"It's not going to be pretty, that's for sure," LaDonna agreed. "Strange, isn't it? All those years back uptime, and everyone complained about their taxes. Wait until everyone sees the new valuations. We're going to be in hot water with everyone we know. They're going to completely flip out."
"We did tell everyone," Cary Marshall pointed out. "It's been on television, and there have been articles in the newspapers."
"True, absolutely true," Deborah agreed. "And you know as well as I do that the new rate is still going to come as a shock to half the town. People just don't really pay attention until they get the bill. Anyway, we've got about a week of peace and quiet before the frenzy starts, so let's get some work done while we can."
Deborah turned to head back to her own office, but stopped when Noelle Murphy cleared her throat. Noelle always made that sound when she had a question. It was usually a good question, but Deborah had begun to dread that sound. Noelle tended to complicate things unnecessarily, to Deborah's way of thinking.
"Umm, Deborah, I don't know where to send these notices," Noelle began. "There's no owner of record for these properties."
"What properties, Noelle?"
"It's that village, what's its name, Sundremda, I think. The people don't own the property, they just rent it. The guy who has the Lehen, well, near as I can tell, holding the Lehen isn't the same as owning the property. And, I don't really think that Ferdinand II is going to pay taxes on it, either, since we sort of took it away from him. So, who pays the property taxes on Sundremda?"
Deborah worked through Noelle's logic and sighed. "That's all we need, another complication. I guess Marion County owns Sundremda now that we've annexed it. And the county doesn't pay taxes to itself, does it? So, the county is responsible for yet another piece of property that doesn't bring in any revenue. Crap!"
"Claus, what has happened?" Clara asked. "What is it?"
Claus Junker sat in his home office, devastated. "Pomeroy is dead. The only one of these uptimers I could tolerate, and he is dead in an accident."
It looked to Clara like the news of Guffy Pomeroy's death had hit Claus hard. Claus didn't know that many uptimers, and mostly didn't like the ones he did know. Claus been opposed to joining the New U.S. and believed that his own was the single voice of sanity on the council. Now, the one uptimer that he had liked and trusted was dead.
"The microwave project, it is dead, also. The paper says that Pomeroy was a charlatan and there is no hope for a microwave projector, not for years!" Claus stormed. "And I used funds . . . funds from the town to finance this project, and it will not happen."
Clara felt her stomach clench with fear. "Town funds, Claus? How could you? You never should have trusted that man with so much. Can we pay it back? Before we are disgraced?"
Claus rose from his desk in a rage. He stomped around the room, shouting and swearing. "No, Clara, no, we can't pay it back! This Ring of Fire, it is the work of the devil! Act of God, people say, therefore the rents due me are void. Even the pastor, that Pastor Schultheiss, is preaching that this Ring of Fire was an act of God!" Claus shouted. "The only good thing that came out of the Ring of Fire was Pomeroy. And now, now, I am told that he was a thief, and he has ruined us! There is no hope, they claim, no possible way to create a microwave projector, not for years!"
Claus was becoming incoherent. He continued to rant and shout, at times towering over Clara, at other times stamping around the room. He shouted that all around him people were getting rich from the uptimer's knowledge, and getting above themselves. The riffraff were thrilled with the Ring of Fire, the uptimers, their inventions and their Committees of Correspondence. Even people that should know better were fawning on the uptimers.
Then the real reason for his rage began to come out. Clara knew as well as Claus that Endres Ritter was just waiting for an excuse to go over the books and accuse Claus of theft. Before the Ring of Fire, a member of the council would have been protected from such an accusation. It wasn't all that unusual, after all. Using city funds for personal advantage was standard practice. As long as the city got its money back it was no problem. Even when something went wrong, there was a slap on the wrist and a lot of looking the other way. Back then, the council wanted to avoid the scandal. But now there was the Ring of Fire and new rules.
The Ritter and Junker families had been feuding so long that most people didn't remember why. Ritter would raise the accusation no matter the scandal to the council. He would raise the uptime cry "freedom of information." Never mind the fact that the Ritter family had done the same thing a few years ago and made a small fortune at the city's expense. That was then; this was now.