More On Home Rule

They've put up yet another website promoting their amendments. Only, now they're calling them propositions. In St. Louis voting, propositions are for issuing bonds, or increasing funding for parks. Proposed changes to the city charter are called amendments. Why the fan dance? What does Home Rule have to hide?
Well, let's see...
Replacing the comptroller with a "director of finance" (hired by the mayor), but letting us still elect a comptroller -who's new job will be to keep a register of all delinquent and special tax bills until the bills are paid. Nice way to bleed all the power out of the office, while snookering St. Louisans into thinking they have some choice about our city's finances.

Home Rule says "Professionals will be managing your tax dollars: gives the aldermen a professional staff to analyze the budget" Analizing the budget is one of the things we elect our aldermen to do. They're qualified to do it themselves. They don't need a 'professional' (i.e. paid with our tax dollars)staff

"• An independently elected comptroller will be a true government watchdog: gives the comptroller the power to conduct both fiscal and performance audits of all city departments, like the State Auditor does now" Pure fiction. He can watch, but that's about it.

"• Requests for development assistance will be reviewed by the comptroller: the comptroller will review and comment on the financial documents of all projects greater than $500,000 seeking tax incentives" Review and comment?

"• Citizens can hold ONE person responsible when things don’t work: every major city financial decision is the result of a deal struck by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment. Eliminating the Board allows the mayor to run city government out in the open with no excuses when things don’t work." We can hold one person responsible, but we can't fire him or her. The board of E&A is made up of 3 elected officials. WE choose them to provide checks and balances to our city's finances. Why give up that power?