Tag: Property Taxes

The committee resolution states

IT IS THE SENSE of the 14th CDRC Officers and Members that expanding Medicaid at the behest of the federal government runs contrary to the principles of the Republican Party, which opposes government-run health care, economic interventionism, and federal control of private industry.

THEREFORE, we recommend, to those representing our district in the Michigan House and Senate, a NO vote on HB 4714 or any other legislation pertaining to an expansion of state Medicaid eligibility and funding, or the implementation and funding of any health care exchange associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act within the State of Michigan.

Adopted at a regular meeting on July 16, 2013

And this is not the ONLY Republican committee to do so.

An open letter to our state senators:

Medicaid Expansion Issue 101: The audacious statement is that we will each save $400 a year on insurance premiums because the Federal government will pick up the cost of indigent patients.
This is false Information spread by lobbyists and politicians to try to justify Medicaid expansion.

The Truth: It was almost unbelievable that a businessman now legislator in the House used this as rationale for voting to add 470,000 more Michigan residents to Medicaid, a key element of implementing ObamaCare and driving more debt for our children and grandchildren to pay, doubled by interest. The USA federal government is broke and has an insatiable appetite to spend more than it takes in. When you are in a deep hole the first rule of survival is to stop digging. Here are some points to reflect on regarding this statement:

The Traverse City commission voted on their budget.

I was present at probably the longest Traverse City Commission meeting I have attended.  So long in fact, that protocol required the commissioners to remove the clock from the wall so as to "ignore" the new day.  And with the clock removed and facing down on the table, the commission proceeded to do a couple things of note. Using a series of budget adjustments for a building fund, fire and police (a $35k consultant recommended move) and engineering/GIS, and they paid half down on a long term liability, an act 325 fund.

Responsible yes.  Amazing, no.

What really is amazing in this day and age of shrinking municipal revenues, is that they cut spending, and paid liabilities AND lowered the taxes.

Its something you might not often see in Michigan or many other states, as municipalities fight to maintain programs, spending levels, and incoming revenues.  However in Traverse City Michigan on 06-06-11, commissioners voted to lower the levied rate by 0.7 mils providing real relief for owners of property within the Traverse City taxing boundaries.

I'll write more as I wake a bit (been a long night), but I should not leave this without pointing out I was happy to see the board make this "progressive" move towards responsible handling of the people's affairs.  I was also happy to see it spearheaded by a "liberal Democrat Mayor," Chris Bzdok, and one city commissioner, Michael Gillman.

Imagine my surprise when I logged onto annarbor.com Thursday morning and discovered that the Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners approved (or, rather, IMPOSED) a property tax increase. Didn't county citizens vote down additional taxes less than 48 hours before? I thought the people had spoken loudly and clearly, "No More Taxes!" Apparently, the Commissioners didn't get the memo.

What a difference a day makes.  

Yesterday the Senate gave it another try and managed to approve the measure 29 to 8.  

Seems like common sense to give voters in the state the option of preventing their own taxes from going up while their home values go down but 8 Michigan Democrats have, apparently, never met a bit of financial sanity they couldn't refuse.  Especially when lobbyists are in their ears arguing how much more desperately than homeowners they need $253 million.

Thank goodness someone in this state finally stood up for taxpayers, though, and told the lobbyists to shove it.  The Detroit News caught up with the resolution's sponsor, John Pappageorge:

"Homeowners shouldn't be strapped with rising property taxes while watching their home values drop," he said.

Common, meet sense.

Because that whole status quo thing?  Not working out so well and sending folks scrambling out of the state.  The Ivory Tower reports this morning that metro Detroit has seen the steepest population drop of any region in the entire nation over the last two years.

Read on...

A scant day or so from commenting on his desire to cut taxes, an opportunity presents itself.

Continued below the fold...