Headline News: Wisconsin lays out the welcome mat for Meijer (Be careful what you wish for)

North Shore Now, 4/10/2015

Source:  Glassdoor

 

WLFI, 1/26/2015

A ruling in an Indianapolis dispute involving a big-box retailer could have sweeping consequences for Indiana communities already strapped for cash because of declining tax revenue. 

The Indiana Board of Tax Review ruled in December that an Indianapolis Meijer store should have been assessed in 2012 at the equivalent of $30 per square foot, not the $83 per square foot assigned by Marion County.

Related posts:
Supercenter Meijer plans to expand into southeastern Wisconsin.  (8/30/2014)

The Flint Public Library Continues to Experience the Double Whammy of Declining Property Values and Reduced Tax Revenues

Flint Public Library

Flint Public Library to discuss staffing cuts during board meeting Thursday, Aug. 1.  (mlive.com, 8/1/2013)

Excerpt: The library faces a $275,000 shortfall this year because its 3.4-mill levy will only collect $2.3 million due to declining property values. In 2009, the millage collected $4.7 million. 

Nearly 90 percent of the Flint Public Library revenue comes from the local millage. Library officials previously said there’s been no discussion about increasing the millage.

Sources:

Wisconsin Public Library Service Data

Library of Michigan

Related posts:
Flint Michigan: From Vehicle City to Dodge City.  (7/6/2011)
Take another look at library consolidation. (6/6/2011)
Reactions to closing of West Flint branch.  (5/17/2011)
Library not likely to send a thank-you note to GM.  (12/3/2010)
Citizens launch "Keep our Library" campaign.  (6/13/2010)

Related article:
US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive.  (The Telegraph, 6/12/2009)


Excerpt:  The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature. 

Local politicians believe the city must contract by as much as 40 per cent, concentrating the dwindling population and local services into a more viable area. 

The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint.  (Kildee, a Democrat, now represent Michigan's 5th Congressional District.)

Tulsa City-County Library Takes a Hit

Tulsa library system budget takes hit from property tax cut. (Tulsa World, 5/18/2013)

Excerpt:  The Tulsa City-County Library has cut more than $800,000 from its proposed operating budget for fiscal year 2013-14 after State Question 766, which passed last year, reduced the amount of property tax revenue entities such as the library system receive. 

The state question exempts intangible personal property, such as trademarks, patents and customer lists, from ad valorem taxation. 

The tax was previously paid by large businesses such as pipelines, railroads and airlines whose business property moves across county lines.

State Question No. 766 was approved by 65% of the voters.

The Atlanta Housing Meltdown Continues

But first, a little refresher.

The Property Tax Domino Effect (Atlanta Metro Area).  From December 26, 2010.

In Atlanta, Housing Woes Reflect Nation's Pain.  (The New York Times, 2/1/2012)

Excerpt: A sprawling Southern metropolis, Atlanta has become one of the biggest laggards in the economic recovery. In November, prices of single-family homes were down close to 12 percent compared with a year earlier, the largest decline among major metropolitan areas, according to data released on Tuesday in the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller Home Price Index. Home prices regionally are now below their levels of 2000, making Atlanta one of only four metro areas to have experienced such a slide. The price of entry-level housing in the area — the lowest tier of the market, valued at just under $96,600 — fell by close to a third last year.

[snip]

Where the region once attracted thousands of prospective home buyers drawn by plentiful jobs and more affordable living, that influx has dwindled. Local unemployment, at 9.2 percent, is slightly higher than the national rate, in part because one in every four jobs lost was connected to real estate [which is why my sister-in-law Kim's brother is back in Pennsylvania], a much higher rate than in the rest of the country. Those jobs have yet to return, while even people with work are having trouble qualifying for loans.

 As a result.....

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2/1/2012

Excerpt;    Starting with the first session Thursday, the commission’s budget committee wants to hear from every department and office about their expenses. Part of the presentation must also include how offices would operate with a 5 percent or 10 percent cut to their individual spending in Chief Executive Burrell Ellis' proposed $547 million budget.

That would include this department, I assume.

Wisconsin: General Property Full Value & Tax Summary for all Towns, Villages, and Cities (1986-2010)

From this Department of Revenue report.

