My comments regarding property tax vs. the benefit charge got a bit garbled in the article. Here is what I said.
Because under State Law property taxes cannot increase more than 1% a year, they do not keep up with inflation. Thus, if you rely solely on a property tax levy, the measure must be crafted to collect more money than is needed for the first several years, so there are sufficient funds to pay later year expenses. This is unfair to the voters. And even with this, you would need to periodically ask the voters to increase the levy to keep up with inflation.
A FBC eliminates this need to front load revenues because under state law it must be adjusted each year to collect only the revenue that’s needed.
Dedicating these revenues to fire and medical services will be more transparent and accountable to the voters, not buried in a City’s budget. And creating a RFA means fire and medical services will not have to compete for funding with other city services like parks, police and public works.
Pete Kmet
Please explain the inappropriate content below.
