Our Superintendent is pushing hard to get the board to put another bond on the ballot for voters to approve. First of all, to be very clear I am quite simply not in favor of raising taxes.
In these hard economic times, people cannot afford to continue getting increases in their property taxes.
Last November, voters approved a bond for school buses, in November of 2012 voters approved a renewal of the sinking fund and in August of 2009 voters approved a renewal of the technology bond.
I think it's time to give taxpayers a little break.
At the last board meeting there were a few comments made and I would like to take the opportunity to clear them up. First, I said that though East China's "voted tax rate" was the lowest, I stated that I was "pretty sure we receive the same amount as other districts."
First of all, I was technically incorrect, but to be clear, this only helps my argument. East China receives the most revenue out of all of the school districts in St Clair County.
Our millage/bond rate is low because DTE is located in our school district.
As you can see below the tax rate in East China is currently a little over 3 mills. We are the second lowest in the county.
With that being said we have to look at the whole picture. The East China School District has nearly $1.6 billion in taxable (property) value. We are second only to Port Huron for taxable value.
Now the last and final piece of the puzzle: the approximate income from property taxes. As you can see, East China leads the way on bringing in "voted tax revenue." Mainly the income stems from DTE property.
So why am I bringing this up? It's simple, the Superintendent and a select few are beginning to make the case to raise taxes.
I would not be opposed to renewing current bonds or millages (essentially keeping tax rates the same), but raising taxes in a time like this? I don't think so.
In the last meeting a fellow board member and the Superintendent tried to make it sound like we do not get as much revenue, due to a lower tax rate. As you can see, according to the county treasurer, we are first in revenue-I thought and stated that we were even... I was just giving the benefit of the doubt.
The average homeowner in the East China School District has a home valued at approximately $120,000 (with a taxable value of $60,000) the current voted tax rate in East China is 3.14 mills per $1,000 taxable value (so take the 3.14 and multiply it by 60) That is $188.40 for the average homeowner in East China.
That in and of itself does not sound like much, but do not forget all of the other wonderful added taxes. Want to see exactly what your property taxes go towards? Go to this link: http://www.stclaircounty.org/offices/equalization/forms/2014/2014%20Tax%20rates.pdf
I can already see and hear the argument being made to raise taxes here in East China. The argument will be "our taxes are low." Just notice that same ones making that argument are the ones that do not live here or pay the taxes that they want raised.
I'll have an update for you on Friday on the contract that was signed to do this bond. Stay tuned!
Allen
No comments:
Post a Comment