07-13-09 Common Council Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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REGULAR MEETING JULY 13, 2009 stated that many have been riding on the back of this city for decades. He stated that there is a report out called the Hojnacki Report “Paying for Public Services in St. Joseph County: Benefit vs. Burden” that verifies that. He reiterated that he proudly steps up for those people in the County and will vote in favor of passing these bills boldly. He stated the residents don’t know what they are taking about when they diminish this city, they are diminishing their own quality of life, because again many of the county residents take advantage of the amenities that the city has to offer and are not charged anymore for those services. He stated that they use those City services and then turn around and cry about what is going on in the county. He reiterated that he is boldly sitting here tonight to vote in favor of all three resolutions. Councilmember Kirsits stated that this day may have come quickly, but they knew this day was coming. He actually saw this day coming when the man from East Chicago filed the lawsuit and ran it through the court system stating that they way the State of Indiana Assessed Property Values was unconstitutional. The State of Indiana then in turn came up with the property assessment shift from commercial to residential, thus putting the burden on residential home owners to make up for that shift. He stated that the City of South Bend did not enact local option income tax for a number of years and relied on property taxes to pay the bills. He stated that the Council has gone over the budget for several months and thanked everyone who came out to those town hall meetings and everyone here in attendance tonight. He stated that it is clear to him that everyone on both sides pro and con need a little better idea of how government works, maybe attend more meetings and learn what kind of funds are out there and how they work and what they can be spent on. He stated that when people complain about the river walks they need to realize that is federal money and the federal government is paying for 90% of the project and that it increases the property values in this entire community by taking advantage of that. He stated that he receive a letter from a gentleman who had some ideas that sounded good but just were unrealistic like making people who want to build in Granger pay $5,000 for a building permit so they would want to build in South Bend. There were some other ideas that he mentioned but would require a change in State Law. He stated that the State Legislature has given local government the option to replace this lost revenue and allow a little bit more of a property tax breaks by enacted a local option income tax. He stated that he doesn’t like to raise taxes at this time but he stated that he is a South Bend boy, born and raised here, went to grade school, high school and only left when he went to college, came back and became a firefighter, not for the pay, but because that is what he wanted to do. He stated that he could have gone into real estate, but chose to serve in the public safety sector for this community. He stated that he cares about this community and doesn’t want to write off areas of the town. He stated that he wants to see the City of South Bend grow. He stated that he has butted heads with the Mayor, but gives him credit for bringing down more of the old dinosaur infrastructure from Studebaker which left in 1963 and prepared the city for the next step in technology for this community. He stated that everyone hopes that it will work and we are on the threshold of that kind of technology. He stated that this city is at a crossroads, he loves the diversity of it, he loves the make-up of it, he loves living close to town, but if the tax is not enacted tonight the cuts that will have to be made both on the public safety side and on the other side, parks, recreation, and other vital city services, this city is going to die. He stated that he would like South Bend to be like Ft. Wayne; however, Ft. Wayne was able to annex and expand their city where South Bend was not allowed. He stated that he is voting in favor of the tax increase because he wants to see this city to continue to survive. Councilmember Varner stated that the tax law changes and it changed for a variety of reasons. The assessment law changed first at the result of the court decision. In the ensuring period of 10 years it became increasingly obvious that the property tax shift from commercial to residential home owners was becoming a burden to people in community throughout the state. The legislature acted because they felt that they understood that and acted to alleviate that burden. When the State enacted the legislation only 3 out of 89 counties were affected: Lake, Delaware and St. Joseph Counties. This means that the 89 counties spending per capita were below the 1% cap on property tax. He stated that brings to mind the rhetorical questions that they don’t seem to have the answers to but some need to be considers and they need to be considered going forward. 30