Maybe taxpayers will actually show up for budget discussions

With the emphasis on the increase in property values, there are calls across the region for taxing entities to reduce their tax rates to prevent higher bills for homeowners.

There’s a reasonable expectation that such reductions will take place. But the question is, by how much?

Some voices have been heard saying cities and other public bodies should reduce the tax rate so that revenues for the coming year will not exceed those of the current year.

While that is an easy enough formula to achieve in theory, it’s not realistic because it will cost more to provide the public with the same level of services they have been receiving and would expect in the year ahead.

It is very rare for any city, school district, the county or any other public entity to adopt an annual budget in an amount the same as the year before. That’s because the cost of public services is always increasing.

So, cutting the tax rate to produce zero growth in tax revenues is not only unlikely to occur but most residents have said, when asked, they don’t want that to happen.

In Arlington, for instance, one of the questions in the annual survey of citizen satisfaction asks if taxes and services should be decreased.

Only 10 percent of respondents said yes to that idea. A majority of 68 percent said they wanted to keep taxes and services “about where they are.”

Local governments are in the service delivery business. That results in about three-fourths or more of all their costs being that of supporting their workforces.

Salaries will need to be adjusted to be competitive, health insurance premiums will be higher, as will all other personnel-related costs.

The majority of general fund budget allocations in just about all cities are made to support public safety. Police and fire services are the priority in municipalities everywhere.

In my experience and observation beyond my time in office, I’ve never encountered anyone who wanted to reduce the number of police officers or fire fighters. Just the reverse is what is desired.

The one area in the Arlington survey where citizens expressed less satisfaction when compared to other services was in the conditions of streets. They want better maintenance of existing streets and more of them.

That appears to be a common desire in cities throughout the area.

Construction cost inflation is higher than the overall rate of increase in costs of goods and services, by a considerable amount. That means delivering better roads will cost more than ever.

With the expectation that politicians have heard the call for reductions in tax rates, they will need to know how deep a cut you want them to make.

This month and next, public officials will be holding town hall forums, public hearings, work sessions and the regular city council and school board meetings where residents have full access to the decision-making process.

You could send a message that you demand they cut the tax rate and then leave it up to them to figure out how to make that happen.

Targeting “waste, fraud, and abuse” is a favorite refrain, but it’s not really very definitive unless it includes some evidence of that happening.

Or, people could exercise a higher role of good citizenship by becoming informed of all the issues that are being dealt with. Then they could contribute to the deliberations working toward desired results.

The people determining these outcomes are your public servants, but they are better at carrying out your wishes when you let them know what those wishes are.

This story was originally published August 5, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Maybe taxpayers will actually show up for budget discussions."