They are, but you are either being ungenerous in your question or missing vital context that anyone familiar with a city council meeting would already know.
OP is bragging that the municipality is paying for a service without increasing local taxes to pay for it. Increasing local taxes is the obvious way that municipalities typically pay for something like this. But increasing local taxes also generates predictable and often persuasive complaints from old cranks who never want to increase local taxes. OP's muni is thus circumventing those complaints by using grant money for the rollout.
While it's true that state and fed grants use tax dollars, it's irrelevant to the OP's brag. E.g.,
Old crank at meeting says, "I don't want to pay more money for a service I don't need." Applause break.
Old crank at meeting says, "I don't think it's right to take a grant created with state and federal taxes which I don't believe in paying." Awkward silence.
I agree with you. I think it is perhaps a great use of tax revenues, but at the state level all that tax revenue came from taxes. At the federal level it is possible to create money from nothing, something fans of Modern Monetary Theory would emphasize. Tho for the most part that is also tax dollars.
Could be a good use of taxes but I don’t think it’s correct to say “not a penny of tax revenues spent”.
^THIS. The fed govt prints more money. Cities and everyone else cannot,until every town starts to mine their own coin. Would you rather mine dodge coin or ‘new York’ coin that is backed by a municipal bond issue?
It does, because this is ultimately a discussion about allowing municipalities to operate their own broadband. The questions of whether the state and federal governments should be handing out grants to build out these issues would be separate legislative issues.
They obviously were, what he wrote is factually incorrect, taxes are taxes, just because they didn't have to rise council tax is totally irrelevant.
He also claimed "There is absolutely nothing about this service that is a hand out from the government".
That is also completely WRONG if as he claimed they received state and federal grants. A lie. It is subsidised.
i.e. You're completely wrong, the original poster woefully misunderstands taxes and grants if he's claiming no handouts and and taxes, please stop now.
I think broadband should be a public utility, this has got nothing to do with my politics, it's simply pointing out the original comment is factually incorrect in its claims.
His town's broadband was subsidised, it was built using tax payer pennies and it did require a handout.
The article mentions that municipal broadband networks in Ohio are now explicitly banned from applying/receiving new rounds of state grants. That’s part of this package.
> municipalities and electric cooperatives in the state do not have access to the proposed $250 million broadband expansion grant program that will be established
"without a single penny spent of local tax dollar money. We've been fortunate to get enough grant money from both state and federal to get this off the ground."
That will get local support as local anti-tax people know that if they don't spend the state/fed money, other towns will. They won't get lower state/fed taxes.
But they could have lowered taxes by that amount. The argument here seems to amount to scoring one over political opponents by mis-framing the situation. Money is being taxed and spent on broadband. The fact that the opponents of that plan can be made to look ridiculous with rhetorical tricks isn't really a factor in deciding what is happening.
If the tax dollars aren't necessary & the vision is profitable, why does it need to be municipal? Can't these people just start their own company? Something here seems a bit weird.
OP is bragging that the municipality is paying for a service without increasing local taxes to pay for it. Increasing local taxes is the obvious way that municipalities typically pay for something like this. But increasing local taxes also generates predictable and often persuasive complaints from old cranks who never want to increase local taxes. OP's muni is thus circumventing those complaints by using grant money for the rollout.
While it's true that state and fed grants use tax dollars, it's irrelevant to the OP's brag. E.g.,
Old crank at meeting says, "I don't want to pay more money for a service I don't need." Applause break.
Old crank at meeting says, "I don't think it's right to take a grant created with state and federal taxes which I don't believe in paying." Awkward silence.
Edit: clarification