In my previous blog entry I talked about the financial troubles of two rural, Douglas County towns, Bridgeport and Mansfield. But according to the AP’s David Ammons, prospects for the majority of Washington’s cities and towns are also bleak. [State’s cities awash in financial problems]
The news comes in the annual State of the Cities Report to the Legislature. The percentage of the population being served by cities is up, while per capita revenues are down across the board. And with health care costs for city employees rising 15 percent a year, more service cuts are inevitable.
The cities and towns aren’t keeping up with the population boom, particularly since state voters capped property-tax growth and abolished the car-tab tax, said Mary Place, Yakima councilwoman and president of the Association of Washington Cities.
“The fact is, most cities across Washington state have been caught in the perfect financial storm,” she said. “At the same time Washington’s population has been growing and moving to our cities, we were hit by a severe recession, skyrocketing costs, more unfunded mandates and tremendous cuts in state funding from initiatives.”
The survey said that cities face a $3.4 billion gap in meeting basic transportation needs over the next six years. Deferred maintenance has left streets and bridges in disrepair, and traffic is getting so bad it may choke off economic growth.
Welcome to libertarian utopia.
A very heart rendering report that misses the mark by a mile. The real public policy question not asked is if Mansfield, home to 325 souls, should be an incorporated city with full time city employees? There are lots of places in this Country, and Europe where cities and towns have had to either unicorporate or combine with other communities. Should it be state policy that state tax monies be redistributed to that every city that looses population should be able to continue to be a city for ever and ever? If so what should the minimum city size be? What should the minimum number of paid full time employees?
Change is a fact of life. Sometimes it is hard to accept. When a city or town falls to a population of 2,500 is it too small to expect to survive? How about when it falls to a population of 500? Is 325 the lower limit? I have heard about rural town in another state that had a populations about 14 that offered itself for sale with the owner being able to choose to be mayor or police chief? Is that important so that sales tax money should be distributed to protect?
Mary Place, Yakima councilwoman and president of the Association of Washington Cities.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Once again, taking the word of a person on the taxpayer dole. Go to the Seattle mayor on the best day ever and ask if he has enough money. Go to the state governor with the same question…ANY governor. Now go to the most profitable buisinessman and lay the cards on the table…services that are essential (and not swimming pools) vs money available, federal, state and local, Ill bet the buisinessman could give you the ESSENTIAL seattle services for 1/3 – 1/2 the money.
In case you dont get it, the policeman will tell you he is understaffed, the Boeing machinist will tell you that there isnt enough hourly, the hospital nurse will say nurses are understaffed, it is the nature of the beast. Additionally you cannot expect a growing budget in a shrinking “town”.
Chuck, your comments are not only insensitive and ridiculous, but you are completely out of touch with reality. You need to pay these towns a visit. You just don’t get it.
Chuck wagers: “Ill bet the buisinessman could give you the ESSENTIAL seattle services for 1/3 – 1/2 the money.”
And you’d lose that bet. Cities already contract out plenty of services; and businesses have tried to take over other essential services (e.g. schools, prisons) and have failed—whittled away services or gone bankrupt. Government is more efficient than you give it credit for, especially when you consider there’s no profit involved.
I think it’s interesting to see how the supposedly manly, self-sufficient rural areas of Washington are being exposed as the economically unsuccessful, handout-dependent areas of Washington, living off of the generosity of our successful, industrious cities.
And they’ve been able to do it because we prosperous city folk believe that what’s yours is yours . . . and what’s ours is yours, because we care about our rural neighbors and the health of our state.
Change is a fact of life. Sometimes it is hard to accept. When a city or town falls to a population of 2,500 is it too small to expect to survive?
I hate to say it but I think the right wingers has the edge on the argument here. These small towns generally government, nearly all voted for I-695 and probably voted for every Eyman inititive there has been.
How useful is it for the urban voters to step in and tell them to raise their taxes and that I-695 which the small town voters enacted is hurting them? As much as the small towns may like more services, they are even more adement about the dreaded T word.
