Public hearings on tax rates and budgets always bring out the self-styled populists who take advantage of the cameras in the room to retch about how government spends too much money.
And then, predictably, the stories that you see in local papers and the local TV news play up their dry heaves because they want to look like they’re fair and balanced.
It’s neither fair nor balanced; it’s only one part of the story, and it’s the easy one to tell, the dog bites man.
Amidst the wailing and gnashing of teeth at last week’s Waynesboro City Council meeting was the story that we’re taught in journalism to look for, the man biting the dog.
“I’ve often heard that low taxes is one of the things that makes the city attractive to businesses and to people moving in. And I think that that is a portion of what makes a city attractive. But I think that there are other things, too, including the amenities and the services that we need to have, and these are supplied by our city employees,” Waynesboro resident Sharon Van Name said.
Van Name told City Council members that a proposed two-cent reduction in the tax rate would save her $54 this year on her property taxes.
“My assessment, as near as I could tell, is just above the median in the city, so I’m a pretty average taxpayer here,” Van Name said.
To save her that $54, the city won’t be able to fund two requested police positions, and won’t be able to provide requested help for the voting registrar and for the sheriff’s office.
“And we say that we’re giving our employees a 5 percent raise, but it’s only going to take effect for six months. Now, I don’t know how you all do math, but for me, a raise that only comes for six months, it’s not 5 percent, it’s two and a half percent,” Van Name said.
“Five percent was not particularly generous. Two and a half percent most certainly is not, it doesn’t come anywhere as near to helping our employees keep up with the inflation that we know we all have,” Van Name said.
We’re not talking about $400 hammers and mohair subsidies here. The city police department is already running uphill trying to keep its 12-hour shifts fully staffed. And the public works department is eternally scrambling to keep up with the basics of garbage pickup and making sure the city’s aging water and sewer infrastructure doesn’t literally crumble under our feet.
That $54 that you’ll get to keep makes you less safe; it makes it more likely that your trash sits out in the alley an extra day or two; maybe the next time you turn on the water in the kitchen or in the shower, nothing comes out.
“I do understand that there are folks that have difficulty paying any increase in their taxes,” Van Name said. “But one of the things about the real estate tax is that it’s based on the value of your property. So that those who own more expensive, more valuable property pay more in taxes as they should.
“I’m happy to pay an extra $54 a year,” Van Name said. “Really, and truly, this is not a lot to make sure that our city continues to be the kind of place where we want to live and where we provide basic fairness to our employees.”
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Chris Graham
