Archive: Opinions

Lansing elected bodies have a problem.  With many proposed projects on the table, taxpayers are saying no to more taxes.  In less than 12 months residents have voted down the school budget and the Board of Education and the Library Board both withdrew proposals that would have added to the tax burden after determining they would not be supported.  The conventional wisdom is that older adults on a fixed income are losing their homes because they can not afford the increases.  But the fact is that people of all ages are leaving or thinking about leaving.  My own next door neighbor, who would have to double his age to be considered elderly,  told me the reason he is selling his house is that taxes are too high.

In the Town of Lansing taxes this year would have been about $28.64 per $1000 of assessed value.  That includes everything, including Town, County, Fire, Light, School... everything.  Except that the school budget that would have accounted for $19.314 of that wasn't approved.  If you add last year's school tax to the taxes for everything else this year you pay $27.71.

With the cost of living up just under 3.5%, the proposed school budget was more than twice that at 7.73%  The rise in the tax rate would have been 5.09%.  With higher assessments individuals would be paying more (per $1000) and more (dollars).

One wonders how hard it would be for the Town, Schools, Library and Fire District to coordinate their projects.  The Town has several water district extensions and the sewer, the Schools have the budget and capital project, the Library has its charter proposal and the Fire District has a new fire house.  I was told by architect Kirk Narburgh, who heads the school capital project design team and has experience with capital project initiatives, that it is unusual for taxpayers to be faced with so many municipal projects at one time.

The problem that our elected bodies now have is one of credibility.  Taxpayers are going to look a lot more carefully at the next school capital project after the first version was withdrawn.  That may have been partially responsible for this week's budget defeat as well.  The Town is going to have a harder time getting taxpayers behind the sewer project.  If the Library revives its charter proposal too soon it will share this problem.  The general perception is that these bodies are spending extravagantly.  Whether that is true or not, each withdrawal or defeat feeds into that perception.  The projects of bodies that are not (the Library board is arguably fiscally responsible) are as threatened by that perception as bodies that are perceived to be.

----
v2i19