I think it’s interesting to see how the supposedly manly, self-sufficient rural areas of Washington are being exposed as the economically unsuccessful, handout-dependent areas of Washington, living off of the generosity of our successful, industrious cities.
Ha. Yeah. That’s true also, especially when the multi billion dollar farm subsidy programs are considered. Farmers are some of the greatest recipients of government aid of any group.
I think it would be good public policy (and a good political move for the Democrats) to pass a sales tax equalization payments bill. After all, people in rural towns spend their money in the bigger towns and cities, so ‘their’ sales tax money goes elsewhere. It seems fair that if we’re going to use the sales tax as our major general revenue source, we should make sure that the benefits flow even to non-commercial regions.
Of course, there’s that teensy little problem of how to pay for it. The state government’s already running lean, and nobody wants to increase the sales tax even a tiny bit. Of course, Eastern Washington already gets a larger slice of the budget than the taxes it produces. But good luck trying to convince the East-side legislators to reallocate that revenue to give more to small-town rural folks.
I think it’s interesting to see how the supposedly manly, self-sufficient rural areas of Washington are being exposed as the economically unsuccessful, handout-dependent areas of Washington, living off of the generosity of our successful, industrious cities.
I think this sort of attitude is really detrimental to the discussion, not because it doesn’t express a legitimate sentiment, but because the facts don’t really support this, at least not the facts we have.
The problem for the rural areas is the way taxation is applied. We have no income tax, which is really the best tax of economic activity, in the sense that if the population of an area producs $1m of value and are paid for it, they can be taxed and fund local services.
With a sales tax, you may have significant economic value produced by the people in this community, but in taxing the sales, not the income, the tax receipts go to whereever they spend their money. Smaller towns are not ideal retail locations for obvious reasons (better to be in a central area to draw many people), especially for large outfits like Circuit City, or what have you. I know someone is going to say “Ah ha! but what about town X with a big Wal Mart in it”, which is true for THAT TOWN, but for every town like that, there are 10 (or more) smaller towns with no major retail activity. Hence, no receipts, and no tax. However, those people _are_ paying taxes, just somewhere else.
The reality MAY BE that there is a redistribution of wealth needed, but at present it seems far more likely that this is a flaw in a state that relies on sales and property taxes over income taxes. Need more info.
Chuck, your comments are not only insensitive and ridiculous, but you are completely out of touch with reality. You need to pay these towns a visit. You just don’t get it.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I lived amongst these towns just last year. I lived on the east side for a year.
And you’d lose that bet. Cities already contract out plenty of services; and businesses have tried to take over other essential services (e.g. schools, prisons) and have failed—whittled away services or gone bankrupt.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Usually when government contracts out in this state it involves the contractor paying “prevailing wage” that alone cripples any attempt at cost savings.
Edgar wrote: “The problem for the rural areas is the way taxation is applied. We have no income tax, which is really the best tax of economic activity, in the sense that if the population of an area producs $1m of value and are paid for it, they can be taxed and fund local services.
I agree with you. The sales tax is not only more regressive than the income tax (hurts the poor more than the rich), but it’s also not a stable basis on which to fund key services. That’s the problem with our state taxation system (no income tax, lots of other taxes to make up for it).
But the people most opposed to income taxes are rural/Republican voters (even if you couple with it massive decreases in property taxes and elimination of the state portion of the sales tax).
So the inevitable consequence of lack of support for income tax or any tax replacement for lost tax revenue from other forms of taxation is the destruction of the quality of life in the areas around WA state that receive more tax money than they generate – namely rural (Red/Republican) areas.
There’s no such thing as a free lunch.
Chuck is right about Cities being forced to pay prevailing wage on capital projects as part of the problem.
So is the brain-fart that requires 1% for the arts in many municipalities. What does a street or infrastructure project have to do with the arts?? Artist freeloader lobby is alive!!!
