“He who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that. Nor is it enough that he should hear the arguments of his adversaries from his own teachers. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them…else he will never really possess himself of the portion of truth which meets and removes the difficulty.”
— John Stuart Mill, “On Liberty”
This quote appeared on Sunday’s Wall Street Journal editorial page, and, incidentally, it was not being applied, as in this case, to the St. Paul trash referendum. We write today as the two Saint Paul City Council members who voted against the 17.4 percent property tax levy limit for the trash referendum “contingency.”
Earlier this month, Mayor Melvin Carter — upon release of the Supreme Court opinion that regardless of the outcome of the trash referendum, the city’s trash contract would remain valid – stated with perfect certainty in a press conference that a “NO” vote will result in a tax increase for all St. Paul taxpayers. He went on to detail that it would apply to every property – from coffee shops to major employers to large apartment and condominium buildings.
Put simply: Vote “No,” and excessive property taxes will rain down upon you.
How did we arrive at a deeply divided, partisan-style rift in our city over the trash contract? We think it may be that we as elected leaders failed to understand that there is no less partisan issue than residential trash removal. Instead of meeting with the trash petitioners and trying to seek contract changes together, we chose to go all the way to the high court to keep this referendum off the ballot.
Even most council members acknowledge that the contract, successfully challenged by 6,400 city residents, is deeply flawed.
For all of us who enjoy not having extra heavy truck traffic on our streets, there are many, many people on fixed incomes who must add a $20 a month into the mix of tough decisions they already make when choosing between prescription drugs, groceries and internet access.
For each of us who say that a few extra dollars are no big deal, there are huge numbers of low-income renters living in two- to four-unit dwellings whose already high rent went up more than $20 a month for a private bin they don’t need.
These are not the enemies of City Hall! These are our neighbors and constituents, people who want their elected officials to listen to their side of the argument and try to fix this thing.
We truly hoped last week that Mayor Carter would focus his press conference on his intent to sit down with the haulers – right now – to make this contract work for everyone. Instead, he reiterated his threat to raise property taxes for everyone, whether they receive services, or not.
Most at City Hall are simply dismissing the idea that there are other options to consider. If the referendum is successful – if NO wins – there is a third way. Before the city can pay for trash through our property taxes, the contract will need to be opened up and modified, first and foremost, because a payment schedule negotiated by the haulers stipulates that outstanding garbage bills added to property taxes are to be paid only in March and September.
Once the contract is pried open, we can work on negotiating important changes, such as:
Lowering the cost of the lowest price service to serve low-income households
Allowing sharing in two- to four-unit dwellings, and
Allowing an opt-out provision for zero wasters.
The vast number of people planning to vote “NO” are people who want these changes – and who share the city’s goal of a coordinated system.
If we at City Hall insist on threatening voters with an unreasonable tax increase, we should not be surprised if voters are moved to vote “NO” as a referendum on St. Paul’s leadership. Ignoring reasonable requests from our residents for a better trash program and vilifying those who make these arguments is neither progressive, nor democratic.
Jane Prince and Kassim Busuri are members of the St. Paul City Council. Prince represents Ward 7. Busuri represents Ward 6.
