Was hanging around with my girlfriend on Sunday morning, and we were discussing home values and Madison neighborhoods, and property taxes came up (in connection to a "this is how much you'll really pay in a mortgage" discussion).
First of all, she lives in a middle-class Madison neighborhood, and her home was assessed at a shade under $200,000, with no major change in home value (from what I could tell) vs. last year. Her property taxes were up 1.4% for 2012, not exactly the property tax freeze Scott Walker promised us, but also not as much as the 2.7% tax increase the average Madison home got. But going inside where those numbers come from is more interesting.
As part of the bill, the City of Madison shows state aid to the City/ taxing entity as a matter of comparison. I noted that her school taxes were down somewhere between 1-2%, particularly noteworthy because Madison teachers accepted a contract extension through 2013 that included added employee contributions to medical coverage and pensions, but at levels well below the requirements of Scott Walker's "tools".
Let's repeat that, Madison teachers and the Madison Metropolitan School District collectively bargained an agreement that lowered property taxes for homeowners in the district. Collective bargaining WORKS in tough times, as proven by the most anti-Walker teachers' union in the state accepting concessions to continue the high level of education in their community, because those teachers work, live, and pay taxes in those communities. Don't ever forget it.
And those taxes sure weren't helped by Scott Walker's budget, because the state dropped aid to Madison schools by over 11% for the City of Madison. When my girlfriend asked "Where did the other $11 million go?", I shrugged and said "Tax breaks for corporations, giving them room to allow the GOP to funnel money to the road builders from regular taxes, that kind of thing." This got her even more incensed with Governor Dropout than she usually is (and yes, she's also signed the recall petiton and been at the Capitol).
It was a nice reminder of what I discussed a couple of years back when I went over how upper levels of government often pass the buck down to the lower ones with no money to back it up. And Gov. Dropout has made this even worse by not allowing local communities the flexibility to make up for the state's cuts even if the community so wants (Walker folks would claim the "tools" can make up the difference, but time after time, the state cuts are larger than any savings to be had from funneling off public employee take-home pay). When this happens, there is no choice available but massive cuts, ineffectiveness of the service, and possibly selling off the services to a private entity who just might happen to be a Walker comntributor in the same business (the ultimate goal).
Also on her tax bill was a major increase for Madison Area Technical College, in no small part due to the major Walker cuts to tech schools (about 28% on the tax bill I saw), and the huge building projects and expansions necessary to meet the expanding enrollment and employer needs. You know, to meet the needs of manufacturers to say they're constantly in search of skilled workers and that they can't find them in the current workforce? But Walker's not so keen on allowing tech. schools the "tools" to meet the needs the job creators say they want - so much for being "Open for Business."
The other taxing entities were relatively straightforward on tax rundown, with mild increases resulting from cuts at the state level, cuts that also reflect the inequities of a Shared Revenue system that Paul Soglin has rightfully called out for giving Milwaukee 45 times the "County and Municipal aid" money Madison gets, > In fact, a statewide list of this aid shows that Madtown falls several times below cities with significantly lower populations such as Racine, Beloit, Appleton, Green Bay, Kenosha, Oshkosh, Sheboygan, La Crosse, and Manitowoc.
So like a lot of places in Wisconsin, Scott Walker's promises of lower property taxes didn't happen for my girlfriend in Madison, and very likely didn't pan out for you as well. The problem is that next year's budget doesn't allow your municipality to raise property taxes while still cutting these aid payments from the state- so anticipate more layoffs, more fees (which you don't get to write off like property taxes) and fewer services in 2013.
Well, that is, unless you change how the money falls from the state, or allow your town to raise taxes in some other way. Both probably require recall elections to be in effect for 2013. Guess we have another reason to get on it, eh?
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