On November 4, 2014, Mayor Jim Clement stood outside Freedom Elementary School, greeting voters who were about to vote on 4 new propositions.
The following is an audio recording in which Mayor Clement can be heard attempting to dodge questions about a budget he presented to the city council in September 2014.
Mayor Clement was asked why he created a budget that taxed people retroactively. He replied
Because it was legal by law
Mayor Clement also stated he was against the retroactive property tax he proposed to the city council:
The first thing I thought about, while we were discussing [the budget] at the hearing, was, wait a minute, we got a lot of people out here, who are below the poverty line, 52% as a matter of fact. Those people, I didn’t think, deserved to be taxed and be caught short like that because most of them are living hand to mouth.
However, at the budget hearing, when it was explained to Mayor Clement that the tax would be retroactive his response was “it’s all or none”, implying he was in favor of the tax.
Mayor Clement stated he would have had no choice in the matter if the city council had voted in favor of the budget that Clement presented the city council.
When asked again why he presented a budget that would tax people retroactively, Mayor Clement responded
It was an option to put out there because we had nothing. We had nothing in the bank. Yes, I did consider, I did consider that option.
The property tax in Mayor Clement’s budget would have more than doubled property taxes currently being payed by Sandy Oaks residents. To this, Clement said
I was for that 100%.
When asked again if he would also be in favor of taxing retroactively, Mayor Clement changed his position and said
Yeah. Yes, I would have.
Mayor Clement was asked how it was okay to only give people a few weeks to save up money to pay for an entire past year. His reply was
It’s not to say that it is okay.
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