Guarding Your Tax Dollars
Every year, the County formulates a budget, and every year we hear the same old campaign rhetoric about taxes and spending. Honestly, I get tired of it. Here's the plain truth. Budgets are a reflection of our priorities. We want good schools, safe roads, timely services, and strong emergency services. This all costs money - which means our taxes. I'll fight for those priorities. Sometimes it will mean that we pay more taxes but rest assured, I will always look for ways to minimize what you pay. I don't like to pay higher taxes and I know that you don't. But I also think that most of us don't mind paying a little more, as long as we agree on how it is spent. That's where the priorities come into play. So I'll strive to minimize taxes, but I'll also fight for your priorities. Fighting to Make Sure Taxpayers aren’t Left Holding the Bag on New Development We’ve all heard the false argument that “growth pays for itself” – it’s wrong. Or more accurately, not all growth pays for itself. Commercial and employment growth is revenue positive, meaning that the tax revenues from the growth exceed the cost of government services for those developments. Residential growth, on the other hand, is revenue negative. It makes sense, doesn’t it? Residential developments cost a lot – in terms of schools, roads, emergency services, etc. There are studies behind these points but If you don’t believe me, just look around. We continue to grow, we continue to add houses, and yet, we continue to fall behind. Doesn’t that make you question the assertion that “growth pays for itself”? So if “growth” doesn’t pay for itself, then who should pay for it? I think new developments should pay their fair share of the infrastructure to support the development. We need a stronger Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) to ensure this happens. The last BoCC weakened the APFO and allowed developers to buy their way out of their requirements. The School Construction Mitigation Fee is a prime example. It allowed developers to continue building in over-crowded school districts. That should never happen again. I’ll work hard to ensure that developers pay their fair share to ensure that the taxpayers aren’t left holding the bag! So what will I do?
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