Some rural counties have adopted an attitude of keep out the big box stores. This may work in the books like A Road to Nowhere and other anti-growth books but these authors don’t have to struggle to live in these small towns. Some Jefferson County residents take pride that there is no Wal-mart, Target etc. Just a Safeway & QFC. The reality is a HUGE % of residents burn up fossil fuels driving to Silverdale or Sequim where they gladly take our retail leakage.
The point is, SOME rural communities have self-inflicted revenue wounds by the land-use policies they have adopted.
Thanks, Goldy.
You know something: Maybe it’s beyond time the Governor-ELECT Dino Rossi proposed a plan to save the local gov’ts…
Like I dunno – a tax reform summit. The guy’s gotta lot of time on his hands.
I frankly think a defiant property-tax increase now by state gov’t for local gov’t would be the right thing to do.
Oh that would score points with a population that has already voted the democrats out but they wouldnt leave…
Chuck, are you referring to Josef’s proposal? you think that if Republicans try to increase property taxes, it will score them points vs. the Democrats??
sarcasm my man sarcasm…
Chuck–from The Washington State Labor Council:
“Few myths have more traction in Olympia — and Washington, D.C. — than the idea that private industry can do things cheaper and more efficiently than government. Our workers’ compensation system offers an excellent case study in why that’s a bogus assumption.
“Washington’s state-run workers’ compensation system has 8.1 percent in administrative costs as a percentage of benefits paid. But the U.S. private workers’ comp industry reports an average administrative cost of 21.2 percent.”
Now let me give you a tour of my western Washington rural community. Things may work differently in eastern Washington, but the small town near where I live does not own fire trucks–the Fire District owns the fire trucks, and the aid cars, and runs the district completely with volunteers. We have two fire halls, one in town and one about five miles out of town. There are fire hydrants in town and a big tank of water at the rural station. My small town was incorporated in 1906 and has had a static population of about 650 ever since. If our town un-incorporated, we would not lose the fire hall in town–but Timmy has affected our fire district, because it too is restrained by the his property tax reducing initiatives. People living in town have city water, and the city charges citizens in the city limits for the water they use–this income maintains the city’s well, and water delivery system. If the city went out of business a water district would have to be created. The city maintains the streets in town, but only minimally–there are not curbs and sidewalks everywhere, and at times there are lots of potholes. The main street is a state highway, so the maintenance of it is the state’s problem. If the city went out of existence the county would have to assume maintenance of the other roads (not streets) that intersect the state highway. The city provides a building for our library and pays the utilities required to keep the library lit, warm, and cool. The library costs are paid for by Timberland, a library district (also affected by Timmy’s initiatives)–so if the city went under we would probably still have a library. We have no hospital, but it really isn’t that far to go in a fire district aid car to Centralia, or Olympia for hospitalization. The cemetery is maintained by the city–they are able to cover most of the cost from the money they charge for opening and closing grave sites. If the city went out of existence, there would have to be a cemetery district created to take care of the cemetery, because our state has us over a barrel in that department–it is state law that a body can not be buried on private property–bodies must be buried in a cemetery. The town does have a police department, which could not survive if it weren’t for the money the local tribe pays the city to help with law enforcement. The tribe has a casino just over the Thurston County line–tribes agree to help with the additional pressure on local services crated by the location of their casinos. If the city went bust the county would have to send the sheriff’s department to handle law enforcement, and that could take up to thirty minutes.
It would probably be better for my local town to un-incorporate, and it certainly wouldn’t be the end of it, in fact it probably wouldn’t curb its growth at all (and it is starting to grow–all those folks in Oly want to live in a rural area). Just to the east is the largest un-incorporated entity I’ve seen in my 61 years, Rochester/Grand Mound. Rochester/Grand Mound has a school system as big as Centralia’s–has a sewer/water district, fire district, and I assume a cemetery district, as they have a cemetery. They have had so much crime that they persuaded Thurston County to put a district office in Rochester.
I do have a gun and I do investigate strange bumps in the night, I dispatch all those unwanted critters that do damage to my animals–but at times I do need a law enforcement officer–and since I live in un-incorporated territory, that’s at least thirty minutes away.