A few years ago a large chunk of unincorporated Denver suburb organized itself into a city and named itself Centennial. The motivation, in part, was to avoid depending on county services and try to keep its sales tax rates under local control. But now some residents are unhappy and are pushing the city council to provide more services and -you guessed it- raise taxes.
The Denver Post, in a house editorial, promotes the idea.
The city of Centennial has the lowest sales tax in the metro area, which sounds good if you're buying a TV or a toaster.
But city leaders have found it can be disastrous if you're trying to operate one of Colorado's largest cities.
Public works projects have been shelved because of lagging tax revenues. Fewer deputies patrol the city. IOUs to Arapahoe County are piling up. And weeds, junked cars and trash have settled comfortably in some neighborhoods because the city can't afford code-enforcement officers.
I don't spend a lot of time in Centennial, but driving through you'd never know it was such a disaster area.
Without a revenue boost, basic city services will continue to suffer and the quality of life for more than 100,000 residents could wane.
'Could wane', as in it hasn't already? So what's the problem?
Voters approved the original 1.5 percent sales tax in 2001 for the fledgling city on the projection it would pump $15.5 million into city coffers. A little more than half of that was collected.
A 1 percent sales tax hike would generate an extra $5.6 million a year. The 2.5 percent use tax on vehicles would raise an extra $1.6 million earmarked for public works.
Heaven help us! The government doesn't have as much money as they thought they would. Something bad might happen! Sound the alarm, man the tax coffers, grab your neighbor's wallet!
Before incorporation, Arapahoe County spent about $8 million a year within what would become Centennial on road maintenance and projects, including everything from storm water drain projects to road widenings to installing new turn lanes.
Centennial has dedicated just $4 million. When sales tax figures dropped, city officials shelved all capital improvement projects and also reduced spending on basic maintenance, such as pothole patching and resurfacing roads. Each year, the deferred maintenance mounts.
So, is it safe to say taxpayers, saved $4 million? Why won't anyone say exactly that?
Notice how no one at the Post questions whether the projects are really necessary, or if Centennial might find another solution. As a matter of course it's assumed that cuts in service are bad.
The council approved sending the tax hikes to voters on first reading earlier this month with a 5-4 vote. Those casting the four dissenting votes think the increase should be higher than 1 percent.
That means every council member thinks the current sales tax is unworkable. We agree.
Ugh. Not one dissenting voice, on the city council or the editorial pages of the Post. No where in this editorial will you find the words 'privatize,' or 'savings.' This is a good illustration of how far libertarians have to go in changing the public mind. Doing the right thing isn't even an option in these peoples' thought processes.
No one wants to mention how a higher sales tax rate will have long term negative impact on commerce, either.