Government

• What exactly in the world is the government?

• “The government will take your money”

• “The government says you can’t do that”

• “The government makes me pay taxes”

• Tell me……what is the government?

government

• There are three levels of government. This will be a test question! The three levels of government are:

• National (also called the Federal)

• State

• Local.

• All three do different things and have different powers. You will be affected by all three in your life.

What is the government?

Barack Obama, President of the United States – leader of the National Govt

John Kasich, Governor of Ohio. Leader of the state govt.

Susan Haugh, Mayor of Wellsville, Ohio. Leader of the local govt.

Local govt

• You will likely never meet a President or a Governor. These are the leaders of the national government and the state government.

• Most of your life, you will be dealing with a local government.

• In Wellsville, that is the mayor and the city council. The mayor is the boss, but the city council must vote to accept what she wants done – like hiring a police chief.

Local government

• Local government is anything in your county, city or town or village. For us, it is anything in Columbiana County or anything in Wellsville.

Local government

• Here’s what local government gives us – know this:

• Police and firefighters

• Schools

• Hospitals

• Water

• It takes care of roads

• It makes traffic laws

• It also enforces laws

Former Police Chief Joe Scarabino

Fires in Wellsville, 2014. Put out by local government workers

Local government

• Local government provides us with most of the stuff we need in case of an emergency. It also provides its people with an education.

• Is it free?

• No!

Local government

• It takes a lot of revenue (Rev – in – new) to run the government. Revenue is a fancy word for money.

• Revenue is collected to pay for schools, roads, fire trucks, police cars, teachers, police, firefighters and a lot of other things you don’t even think of.

• So, where does the revenue come from?

Local government

• So…how to they get the revenue? Through taxes. Lots of taxes.

• 1. Property taxes – people who own land, a house or a business (know this!) pay a tax. This is how schools in Ohio are paid for.

• The bigger, nicer, more expensive area there is, the more property taxes a school gets. The more taxes a school gets, the nicer it is.

• In other words, rich people that pay more taxes usually live in good school districts.

Lets compare

• The Orange School District is located in Pepper Pike, Ohio.

• Orange City School District -- Pepper Pike, Ohio. A VERY rich suburb of Cleveland.

Class of 2014 They have a robot building class

Lets compare

• Pepper Pike only has 6,000 people, Wellsville is only a little bit smaller than they are.

• The average income for each person in Pepper Pike is $150,000.

• 94% of their population is either white or Asian.

• They spend $21,000 per student per year.

• Orange High School was recently named one of the 10 best high schools in the United States.

You vs. pepper pike

Pepper pike

• Here are four random houses currently for sale in Pepper Pike, Ohio:

Pepper pike vs. wellsville

• Wellsville has 3,500 people.

• The average income for each person in Wellsville is $26,198. Pepper Pike was $150,000.

• 97% of Wellsville is either black or white (90% is white).

• Wellsville spends $11,000 per student per year.

• Last year Wellsville High School was named one of the best 80 schools in the state of Ohio. We were the smallest school to be selected.

Is it fair?

Wellsville• Small city/village

• Do not have a lot of money

• Poorer people

• People with little money cant afford expensive houses.

• The less your home costs, the less tax you have to pay.

• Wellsville schools do not get a lot of tax money.

• We had to lay off teachers and do not have many elective classes.

Pepper Pike• Small city

• Have lots of money

• Rich folk

• Rich people buy big, expensive houses

• People with expensive houses pay lots of taxes

• School live off of taxes.

• More revenue for schools, the better they are.

So remember…

• Property taxes make a lot of revenue (money) for local government. Most schools, police and firefighters are paid for using this.

Other ways local government gets revenue

• Sales tax – taxes added onto things you buy in your city, county or local area.

• If you go to Gibby’s and buy a $1.00 pack of gum, you will pay about $1.07. Why? You paid 7 cents in tax.

• At the end of the year Gibby’s gives all of their tax money to the city of Wellsville.

Other ways local government gets revenue

• License and permits – If you have your own business you need a permit. It is just another way for them to take your money. If you want to build a house you need a permit too.

• Other things you need a permit for:

• Fishing

• Hunting

• Driving

• All 3 cost money. All money goes to local government.

Other ways local government gets revenue

• Fines – any speeding ticket, crime or traffic violation leads to the local government getting money.

• Some cities LIVE off speeding tickets and fines for small, stupid crimes.

Police can use a radar gun to see how fast you are driving

In 2014, Ohio police officers wrote more tickets than any other state

Tickets and fines

• 41 MILLION people in the United States get at least one ticket per year.

• The average cost of a speeding ticket is $150.

• In all, local governments around the country made $6.2 BILLION in revenue from tickets.

Other ways local government gets revenue

• There is one more way local governments get their money:

• The state that they are in gives each of its cities or villages some money throughout the year. This money may be for a specific thing (like to fix a bridge) or the money can be spend on anything.

Local Laws

• Every city or village has its own laws. Some are weird and some make sense, Just know this: laws are made to make people safer.

Local laws

• Local governments have laws about animals.

• People must have a license for their dogs. If their dog hurt someone they can get in trouble.

• Most cities have laws about what type of animals you can have as a pet.

• Animals have laws for them too. If you are caught being cruel to an animal you can go to jail.

Local laws

• Disturbing the peace

• This is being very loud in public

• Challenging someone to a fight

• Swearing loudly in public

Disturbing the Peace

• You do have free speech. You don’t have the right to be stupid.

• This law is also called Disorderly Conduct

• Other stuff that will get you in jail:

• Bullying a student near a school

• Knocking loudly on someone’s door to wake them up

• Letting your dog bark loudly for a long time

• Playing loud music at night

PARTYYY

If you are going to have a party, don’t be too loud.

If the cops show up, turn down the music

If not, you could go to jail.

Local laws

• No smoking inside public buildings

• In Ohio you cannot smoke inside public buildings, like the mayors office.

• Sometimes you can’t smoke in bars, too.

Smoking in public

If a bar is caught letting people smoke in it, it can be fined $100 to $2,500.

Local laws

• Trespassing – breaking into someone’s house or business. If you do damage while trespassing it is called vandalism.

• Example would be if someone broke into your house and broke all of your windows.

Trespassing

• If you are on someone’s property and they tell you to leave, you have to leave.

• If you don’t leave – you are trespassing.

• Trespassing usually means a fine or time in jail.

• Fines can be DOUBLED it you trespass on a vehicle

vandalism

Vandalism – destroying someone’s stuff on purpose

vandalism

• Doing anything bad to other peoples’ stuff is vandalism.

• Robbery and taking property

• Gang signs/art

• Threats (KKK)