BARGAIN!

That’s what they did last year – they had to do so - they were prompted! A Pool Committee member found, after a study of the pool's financial situation, that sales tax wasn’t being collected, as required by law, for admission on past occasions and it also wasn't being paid. The Town's treasurer said, "it's being backed out" - and that's PARTIALLY TRUE. -What about Past years - Past decades - Past centuries?

An elected official and a Town employee ADMITTED that sales tax was NOT being charged on admission to the pool in years prior. Yes, the law requires it. Yes the State requires it. Yup, the County requires it but the Town of Buffalo made the decision to NOT charge sales tax.

On the agenda this next Wednesday for the Town Board meeting is a line item for a NEW Resolution, to REPLACE the old one from a few months ago, revising the pool admission and reducing it from $1.00 to .91¢ cents. Not exact enough? .913242¢ to be more exact. This then allows for the additional 9.5% sales tax to be added to make the admission fee a mere Uno, Dollar or Buck.

Maybe they didn’t know that they were supposed to collect sales tax before last year. Yeah, that’s it – That’s the Town of Buffalo’s defense, “we didn’t know”. "Ignorance of the law is no defense." Anybody ever heard that before? It is your job, Buffalo, to know what the law requires. It is your job, Buffalo, to find out what the law says.

The Town of Buffalo collected and paid, get this, they collected and paid sales tax last year for the first time – first time EVER! on admission to the Buffalo Municipal Pool.
Inside Buffalo would like to know, (we don’t expect the Town to respond) if the same can be held to form for the remaining municipal entities in Buffalo. We shall see.

Nobody likes paying taxes. No one wants to have to line up and fork out nearly 10% on every dollar we spend in this Town.

It’s this sales tax revenue which allows us to have such well maintained streets and such fine services like fire hydrants (Over 50% working incorrectly or non-working) Article Here

Collecting and paying sales tax allows us the enjoyment of municipal services and we pay it without hesitation.

The Town of Buffalo charges the highest rate allowed by law. For this we receive the highest level, ah-hum, of municipal services in the State. You get what you pay for. Pay the highest rates in taxes and you get the highest level of service. Just think, Buffalo is the BMW of sales tax charges and we receive Yugo-type services. What was it Jack Nicholson said in the Batman Motion Picture?



Not one child or adult is going to avoid going to the municipal pool because of a 10 cent tax. The pool is rife with kids handing $5, or $10.00 bills to the manager on account each and every day to buy snacks, candy, soda pop and – this may be unbelievable, but they pay sales tax on their purchases! Incredible isn’t it?

There is no reason that our neighbor to the North, Ashland, Kansas only has a 5.3% sales tax rate and can provide excellent services, but Buffalo can't - with almost double the sales tax rate of *Ashland. Is this because there are so many entities in and around Buffalo not paying their fair share? Or is that because the Town of Buffalo fails to charge, collect and pay THEIR fair share?

Bottom Line - Taxpayers of Buffalo are being cheated because the Town of Buffalo cheats.



The Town of Buffalo only hurt themselves by not collecting and paying sales tax, right?
WRONG!
They hurt the County and they hurt the State. The County of Harper loses out on their share of the tax revenue as does the State.
But this is Buffalo and they don’t have to abide by the Laws of the State or Federal Government. That’s been obvious from the beginning. They hurt the individual residents of the Town and taxpayers of the Town, the County and the State by reducing sales tax revenue prompting a cut in services in the long-haul.