Opinion: Austin fortunate to decrease taxes in 2014

Published 5:11 pm Saturday, December 7, 2013

Few people in Austin realize how much our city depends on Local Government Aid (LGA). During the recent economic downturn, the state cut LGA throughout the recession, and just recently Gov. Mark Dayton and the state legislature restored, and actually increased, LGA by about $80 million for next year.

Along with the increase in LGA, the state has a new formula for LGA that helps cities know what kind of funding they will see in the future. The legislature also asked that cities freeze or lower taxes for 2014.

The problem with that is many cities have pushed back funding for capital improvements and other projects so they could hold to modest tax increases during the recent hard times.

Email newsletter signup

By Tom Stiehm

Austin Mayor

Many cities, including Austin, had put money away yearly for such items as street equipment and fire trucks. But for the most part, cities have not done this for years as they have had to hold back on such things as equipment and routine maintenance to buildings. Our city will receive a 10 percent increase in LGA next year. Many others cities will receive similar increases. We now are trying to pick up some of the projects that were put off for years.

The credit for this renewed funding goes straight to Gov. Dayton and our state legislators, including Rep. Jeanne Poppe and Sen. Dan Sparks. They did an admirable job of representing us.

Along with the renewal of this LGA funding, many in the legislature have requested that these increases be returned to the taxpayers by way of a local levy decrease, and while that is a noble idea, most citizens would rather have the repairs and improvements that we have put off for years be completed.

What good does it do to give a small tax rebate today in order to raise taxes next year to make up for the projects we have put off for so long? We have seen many tax rebates over the years, just to be followed the next year by higher taxes. That does not seem to be in the best interest of the taxpayers.

We in Austin are fortunate: we have tried to keep taxes low throughout these hard times with only modest increases.

We actually were able to approve a small decrease in taxes for 2014, not as much as we would like, and not as much as many had hoped for, but still it is a decrease. I received my tax statement last week, and my wife and I will see a small decrease. Most people will see the same. You should always remember that city taxes are only a third of your property tax. The school district and county account for the other two-thirds.