A shiny vote

Martin HawverYou could almost see it happening last week, when the House’s voting board lit up.

It showed 116 “yes” votes for House Bill 2542, that little gem that exempts from property taxes hobbyist-built homemade airplanes.

But the key to that vote was the amendment by Rep. Julie Menghini, D-Pittsburg, a day earlier that drew 102 votes to put $45 million into the state’s little-used-of-late Local Ad Valorem Tax Reduction Fund.

That amendment, of course, proposed to put that $45 million in this election year into county budgets—with the requirement that it be spent only to reduce your property tax bill. No re-graveling roads, no redecorating commissioners’ offices or hiring new workers. Just cutting property taxes.