The persistent misconception that city officials are responsible for the entire property tax rate is detrimental to responsible decision-making.
Posted: Saturday, September 6, 2008 7:00 pm
As the local budget season winds down, an axiom holds true. Once again, city officials caught most of the heat from taxpayers.
County budget?
Yawn.
School budget?
Ho hum.
The persistent misconception that city officials are responsible for the entire property tax rate is detrimental to responsible decision-making.
City government is shrinking while the city grows in size and population. More than 60 jobs will disappear in the next city budget. The decline in quality of life is perceptible. For one example, just check how long the grass gets in city parks and how the weeds go untrimmed.
The local political operatives and budget hawks don’t help much.
They’re fixated on partisan politics. Republicans tend to complain about tax rates only when they can target Democrats.
So we have a situation where the Lancaster County Republican Party criticized a short-lived proposal by Democratic Mayor Chris Beutler to raise the city property tax by a cent.
But did the same group complain about spending increases (including construction of a new jail) proposed by the Republican-controlled Lancaster County Board?
Nope.
During the past year, city officials have tried to spread the word about the city’s relatively small share of property taxes. The message has not been absorbed sufficiently.
Here are pertinent facts:
* The city receives only 14.3 cents from every dollar in property taxes paid in Lincoln. Schools receive 63.3 percent. County government receives 13.7 percent.
* More than half of city spending goes for police and fire protection and operation of the 911 center. Understandably, city officials don’t want to cut there. So other departments are cut disproportionately.
* Except for police and fire, the city has not added any new employees for almost 20 years.
* The city property tax rate has dropped 44.7 percent since reaching a high in 1994.
* Of the state’s 10 largest cities, Lincoln’s property tax rate ranks seventh, behind Omaha, Bellevue, Hastings, North Platte, Fremont and Columbus.
Lincoln residents need to think about where they are getting the most value for their tax dollar. The facts argue that the ire directed at elected city officials is misplaced.