Fiscal truths are part of the picture, too
Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 28, 2008
Aphorisms about governance don’t always prove true, but one apparently will this year in Vicksburg and Warren County.
The five members of the board of supervisors who started new four-year terms in January are set to impose a property tax increase that every city and county resident will pay during the coming year. As the saying goes, they apparently trust that voters will forget by the time election season rolls around again.
In contrast, the three members of the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen, who stand for re-election next spring, have decided the city will live within its existing means.
Instead of just leaving the analysis at that, however, some fiscal facts should be noted.
For one thing, the cost of government is rising just as it is for our households and businesses. Local governments, including schools, face sharply higher fuel, energy and labor costs. Nothing is getting any cheaper.
For another — and far more applicable — Vicksburg and the Vicksburg Warren School District do not rely as directly on property taxes as Warren County’s government does. The city receives an 18.5 percent rebate of every penny of the state’s general sales tax collected on transactions inside the city limits. Public schools receive the vast majority of their funds from the state through the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the funding for which was increased by the Legislature this year. Supervisors receive no sales tax rebate and the only state money they expend here comes largely through state-aid road programs.
Another factor is casino taxes. The revenue-based taxes and the device fees (which flow to the city only) will generate nearly $10 million in the coming year and about $7 million of that will go to the city treasury. Property-based taxes on casinos and their hotels and other amenities will generate a few million more, but the largest share of those dollars will go to public schools.
Two more truths to remember are that (1) governments can always live within their means and (2) governments can always spend every dollar they collect. They respond to the demands placed on them by the public. And as long as we expect increasing levels of service, we can’t be too upset when the price of government, like everything else, goes up.