Close to 40 people filled the commissioners’ room in the Cook County Courthouse Tuesday, December 14, 2010 for the county’s annual truthin taxation meeting – a lot more than the handful who showed up at last year’s meeting. Perhaps that is due to the fact that the hospital, the school, and a couple of townships and fire districts are increasing their levies considerably along with the county’s 4.89% increase.
County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers described this meeting as “an invitation for citizen involvement in the 2011 county budgeting process and an opportunity for county officers to explain budgeted expenditures.” He pointed out that the county collects taxes for all entities that are authorized to levy through property taxes.
Citizens challenge commissioners
One property owner named several Minnesota counties that will not be increasing their levies next year. Commissioner Bruce Martinson replied that most of them are dipping into their fund balances to do that. Commissioner Bob Fenwick said, “We’re paying a lot less for our properties than a lot of people in Minnesota.”
The county is mandated to provide many services, such as an annual audit, which costs about $75,000. The county cannot hire a private firm to do it – it must use state auditors.
One homeowner at the meeting suggested that the county board reduce its spending by cutting unmandated services instead of increasing taxes. Commissioner Bob Fenwick stated that the unmandated services are things people in this county really want, such as a senior center.
Another citizen suggested that the county refuse to provide services that the state mandates but does not fund. Commissioner Fenwick said counties have been sued and lost for not carrying out unfunded mandates. Highway Maintenance Supervisor Russell Klegstad said that states can claim they aren’t raising taxes, but the tax burden just gets shifted to counties when the same services are still mandated.
Counties are currently being required to replace old signs with new, highly reflective signs, even on little-used roads, Klegstad said. The county has some leeway in how much salt and sand to put down or how early to get plows out after it snows – such as before the school buses are on the roads – but those are things the taxpayers value more than highly reflective signs on little-used roads.
Who uses the services
One seasonal property owner said he doesn’t use any of the services he’s paying for except maybe the Sheriff ’s Office. Full-time residents are getting a break from the seasonal taxpayers, he said. That didn’t sit well with Commissioner Jim Johnson. “For anybody to say that they get no value for the taxes they pay, I just cannot go there,” he said. Besides law enforcement, taxpayers receive road maintenance, First Responder, ambulance, hospital, fire department, and human services.
Hospital levy increase
“It seems to me the elephant in the room is the hospital,” another property owner said. To deal with ongoing deficits, the hospital board may vote to increase the levy from $425,000 to $1.2 million. Thenursing home seems to be operating under a failed business model, the property owner said. He suggested that maybe it’s time to separate the nursing home budget from the hospital’s.
Services people want
“We’re not seeing the government making the sacrifices that the private sector is,” one property owner said. “I think it’s time to get a little more thrifty. We are not going to survive with this kind of tax increase.”
Forty years ago, another person said, the county had one sheriff and two parttime deputies. He thinks maybe government has grown way beyond the size of the population. “I’m not suggesting we get rid of anyone,” he said. “I’m suggesting we stop expanding.”
Sheriff Mark Falk said Cook County’s population “doubles, triples, maybe quadruples” in the summer. Over the years, the responsibilities of law enforcement officers have changed “so dramatically it’s unbelievable. …We respond to everything,” he said – domestics, burglaries, alarm calls.
Commissioner Johnson pointed out that people can bring their refuse to the Recycling Center or to burn piles free of charge. “Somehow we think all this just sort of happens. …I do think we need to keep in mind that we do the best we can to provide services.” The hospital should be accountable for the possible increase in its levy, he said but then asked, “Would you really want to live here without one?”
Getting leaner
“I think you people really need to bite the bullet and cut back,” another resident said. “People got along fine 25 years ago without a lot of these public services. … Government has just gotten too big. …You just can’t let it run wild like a bunch of kids in a candy store.”
“I believe in cutting back,” said Commissioner Jan Hall, “and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”
The same citizen criticized the new community center project because he believed it would increase the county’s operating expenses. Community Center Director Diane Booth said the community center committee will be informing the architects the building cannot cost any more to maintain than what the county is already paying for facilities currently housing activities that will take place in the new building.
Another community member asked why the Planning & Zoning office retains the same number of staff if less building is going on. “I think there could be a lot of belt tightening,” he said.
“And there has been,” Planning & Zoning Director Tim Nelson answered.
Commissioner Fenwick said he has only seen demand for services go up but agreed that if it goes down, they should reduce staff. Nelson said the state continues to increase the amount of oversight it expects counties to provide. His department has gotten leaner and leaner since he came in 1999, he said. Theycan’t pass septic and storm water ordinances and cut staff at the same time, he added.
In a separate interview, Nelson said the department sets aside projects for the winter months that they are too busy to do in the summer months when they are out in the field conducting inspections. Winter projects include updating databases, writing reports, and working on ordinance amendments.
Nelson does some traveling to advocate for Cook County at the state level and sees it paying off. In addition to a lot of emailing and faxing, he said, they employ a lot of teleconferencing, adding that part of his job is to maintain efficiency.
What can be done
At its December 21 meeting, the county board will consider the cost-cutting suggestions presented at the meeting. It could reduce the proposed levy increase by dipping into the fund balance.
Before the meeting ended, Commissioner Fenwick stated that the cost of unfunded mandates can be a lot greater per capita in some counties than in others. Braidy Powers gave a final example of an unfunded mandate: The county must provide a handicap accessible voting machine in every precinct, at a cost of $6,000 each, and it must pay to have those machines checked regularly whether they get used or not. Only one voter has asked to use one of the machines. “That one person was me!” Personnel Director Janet Simonen said. “I asked to use it so I could see how it worked!”
A few disadvantages of property taxes,
according to Cook County Auditor-Treasurer Braidy Powers:
. The state mandates some services but does not fund them. Counties must pay
for them but have some discretion regarding the level of service they provide.
The proposed budget would use 13% of the levy for non-mandated services.
. Property taxes are not based on a property owner’s income or financial
resources and can increase in spite of any action by the owner.
. Attempts to make property taxes fairer have made the system extremely
complex. Rates are based on things such as the market value of the property, tax increment financing that promotes development by delaying payment over many years, Iron Range Fiscal Disparities which allow counties to share commercial/industrial valuation increases since 1995 by averaging valuation increases throughout northeastern Minnesota, State General Property Tax imposed on commercial/industrial and seasonal properties since 2002, and Homestead Credits in the form of Market Value Credits for properties under $414,000 and Taconite Credits up to $315.
Advantages include the following:
. Local property taxes are likely to be more responsive to local needs and are
more directly accountable to the public than state or federal taxes.
. They provide the government with a stable form of income, unlike income tax,
which is based on annual income.
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