Posted on 05/28/2015 12:33:12 PM PDT by MichCapCon
Property tax revenue in the state of Michigan is starting to recover from the nationwide mortgage crisis and Great Recession of 2007 to 2009 as revenue has increased for consecutive years for the first time in eight years.
The amount of property tax collected in this state for counties, townships, cities, villages and schools peaked at $14.25 billion in 2007. Then from 2008 to 2012 the amount of property tax revenue declined each year.
Property tax revenues increased 0.48 percent in 2013, rising from $12.75 billion the previous year to $12.82 billion, according to a state report. Then it increased again in 2014 to $13.03 billion, which was a 1.68 percent increase. That increase was larger than inflation (1.0 percent) in 2014 in the Detroit metro area, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“Broad economic improvement is increasing Michigan’s property values,” said James Hohman, the assistant director of fiscal policy for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, in an email. “This has provided more property tax revenue for the state, schools and local governments and eases the strains they felt from the recession.”
Anthony Minghine, associate executive director of the Michigan Municipal League, said Michigan has a broken municipal finance system.
“Minimal increases in local taxable values don’t really provide much relief to communities that are struggling under Michigan’s broken municipal finance system,” Minghine said in an email. “It is good to see the state’s economy improving, but because taxable values are now reset at the significantly diminished values, there can be no real climb out because of the Proposal A capping. The costs to local government did not decline with the diminishment in tax revenues, but the inability to return taxable values to the pre-drop levels are the real villain.”
“Communities have little to no ability to generate new revenues unless you have new construction in a greenfield,” Minghine said. “This essentially means that we can only cut services to balance budgets and Michigan can no longer afford to cut its way to prosperity.”
“This essentially means that we can only cut services to balance budgets and Michigan can no longer afford to cut its way to prosperity.”
Yes, but just imagine if you could afford to cut your way to prosperity! It’s not hard if you try!
Every single entity in the universe has to cut costs when they’re tapped out EXCEPT the frigging government. What in the hell is wrong with these people?!!?!? They say garbage like this with a straight face anymore.
Get your expenditures in line like any other frigging person you animals!
“These people” think that a government can “tax its way to prosperity.”
And they’re right.
But the problem is that it’s the deadheads who populate the government payroll that prosper, and not the taxpayers. And I can assure you they don’t give a sh!t about the taxpayers.
I was going to reply but felt it unnecessary after reading your OUTSTANDING comments.
BTTT!
Come to Texas where your taxes go up the legal 10% (plus a wee bit more with fuzzy math) each and every year. The has been one year out of the past 25 taxes didn’t go up but that was due to the Legislature putting the breaks on. Has your income gone up 10% each year to keep up with taxes? Uh, noooo. There are at least 13 houses on my street and the next street over which have been turned into vacation rentals because the owners can’t afford the taxes. The owners still holding on have had to delay retirement, get second jobs and set up savings accounts specifically for property taxes.
These government employees don’t care. They’ve said as much publicly in our town.
A few teachers in our Borough were getting a bit belligerent on Facebook with a couple of citizens after several started complaining about rumored tax increases to fund the schools for the “chirren”.
Their gripes started when the Borough had to make “massive cuts” to its teaching staff (a music teacher and a no-fill retirement). A few people were commenting that it was a good start, but we need more cuts (and we really, really, really do ... the frigging district has the same number of students when I went there yet has accumulated 25% more leeches since 1991. How in the name of hell do they need more when the student body isn’t growing?!?!?!)
These fine people stepped in and whined about how hard their job was and bragged about their various degrees they need to teach. One in particular was one I actually liked back when I went there. She is nearing retirement.
One person pointed out that she makes $89K/year (this was available on a state website), has early June to late August off, has full health, full retirement, and several other perks like a sabbatical every seven years and will receive over $80K/year (always adjusted for inflation) + full health benefits when she retires at the ripe old age of 53. She typed a bunch of personal attacks and stated that she paid into that system that allows her to draw that kind of cash.
I want a magic system like that (30 years in a job @ a couple hundred tops per month = over $80K/year adjusted for inflation GUARANTEED with full health coverage). Problem is I don’t want to rape taxpayers.
I suggested that teachers migrate to a 401K-like plan as that would solve a whole bunch of problems state wide ... they wanted to hear nothing of that. I even pointed out that as a compromise, the borough could raise salaries to allow teachers to contribute more if they wish. Over the long haul, it would solve a LOT of problems. Again, nothing.
A couple days later, the Borough announced that it is in fact looking to increase property taxes due to increased costs at the schools. We are the second highest taxed Borough in the county and our taxes are now eating into any appreciation we might get on our homes (I bought mine when the market crashed ... I have some room to play around).
They literally didn’t care and suggested that we move so that others that want to live in our fine small town could live there. What frigging amazes me is that all of these vagrants MOVE ... no, they RUN from our county after they retire. They don’t want to pay these insane taxes!!! :-)
From what I gathered, a LOT of people showed up furious at the recent school board meeting. Things are certainly changing a bit in our town. I would have gone, but I was too busy working to pay these leeching scumbags.
Where do you live? I cover the local school board for my newsblog and see the same thing at every meeting, more or less.
