Lead Balloon or Life Preserver?
The guest columnist in today's Manteca Bulletin seems to have a real problem with their local government even discussing the possibility of revenue enhancements, and more specifically a utility tax. As I noted in yesterday's blog, we've got a huge budget gap to fill. Undoubtedly there will be cuts in service--the question becomes how large will the cuts in service be?
As the City Manager, it is my responsibility to operate the City to its maximum efficiency. I am mandated with ensuring that every tax dollar is spent as wisely as possible. If the guest columnist had attended any of the Budget Advisory Committee meetings, he would have a much better understanding of the steps already taken to make sure that our tax dollars are being spent in a responsible manner. Every department is doing more with less, every department in this city already operates with far fewer employees per capita than our peer group of cities. Every department also has to continue to find more ways to reduce costs without impacting service. Every employee in the City has taken a reduction in their wages (including yours truly). While the columnist is entitled to his opinion, I think it is only fair that he actually peform a little research before he takes pot shots at the city workforce. Manteca government delivers far more service per tax dollar than any other City in the region.
Historically, like most bedroom communities, Manteca has not had a diverse group of revenue sources. However, the City has always been forward thinking and done more with less and grown more diverse economically. Unfortunately, we are still heavily dependent on property tax and sales tax--the two revenue sources most negatively impacted in the current economic downturn. A utility tax is a much more stable source of revenue, as is a landscape maintenance district or parcel tax. With more stable resources, it is much easier to plan out the future of your community.
Ultimately, it will be the City Council's choice as to whether or not to put a utility tax on the ballot--and IF it is put on the ballot, it will be the majority of the voters in this community who determine whether or not they are willing to preserve city services through additional revenue. This is a local decision as to how we spend our local resources. This isn't colonial Boston--the voters will get to decide and if approved, the dollars will stay right here and not go to England or to Sacramento!
I understand the public's fatigue with taxes, regulation and government programs. Frankly, the majority of this fatigue is imposed by our friends at the State and Federal levels of government. Local government is really the only place where citizens have the ability to influence their quality of life. We are floating these revenue ideas because we want to preserve and enhance the quality of life we have here in Manteca. Additional revenue would be a life preserver to save our high level of park maintenance, our relatively low crime rate and healthy rate of local economic growth.
As the City Manager, it is my responsibility to operate the City to its maximum efficiency. I am mandated with ensuring that every tax dollar is spent as wisely as possible. If the guest columnist had attended any of the Budget Advisory Committee meetings, he would have a much better understanding of the steps already taken to make sure that our tax dollars are being spent in a responsible manner. Every department is doing more with less, every department in this city already operates with far fewer employees per capita than our peer group of cities. Every department also has to continue to find more ways to reduce costs without impacting service. Every employee in the City has taken a reduction in their wages (including yours truly). While the columnist is entitled to his opinion, I think it is only fair that he actually peform a little research before he takes pot shots at the city workforce. Manteca government delivers far more service per tax dollar than any other City in the region.
Historically, like most bedroom communities, Manteca has not had a diverse group of revenue sources. However, the City has always been forward thinking and done more with less and grown more diverse economically. Unfortunately, we are still heavily dependent on property tax and sales tax--the two revenue sources most negatively impacted in the current economic downturn. A utility tax is a much more stable source of revenue, as is a landscape maintenance district or parcel tax. With more stable resources, it is much easier to plan out the future of your community.
Ultimately, it will be the City Council's choice as to whether or not to put a utility tax on the ballot--and IF it is put on the ballot, it will be the majority of the voters in this community who determine whether or not they are willing to preserve city services through additional revenue. This is a local decision as to how we spend our local resources. This isn't colonial Boston--the voters will get to decide and if approved, the dollars will stay right here and not go to England or to Sacramento!
I understand the public's fatigue with taxes, regulation and government programs. Frankly, the majority of this fatigue is imposed by our friends at the State and Federal levels of government. Local government is really the only place where citizens have the ability to influence their quality of life. We are floating these revenue ideas because we want to preserve and enhance the quality of life we have here in Manteca. Additional revenue would be a life preserver to save our high level of park maintenance, our relatively low crime rate and healthy rate of local economic growth.
posted by City Manager @ 10:53 AM
3 Comments:
At March 20, 2009 1:45 PM ,
Sue said...
As a longtime public employee (not in Manteca) AND a taxpayer, I see both sides of this issue. I also took a pay cut and I don't want to pay more taxes, that's for sure. On the other hand, do I want my city services reduced? Thank you for explaining that, ultimately, City Council will decide whether the voters get to decide which it will be. It's refreshing to have a public official who takes the time to educate the populace without overcomplicating the explanation. Now, just tell us which City services exactly will be reduced if we don't vote for new taxes - then we can make an educated decision.
At March 24, 2009 9:09 AM ,
noisemaker said...
Mr. Pinketon wrote: "...we [the City] are still heavily dependent on property tax and sales tax--the two revenue sources most negatively impacted in the current economic downturn. A utility tax is a much more stable source of revenue, as is a landscape maintenance district or parcel tax."
Question: When the "current economic downturn" turns around and the property tax and sales tax rise again, will the utility tax and parcel tax go away also? Or, will we have permanently added another layer of taxation in response to a temporary situation?
Best to concentrate on the belt-tightening now and re-visit taxation policy in a more steady state.
At March 24, 2009 9:59 AM ,
City Manager said...
Thanks for the comment and question noisemaker. There have been discussions about proposing the tax with a sunset clause--so that it does go away when the economy improves.
The challenge though, is the fact that I don't think our sales tax and property tax (in real terms adjusted for inflation) will ever go back to the level we experienced during the real estate bubble of 2001-2006.
As I noted in the post, we don't have the revenue base in Manteca needed to sustain the highest levels of service for public safety, and for first class parks and other amenities. Until we have exponential growth in commercial development, we need to look at other sources of revenue to sustain our quality of life.
However, I do want to again emphasize that significant belt-tightening is going on, and will continue indefinitely--and I wouldn't even dream of even proposing more revenue if I believed that we could sustain a meaningful level of service without asking for more funds.
Ultimately though, it will be up to the City Council and the electorate to determine our service levels. My job is to make sure we maximize the use of every dollar.
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