Wednesday, January 16, 2008

City Controller Discussed Property Tax Increase With City Council

At this week's council meeting, city controller Pat Roller gave a presentation describing why the council needs to revoke the $3.7 million levy cut passed by the previous council. Her argument is that if House Bill 1001 is passed then the 1% property tax circuit breaker CAP will have dire consequences on the city's finances. Here's a brief discussion of her projections that show the financial picture.




As you can see the city is facing a massive shortfall even if the council votes to reinstate the property tax levy cut by the previous council. Now HB 1001 does give local government the option to increase the income tax by up to 1% to make up the difference. What's important here for those that want something done about property taxes is to realize that your total tax bill might actually go up. The state is going to raise the sales tax AND your income tax could go up by 1%. So the old adage "Be careful what you wish for" applies here.

The council put a hold on this ordinance until the Feb 5th meeting and councilman Mitch Harper said there will be some sort of public hearing on the matter although the details were not set. If you feel strongly one way or the other then I suggest you plan to speak your mind...

3 comments:

bobett said...

Yes I want TEL's or Tax & expenditure limits on the City, the State & Feds!

If the City Spending continues at this pace, I say yes to a consumption tax. Otherwise, save and then spend wisely.
Pay for it in Cash!

Yes a Consumption tax. If you have the money upfront for expansion fine. Otherwise, I'm tired of spend & expansion & back peddling our finances.

bobett said...

Your blog gives informative & investigative reporting.

Thanks to coverage in your postings.

It serves the public well on
what's actually going on.

Key item covered:


Construction projects are a major factor in rising taxes. Elected officials have repeatedly shown they are unwilling to stop them or scale them back, so taxpayers need a viable means to vote on them. A petition drive is not a viable means for most taxpayers. They need to be able to vote on projects in a ballot referendum as the governor has proposed.

Kevin Knuth said...

This is what I have been saying all along- the problem with everyone looking for a "property tax" solution is that you will end up paying MORE in other taxes than the property taxes cost you today.