At City Council’s last meeting I mentioned the T word – taxes.
It drew a quick response in the form of a couple of phone calls and a comment to another Inside Oil City post, where it really didn’t fit. I will put up the comment as a response to this post.
At the meeting council reiterated its support for the work of the Arts Council and the Arts Revitalization project. Council also heard about the Main Street and Elm Street programs that are funded largely by the state, but require local matches.
The Arts Revitalization is already proving successful in helping fill downtown spaces, bringing new people to the community and improving our economic and social vitality.
The Main Street and Elm Street programs hold out the promise of doing even more.
The city financially backs the arts effort with a municipal match for a state grant to the Arts Council as well as some direct funding for the Arts Revitalization.
Although not a technical requirement, the reality is that local municipalities need to come up with 30 percent of the necessary match for state Main Street and Elm Street programs if there is any real expectation of state approval for a local project.
There are other similar programs and efforts that the city occasionally invests in with the hope of creating a better tomorrow for our community.
My comment at the meeting was that as we look to do these things it might be necessary to look at a modest tax increase to fund them. We do not have the money to continue to fund them from our present operating budget and I don’t see anything left in city operations to cut, nor are there any more significant efficiencies to be wrung out of our city work force or operations.
In my mind we need to make these investments in our future. If not, our hope for a better tomorrow is nothing but so much wishful and wistful thinking.
Like all investments, some will prove better than others. There is some risk. But there is a huge risk in doing nothing.
Ideally, I would like to see the city develop a pool of money dedicated to funding such endeavors and available for use when opportunities arise.
Yet I know no one wants to see there taxes increased.
So what do we do?
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3 comments:
"How?"
How is raising taxes a part of economic stimulus? Stimulus for who? John, in case you missed it Oil City has higher municipal taxes then any other entity in Venango County. Yes, school taxes are lower than some but for total overall taxes paid Oil City ranks #1 (http://www.co.venango.pa.us/TaxRates/Index.htm).
So…I can't speak for anyone else, but please John, I for one am over "stimulated" enough. Although it’s only fair to say that the word stimulus is defined by merriam-webster.com (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stimulus.com) as “something that rouses or incites to activity.” So I guess this technically could be considered a “stimulus” by perhaps stimulating people to sell their house and move to a “slum” rental, move out of the city, or perhaps just rouse enough people to go to the polls at the next election.
Thanks John.
"The Arts Revitalization is already proving successful in helping fill downtown spaces, bringing new people to the community and improving our economic and social vitality."
This is not enough to justify raising taxes. What is needed is an objective measurement of the benefits from the ArtsRevitalization.
To the outsider:
First, the reason Oil City's taxes are higher than its neighbors is police and fire -- public safety. Remove those from out budget and we are comparable. I for one would not wish to eliminate or reduce either.
It’s also important to point out that although Franklin, Venango County’s other city, has a marginally lower real estate tax, or millage rate, its wage tax rate is 100 percent higher than that charged by Oil City, a result of its Home Rule Charter status.
One reason Oil City’s taxes have crept higher over the past couple of decades is that the assessed value of all the property in the city has declined in comparison to other communities.
The best way to halt tax increases in the long term is to stabilize and then grow the tax base, which is done in part by through community revitalization.
To anonymous:
I think my assessment of what the arts revitalization has already accomplished is objective. There are new businesses and new people, but I will accept that the sense of a new vitality is a subjective opinion.
If by objective you mean waiting for something to happen on its own and then waiting years to evaluate its success what you are really saying is lets not do anything and see what happens. I personally don’t see setting back and watching continued decline and simply hoping something happens to turn things around is a viable option. s
To both outsider and anonymous:
I would love to hear your ideas of how to turn things around in Oil City – real ideas. We need everyone’s thoughts and ideas and we need to be willing to give them a fair hearing.
JNB
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