I was intrigued when I grabbed the Deseret News this morning and saw the headline “Tax rates are jumping” and I admit I was pretty surprised to see that residents of Kanarraville would be paying $172.70 more in property taxes. So I did a little research and it appears to me that the property tax jump isn’t quite what Lee Davidson describes.
First of all the first five cities mentioned by Davidson are also some of the cities with the lowest property tax rates in the state (bottom 10%). In addition in this analysis the Des News assumes a $200,000 home value to apply the rate to…this assumption is pretty high for at least 3 of the top 5 cities. For example, home values in Kanarraville (the lead city of the story) are closer to $100,000. And according to the latest census only 8 homes (which is also around 8%) in Kanarraville are valued at over $200,000. So what does this mean? It means the jump is closer to $50 or $60 annual increase for 92% of the city, not quite $172.
So in defense of Kanarraville and many of the other cities mentioned, their property taxes comparatively were already very low and the tax increase isn’t impacting most of their residents to the degree claimed in this article. Also, the city portion is still a minor percentage of the total tax bill.
To me this article does raise an interesting issue though…why are these government entities raising taxes? I think some of it has to do with the continuing discussion that while growth stimulates the economy it also comes at a cost (more infrastructure, more schools, more people to serve, etc).
Utah now has 244 cities and towns. Monday Ruby’s Inn incorporated and created Bryce Canyon City, population 138. However, while only a population of 138 Bryce Canyon City represents around 70 to 75% of Garfield County’s sales tax revenue.
I was actually in Bryce Canyon this past weekend, so a couple photos of Utah’s newest town…
And while Bryce Canyon City did not yet exist when we conducted the cluster analysis I think it is fair to say that it will be categorized as a “Resort Community.”
Is there a limit to what services government should provide? Who draws the line? I think the debate between providing public services and competing with private sector is a great discussion. I used find myself strongly in the libertarian camp, but have come to appreciate many of the public programs/services local government provides (maybe not so much with the federal govt). I also think there are a number of citizens that are looking to government to provide more and more services (all with low taxes but that is another discussion).
Anyhow, if you are also interested in this debate you might enjoy a recent discussion on KCPW. Monday on Midday Metro, Roger Tew (ULCT lobbyist/attorney) and Senator Howard Stephenson (R-Draper, President of the Utah Taxpayers Assoc.) debated the issue for 20+ minutes. Sen. Stephenson advocates at a minimum a process to review what local government ought to do and ought not to do. Roger advocates a more democratic process of determining what services should be provided based on the voters and the elected officials of each jurisdiction (maybe city X wants a rec center, city Y a golf course, etc).
Senator Stephenson also suggests the possible idea of doing away with state liquor stores and turning liquor sales over to the private sector…the interview is worth listening to: Midday Metro Monday, July 16, 2007
So I haven’t read the book yet, so I can’t give a full review…but I think the topic is really interesting. The Brookings Institution just published a new book Boomburbs: The Rise of America’s Accidental Cities. This book documents the growth of some of the fastest grwoing suburbs in America, suburbs that eventually grow to cities beyond 100,000 in population…but are not the largest city in their metropolitan region.
One problem of the Boomburb cities, according to many of their elected officials, is that they do not get any respect. They are often overshadowed by the larger metropolitan city (e.g. Anaheim to Los Angeles). For example, over a dozen major league sport franchises are centered in Boomburbs, bu only one carries that cities’ name (Anaheim). As an example of these cities not getting any respect I found a reference to the mayor of Salt Lake City (I can’t say I’m surprised):
“Michael L. Montadon, the mayor of North Las Vegas (one of the nation’s fastest growing boomburbs), tells of an encounter in which the mayor of Salt Lake City dismissed the idea that the two places share common problems, despite the fact that North Las Vegas is both bigger and more ethnically diverse than Salt Lake City.”
The book also addresses the concept of baby boomburbs. These suburban communities are between 50,000 and 100,000. At least four Utah cities fit the profile as baby boomburbs. If you are interested you can read the first chapter of the book here: Legoland.
Cities are at the center of the great 21st century political and social policy related questions. At least according to Dr. Neil Bradford author of the research study Why Cities Matter. His report focuses on Canadian cities, but I think much of his study applies to municipal government worldwide, or at least also to America.
Bradford writes, “All the great policy questions of our day – economic, social, cultural and environmental – have now become urban questions. And that means that cities will have to become the innovation engines of the 21st century. They will have to become the locus of great creativity and bold problem-solving capacity. While continuing to manage the business of the day-to-day, they will have to get a lot more serious about the business of tomorrow. They will have to be capable of making imaginative leaps – and mobilizing pattern-shifting change.
“That will require more than just a few individual heroes with big ideas and big wills – though God knows we need them too. Rather, it will require a culture of creativity. A civic culture that is responsive to bold ideas, open to risk, and, most important, hopeful. A civic culture of creativity is the essential pre-condition to the transformative work ahead.”
The National League of Cities is partnering with a nonprofit organization called KaBOOM! to help create recreation opportunities for kids. Earlier this year, KaBOOM! launched its Playful City USA program to encourage cities to take the initiative to make room for “play” on their community agendas. To gain national recognition as a Playful City USA, communities must fulfill these five commitments:
• create a local play board, task force, or commission;
• design an annual action plan for play;
• conduct a playspace audit;
• outline the financial investment in play for the current fiscal year; and
• proclaim and celebrate an annual “play day.”
KaBOOM! is looking for communities nationwide to recognize as benchmark leaders. If your city or town is interested you can access an application here.
I didn’t believe this at first…but yes it is official. Alabama Governor Bob Riley has asked the citizens of Alabama to pray this week for rain. You can read the proclamation here. I laughed at first but then saw the weather report, which looks like rain all week (I wonder if Riley had the weather forecast before issuing the proclamation).
This has me wondering…if the Alabama citizens have enough faith to get rain, does this mean Governor Huntsman can request a proclamation that Alabamians pray that Utah gets some rain too? ![]()