They literally didn’t care and suggested that we move so that others that want to live in our fine small town could live there. What frigging amazes me is that all of these vagrants MOVE ... no, they RUN from our county after they retire. They don’t want to pay these insane taxes!!! :-)
Back in my day, we had about 35 students per 1 teacher. We sat in rows, one student/one desk and for the most part paid attention and didn’t create a disturbance. Today, we have max. 17 students per 1 teacher, plus an in room aide, plus a few roaming teachers who check on slow learners and problem angels. The little angels sit at group tables so that half of them have their backs to the teachers and everyone can cheat. Discipline is out the window.
Oh, and the million dollar new baseball field? Every other day they tore down something they’d just built. I don’t even remember how much that thing cost in the end and I’m sure whatever it was more than they told us taxpayers. Why does a podunk school need such in the first place? 4 bases and a pitcher’s mound. Put some bleachers in and you’re good to go.
And lets not forget when they let go the superintendent who built his new house from building materials that was meant for the new school (that we didn’t need) we had to pay out the rest of his contract.
It’s all a money scam. Free money. Monopoly money like the feds use.
They don’t care if we lose our homes because they’ll be able to get more taxes out of the new owners. But that’s been the plan all along.
I’m just outside of Pittsburgh, PA ... about 12 miles out of the downtown area.
The teachers union in Allegheny County is as powerful as they come. They know they will get what they want when they want it. They don’t have any shame nor do they even seem to care about their results. Their goal is to have one teacher per student to collect dues. Anything resembling education is a bonus.
I want to emphasize that I am describing the unions. On the other side of the coin, there are many outstanding teachers in this area. I just wish a majority of them would think about the long term ramifications of their retirement plans. They simply don’t care what these public pensions are doing to communities all over the state.
Of course, having said that, there are the scumbag, holier than thou types of ‘instructors’ that I ran into :-). Those types invoke my vomiting reflex.
Had we had a governor like Scott Walker here in PA attempting to do what he accomplished in WI, I can assure you the idiocy that took place in Madison would have looked like a kid’s circus compared to what these thugs would have done in Harrisburg. They’re that ridiculous. Gov. Corbett made a feeble attempt to reign in some of their power and he was eviscerated for it (he had no balls to fight back ... what a waste of an opportunity ... he spent 3 years wallowing in self pity it seemed, and was replaced with a Communist businessman :-) ).
Regarding student:teacher ratios ... I was in a lot of AP classes ... we’d have somewhere around 20-25 students in a class (late 80s, early 90s). It never bothered me. Hell, 100 people in a calculus class never bothered me in college. This 17:1 ratio nonsense is a sick, frigging joke. Our results are deplorable given what we throw at these schools. They’re shifting the emphasis from self-education to instructor dependence ... that is a horrible strategy.
Hell, I could ramble on for hours about how I think our entire education system is obsolete! It focuses far too much on “college” and basically casts aside any kid that has an interest in anything other than academics. I find it a sick joke that there is a big emphasis on literature ... it used to be that history courses were where one would learn research and writing skills ... these days you have to read what someone else deemed a “classic” and write about that.
I recall writing about Ernest Hemmingway my senior year. I could sum him up in three words : drunk, horny, angry. I learned *nothing* writing about his work yet I spent two weeks researching and writing about him. In retrospect, I would have liked to have read something like The Federalist Papers and write an analysis of that :-). That would have been useful! :-)
Anyway, the end result of this “focus on college” is that you get about 15% of the class that are very good, 15% “average”, and the rest are lost, cynical souls. It’s sick that this continues.
I can’t wait to see how this unfolds. If something good happens, I’ll be sure to let FR know. We might be screwed at the Federal level, but I haven’t seen the natives this restless towards local government in my life. It could get interesting.
“Oh, and the million dollar new baseball field?”
I’d take that in a heartbeat! We just got a new $7M football playground complete with new bleachers, scoreboard, and PRESS BOX!!! It was all from private donations of course (yeah ... I’d buy that for a dollar) yet the borough has to spend MORE money than they used to for maintenance even considering an increase in revenue from the game shows.
What frigging high school needs a press box?!?!?!!? The kicker is that the damn games aren’t on TV or radio!
I’ve grown to hate that sport. I used to love it. I can’t stand the sight of it anymore. I think I may have sat through 400 or 500 frames of football on TV the past 4 years.
I cracked up laughing when the Steelers were mauled by the Packers in the Super Bowl a few years ago. It served them right after the refs screwed Seattle out of Super Bowl XL.
I had renewed faith in God when Tim Tebow and the Broncos beat the ‘Stillers’ in overtime in the playoffs.
It’s pathetic seeing grown men cry over a frigging game show, but that’s life these days. I, personally, tend to tear up watching “The Price is Right” anymore .... that one blonde model they have is pretty frigging hot to say nothing of that Latina one :-)!!! NFL, The Price is Right ... both the same frigging thing :-).
Ok, I gotta quit ranting ... my blood pressure will spike :-).
BUMP! BUMP!
The taxpayers were able to stop them putting in a press box and big digital score board and all the other hooey at the football stadium. But they’ve been sneaking in their expensive “wants” every year, so they’ve about got the whole shebang.
I’ve ranted for years about the property tax hikes. When we moved in, our current house was appraised at the exact same as our previous house in a nearby town and the exact same taxes amounting to 2 weeks of income. Today, the previous house hasn’t even doubled in taxes so now equals less than 1 month of income. Today, our current house’s taxes are over 3 months of income. No one can make ends meet at this rate.
What’s changed? The huge influx of illegals and Californians bringing in their liberal and high dollar real estate and spending ideas.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.