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Legislative Legislative Services CALL TO ACTION: CITY OFFICIALS SHOULD CONTACT LEGISLATORS As recent editions of the TML Legislative Update have warned, school finance reform poses serious threats to city finances. Not a day goes by without new reports of proposals by key state officials to limit the ability of cities and counties to raise revenue. The conventional wisdom in some Capitol offices seems to be that the moment school property taxes are reduced or replaced, cities and counties will rush to fill the void with higher taxes of their own. This is an unfounded fear based on the belief that local officials are anxious to gouge the taxpayers. City officials should now meet with their local legislators about this specific issue and the effect of school finance reform on cities generally. While letters and phone calls can be useful, nothing works as well as face-to-face meetings with legislators in their district offices. TML encourages each city to arrange a meeting with each of their state legislators within the next month. The following points may be useful when conducting the meetings: 1. There is no evidence whatsoever that city taxes are poised to increase even one dollar as a result of school tax reform. City tax rates are held in check for a number of reasons, none of which has to do with the level of school taxes, high or low. For one, city government is the government closest to the people, and people don't like tax increases. City councils are elected by the same voters who elect state officials: an electorate that doesn't look kindly on new taxes. 2. City property taxes have generally kept pace with inflation and population growth (see chart on the next page). There is no indication they would accelerate because of any changes to school taxes. Total Property Tax Levies ($ Millions) 1985 2002 Percent Inflation- Change Adjusted Change Special 1,056.802 2,864.455 +171.05% +61.47% Districts