The total of the full value of all taxable general property in Wisconsin has dropped in 2009 and 2010, although there has not been a corresponding drop in the total property taxes levied.  The average full value tax rate, however, remains historically low when looking at the range of values for the years 1986-2010.

Page T-3

Page T-4

Page T-5

Additional tables are arranged by county, in alphabetical order.

Housing Prices Continue to Fall in Major U.S. Cities

[Click on table to enlarge.]

Home prices fall in major U.S. cities. (San Jose Mercury News, 1/25/2011)

Excerpt: A second wave of falling home prices is battering some cities that had escaped the worst of the housing market bust.

Prices in Seattle, Charlotte, N.C., and Portland, Ore., have hit their lowest points since peaking in 2006 and 2007. Denver and Minneapolis are nearing new lows. High unemployment and rising foreclosures are taking a toll even on markets that never overheated during the boom years.

Home values are dwindling in nearly every American market. Prices fell in November in all but one of the 20 cities in the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index released Tuesday. Eight of those markets hit their lowest point since the housing bubble burst.

The damage from the real estate bubble has spread well beyond Las Vegas, Phoenix and Miami, which built frantically during the mid-2000s, and is sapping prices from coast to coast. In many places, price.

Related articles:
On the basis of this trend, urban libraries will certainly be tightening their belts again next year.  (12/28/2010)
The property tax domino effect (Atlanta metro area). (12/27/2010)
National League of Cities research brief on America's cities.  (10/7/2010)

On the basis of this trend, urban libraries will certainly be tightening their belts again next year

And the situation is not likely to be much different for libraries elsewhere.

Strategic planning will increasingly focus on sustainability, re-imagining, rethinking, and other efforts to find stable sources of funding.

 

LINK

Link to December 28 San Jose Mercury News article, "Home prices falling faster in biggest U.S. cities".

Excerpt: Home prices are dropping in the nation's largest cities and are expected to fall through next year, as fewer people purchase homes and millions of foreclosures come on to the market.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index released Tuesday fell 1.3 percent in October from September.

All cities recorded monthly price declines. The last time that happened was in Feb. 2009.

Atlanta recorded the largest decline. Prices there fell 2.9 percent from a month earlier. Home prices in Washington dropped 0.2 percent in October, the second monthly decline after five straight increases.

Home prices in Dallas, Portland, Ore., Charlotte, N.C., Tampa, Fla. and Denver have fallen for four straight months.

The 20-city index has risen 4.4 percent from their April 2009 bottom. But it remains 29.6 percent below its July 2006 peak.

Some interesting number to "read" here.

Related articles:
The property tax domino effect (Atlanta metro area). (12/27/2010)
National League of Cities research brief on America's cities.  (10/7/2010)

The Property Tax Domino Effect (Atlanta Metro Area)

Link to December 26 Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, "Atlanta property taxes: Budgets sink as values fall".

Excerpt:    An historic real estate collapse has hamstrung the economy and erased a decade’s worth of gains in the biggest asset most families have: their home.

Metro Atlanta governments are struggling as plummeting real estate values take a toll on property taxes, their biggest source of revenue.

An investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has found the five largest metro counties cut property values that help determine tax bills by $24.3 billion dollars, or 6 percent, in 2010. But in many cases, it wasn’t enough. Residential values in many areas remain too high.

As county appraisers continue to lower values, property owners might save money on their tax bills. But the savings might come at the expense of services they take for granted.

It’s already happening.

Libraries are closing on weekends. Class sizes are getting bigger. School years are getting shorter. And this may be just the beginning.

National League of Cities Research Brief on America's Cities

Link to 8-page report.

Link to AP article in October 7 Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Housing slump hammers local government tax revenue".

Excerpt: City tax revenues dropped this year by the most in 25 years, hit hard by falling home prices that could crimp local budgets for years to come.

Property tax revenue in U.S. cities fell 1.8 percent in fiscal year 2010, according to a report released Wednesday by the National League of Cities. It's the first drop in the 25 years that the survey has been conducted.

Depressed home values are just beginning to affect property tax receipts and the impact could linger for at least two more years, the report said. The declines are only now being felt because real estate assessments lag changes in market values.

City governments are already facing tough choices between spending cuts and possible tax increases. Many are laying off workers and cutting services to make up for lost revenue. Strapped city budgets could increase already high unemployment and further restrain economic growth.