In hard economic times, political leaders usually find it easier to cut services rather than raise taxes modestly to cover the cost of inflation and unexpected burdens. Federal and state officials can get away with cutting programs more easily than local officials, however. When local officials cut services, the impact is more immediate and concrete.
The actions Monday and Tuesday of municipal officials in Signal Mountain and Collegedale, respectively, are illustrative.
The former voted down a proposed 15-cent property tax hike to keep up its bond payment schedule for the new Signal Mountain Middle-High School. The council unwisely chose instead, on a 3-1 vote, to extend its payment schedule on the bonds for five years, to 2021 – a move expected to add another $150,000 in interest costs.
Collegedale’s town commission members voted 3-2 to reject a 22-cent property tax increase that is needed to keep open its public library – the only branch of the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Bicentennial Library that lies outside Chattanooga’s city boundaries. It would take the $400,000 in revenue the increase would generate to keep the branch operating as it has been.
Collegedale’s library dilemma flows from the expiration of the city-county sales tax agreement. When the city let the 45-year-old sales tax agreement expire, it assumed the burden of funding the library without help from county government. But Collegedale has to pick up the cost of the branch there.