MP>Mayors very much have sway here, at least in larger cities, when it comes
  >to setting the fiscal policy -- like proposing new city taxes.  In most
  >cities, they have to work with the local council or board of alderman
  >which, if they are mostly all from the same party often means little
  >resistance.  Together, they can really make a city business friendly, or very
  >much not, depending on which path they choose.

Yes, that is true I suppose. There is always a Council involved to,
theoretically, keep anything too extreme brought into law but, as
you suggested, the Council is usually on the Mayor's side for most
things.

They've done that here, made the property taxes higher for the new
wealthy people coming into the area without greatly increasing
taxes for those who have been here for many years.
But to be fair, those who have been here for years usually paid
less than $75,000 for a property where new buyers building on a
new lot are often into $3 or $4 million, so they can probably
afford the higher taxes more easily than some retired owner..

I'd have to check into it but I think it's more than just the
more expensive property times the mill rate or, if it is, then
there may be a maximum % the property taxes can go up each year.

MP>I looked it up in the meantime.  The part of the NYSE that is moving to
  >Dallas is currently located in Chicago.  Sounds like it is some sort of
  >tech center.

Yes, I caught that bit on the news the next night.

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 * SLMR Rob  * You skin this one. I'm going back out for another one!
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