Published: March 13, 2008 09:45 pm            

Letters to the editor - Friday, March 14, 2008

Property taxes vs. public services

As the legislature’s schedule winds to a close, I am left with both panic and dismay at the choice they appear to be making in Indianapolis. The legislature has decided that this year’s most recent property tax crisis has come down to a contest between lower property taxes and vital public services. It is becoming clear public services are losing the fight.

My questions are why are state lawmakers forcing a choice? Shouldn’t we be able to provide lower property taxes AND have the ability to provide the people of our cities and towns with the vital public services they pay for and expect? The leaders of our cities and towns think so and I’m sure most citizens do too.

However, as the legislature draws to a close we fear that their attempt to prey on the public’s skepticism of elected officials will win the day. State leaders have repeatedly stated that they are trying to curb local spending in their efforts to lower your property taxes. What they are not telling you is that local government spending, particularly city and town spending, was not the cause of your higher property tax bill. The sad thing is that they know that. They know because their own fiscal experts have told them that the shift to market value tax assessments, coupled with the trending process, elimination of the inventory tax and reduction in PTRC credits were the primary causes of this crisis.

The facts confirm that as of 2006, city and town spending increased at a rate of less than 3 percent per capita per year. This was the lowest rate of increase among all governmental units in the state of Indiana. Further, in a recent survey of Indiana’s cities and towns we have confirmed that 89 percent of those responding have instituted efficiency measures to respond to diminishing revenues and weakening fiscal situations. We encourage you to view this survey at www.citiesandtowns.org.

The fight for property tax reform should not and does not need to become a choice between having enough public safety officers to respond to your distress call or lower taxes. It should not and does not need to be a choice between clean parks and safe infrastructure or lower taxes. There are proposed solutions there that would allow for lower property taxes and adequate revenues to fund police, fire, parks and public works.

I hope the governor and General Assembly finally hear this reality check and structure their plans accordingly. If they don’t, the backbone of our state, our cities and towns will suffer which means the people of Indiana will suffer and those we are trying to attract to our state will simply not come.

Matthew C. Greller

Indiana Association

of Cities and Towns

Used Book Sale needs volunteers

The Literacy Coalition is having its 10th annual Used Book Sale at the Markland Mall March 27-30. We are currently seeking volunteers to work a two-hour shift.

Please call Bob Stephenson, 459-4484, to schedule a time.

Proceeds help support the Literacy Coalition’s programs in Howard and Tipton counties.

Bob Stephenson

Literacy Coalition

Grain for people, not CAFOs, cars

Higher food prices are the result of droughts, higher fuel costs to truck the food to market and due to competition between industries. Seventy percent of all the grain raised in the U.S. is used to feed animals on those Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) and the demand for meat is increasing. The ethanol industry is now competing with those CAFOs for the same grain, and the result is higher prices.

There are an estimated 6.6 billion people in the world today and according to the World Health Organization, 60 percent of them are malnourished and the earth’s population is expected to reach 8.3 billion by 2030. In order to feed everybody, we need to rearrange our priorities and change our lifestyle.

It takes about 25 pounds of grain to raise 1 pound of beef, and you can feed a whole lot more people with that 25 pounds of grain than you can with 1 pound of meat.

There’s simply not enough land to feed all the people plus supply the CAFOs and fuel our cars. Our No. 1 priority should be grain for people, not CAFOs or cars. CAFOs should be phased out and the auto industry needs to develop those hydrogen fuel-cell cars as fast as they can. Only then can we bring the spiraling food prices under control.

Harold R. Wilson

Corydon

        

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