I’m now a City of Excellence Everywhere resident!

6 comments July 22nd, 2008

It’s official. I’m now a city of Rockford resident for the first time since 1992, when I moved to a subdivision just north of the city. I didn’t move there specifically to escape Rockford, I just liked the place.

There’s been a lot of development up my way, and city annexations gradually surrounded our 30 acre sub. Monday night, they got me. The City Council voted 10-3 to annex my neighborhood.

Although I knew this would eventually happen, I didn’t think it would be for about 5 years. Oh well, that’s progress, and isn’t it grand!

We’re not getting city streets out of this, we’re not really getting anything anybody wants. And we’re getting something we don’t want — a bigger tax bill — a lot bigger tax bill.

Oh, except I am eligible for a library card. The way I reckon it, the card costs $1,500 a year, which is roughly how much my taxes are going up. That’s more than I’ve ever spent at Barnes & Noble and Borders combined. Those are the places I go to browse the book stacks, do some work on my laptop, and have cofee — not the main library, which is cold, antiseptic and totally uninviting, perhaps on purpose.

Oh, we’re also being required to pay city taxes for all of 2008, even though we were not in the city for more than half the year.

This, of course, is taxation without representation, but hey, isn’t everything? The way I look at it, this is a small price to pay for living in the City of Excellence Everywhere. I’m just thrilled.

As I said in an earlier post, I think it’s just ducky that the city can force me into the city, but it can’t force police and firefighters to live here. Want proof? Just drive around the area countryside and look for the 276-6 signs!

What a country!