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<br />. <br />2 <br />3 <br />4 <br />5 <br />6 <br />7 <br />8 <br />9 <br />10 <br />11 <br />12 <br />13 <br />14 <br />IS <br />16 <br />17 <br />18 <br />19 <br />20 <br />21 <br /> <br />- <br /> <br />24 <br />25 <br />26 <br />27 <br />28 <br />29 <br />30 <br />31 <br />32 <br />33 <br />34 <br />35 <br />36 <br />37 <br />38 <br />39 <br />40 <br />41 <br />42 <br /> <br />e <br /> <br />most cities are experiencing on items such as property/casualty insurance coverage, employee <br />health care coverage, additional security costs, and lower returns on invested funds. <br /> <br />Two of the stated goals of advocates of the 200 I tax bill were to make the property tax <br />more of a local tax and to increase local accountability for the property tax. However, levy limits <br />clearly violate these goals by involving the state in local budget decisions. <br /> <br />Response: City councils are elected to make decisions about local budgets and <br />meeting community needs. It is inappropriate for the Legislature to undermine local <br />decision-making and accountability through the continued imposition of levy limits. Levy <br />limits should expire. <br /> <br />FF-6. Reverse Referendum (GC) <br /> <br />Issue: Proposals to impose a reverse referendum requirement on municipal property tax <br />increases would diminish the ability of local elected officials to respond to the needs of their <br />communities. In addition, the reverse referendum proposals that have been recently offered <br />would disrupt the local budget process by potentially requiring a public referendum in late <br />January, nearly one month into the city's fiscal year. <br /> <br />Response: The League supports the principle of representative democracy and <br />opposes reverse referendum requirements. <br /> <br />FF-7. City Revenue Diversification (GC) <br /> <br />Issue: Under current state law, the property tax is the only generally accessible form of <br />local tax revenue for cities. Recent retrenchment in state aid programs will likely increase city <br />reliance on property taxes in the future. Allowing cities to diversify their revenue stream would <br />prevent rapid rises in property taxes. <br /> <br />Response: Cities should be able to diversify their sources of revenues. <br /> <br />FF-8. Taxation of Municipal Bond Interest (GC) <br /> <br />Issue: The state law that grants a tax exemption for municipal bond interest lowers <br />borrowing costs for cities and reduces property tax levies. <br /> <br />Response: The state should maintain the tax exemption for municipal bond interest <br />income. <br /> <br />FF-9. City Fiscal Year (GC) <br /> <br />Issue: The fiscal year for cities and counties currently corresponds to the property tax <br /> <br />cycle. <br /> <br />3 <br />