Say Anything Blog

Monday Rob did a post about two bills in the ND house that are designed to limit future property tax increases in exchange for more funding from the state.  Rob disagreed with the concept but I think it’s the best thing that can come out of the legislature this year.

My understanding is that Rob doesn’t like the idea because we shouldn’t be bailing out the local school districts in the first place.  But even if we do, it’s against his principles to limit them.  He compared it with Obama wanting to limit executive pay for companies that accept bailout money.  He thinks two wrongs don’t make a right. 

I disagree with him reluctantly on the executive pay thing, and disagree with him forcefully (but respectfully) on the matter of property tax caps.

First of all the state government has every right to limit property taxes that are charged by political subdivisions.  After all these subdivisions are creations of the state.  There’s no question of legality here.

The question is what’s right and in that case the school districts (and other local entities) are in the wrong when it comes to property taxes.  For the most part the school boards and city governments raised taxes because they could, not because they had to.  What we saw in the last few years is that as property taxes rose the taxing entities used that as an excuse to go on a spending spree.

They acted that the fact that your house might be worth more was an excuse that they should spend more.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  If they would have held the line on spending then your property tax bill wouldn’t have shot through the roof.  It’s that simple, it’s the spending.

What really gets me is that the school boards have been using the line that if you don’t want to pay more than you must not like children.  What a load of garbage.  The money didn’t go to help kids.  In Grand Forks at least a ton of the money went to administration.  As far as teacher pay I don’t see the kids being better off because teacher can afford a bigger boat. 

So eventually after years of rising our property tax bills by two or three times the rate of inflation there started to be an outcry.  Rather than admit what they did, the school boards and their allies falsely blamed the state legislature which was being responsible.  Think about it.  The state’s been increasing their spending per pupil at a rate slightly above the rate of inflation.  How could the state be to blame for property tax bills that have nearly doubled?

It’s the local entities that raised our taxes, not because they had to, but because they wanted it to.

Last November the public very clearly decided that they wanted property tax relief.  So we’re going to get property tax relief probably along the lines of the $300,000,000 that’s in the Governor’s budget.  In addition the school districts will probably get another $100,000,000 in new funding. 

The school districts got around the same $100,000,000 in new funding in 2007.  Was that enough?  Were they satisfied?  Not at all.  They have been trotting out the same “it’s for the kids” BS stories as they have ever since I was old enough to notice.

So do you think that they’ll be satisfied with this hundred million?  No flippin’ way.  They’ll be out to spend more just as soon as they can.

Without property tax caps it’ll be easy for them to start the whole process of raising property taxes all over again.  They’ll figure that if your taxes were $2000/year and now are $1200/year you surely owe it to the to pay $1350.  The next year it will be $1450 and the next year.  I’ll bet that within six years your taxes are just as high as they are now (adjusted for inflation) even while they keep that money coming in from the state.

Don’t forget the school districts have been increasing their budgets by a very high percentage every year.  (Even while enrollment’s been dropping.)  They have a sense of entitlement that their budgets must increase by 8% every year.  Anything less is a “cut.”

But it actually gets worse.  If I understand it right, John Hoeven’s plan is for that $300,000,000 in property tax relief is supposed to come out of the oil trust fund.  What happens if we don’t have the money coming in?  What if the local school district has raised their property taxes back up.  Do you think that they’ll accept a cut in their standard of living or do you think they’ll want to take it out of yours?  If recent history is any guide, they don’t give a damn about your lifestyle.  All you’re supposed to do is support them at ever higher levels. 

If you want true property tax relief than you have to support the idea of Property Tax Caps.  The same thing goes for future tax increases. 

We need to control local school spending.  The school boards have failed and gone hog wild.  The only thing to do is to put a limit on the damage they can do. 

The most important thing to remember is that you won’t be hurting the schools.  They’ll be getting fully funded for the amount that your property tax bill goes down.  They will get another one hundred million dollars in additional funding.  Why in the world would the education cabal be against this unless they were planning on turning around and taking away YOUR property tax relief that you need?