Reason #1 for Recalling Your Ludington City Councilor: Unapologetic Tax Hikes of 2023

[XLFD]

This is the first in a series of six articles on why you should sign the recall petitions circulating later this month in the 2nd, 4th, and 6th Wards of Ludington.  Do not be disappointed if you live in the 1st, 3rd, or 5th Ward, you will still have the opportunity to effectively recall your bad-acting councilor by voting against them this fall, and perhaps in August, if more than two people file in your ward. 

The Ludington Torch recommends you exercise your right to vote and your prerogative to consider running for local office if you feel that you can be someone who can fairly represent the voices of your constituents better than those currently holding the office as your ward councilor.  This series will permit you to assess their choices over this last year and compare them with what you would have expected them to choose.

The Recall Petition says:  "In 2023, Councilor (Winczewski, Stibitz, and Bulger) voted to raise tax rates, taking nearly $300,000 extra from city property owners".  

BACKGROUND:  The cruelest tax of all is inflation, and back in the middle of 2022 the USA saw inflation rates of nearly 10% before it started tapering off, still leaving behind high prices that hit local families hard.  At the same time, property values were also inflating, allowing the City of Ludington (COL) to collect quite a bit more in property taxes.  Without going into too much detail this triggered a "Headlee rollback". 

In a nutshell, Michigan's Headlee Amendment requires a local unit of government to reduce its millage when annual growth on existing property is greater than the rate of inflation. As a consequence, the local unit’s millage rate gets “rolled back” so that the resulting growth in property tax revenue, community-wide, is no more than the rate of inflation.  When this happens, the COL has gotten into a summer routine of raising tax rates back up using a Truth in Taxation hearing.  The following images are from p.43-54 of the council packet of 7-10-2023:

The city council isn't obligated to do a Truth in Taxation hearing, it is optional, but it would have a major effect on their tax collections in 2023 if they did and raised the tax rates back to the previous year's rate. 

CITIZEN OPINIONS AND EFFORTS:   A sequence of six ordinances were provided and considered without any discussion by council at the July 10, 2023 meeting.  At the prior meeting where the ordinances were first read, this reporter made a comment about the COL planning on getting a lot more money without providing any more services:

Was this foreshadowing recall elections or what?  The next meeting this reporter was a bit more direct on the council's apathy of the general citizenry by hiking the taxes on their homes when they are having a hard time buying groceries, and I was a little more explicit on my threats of recalling those who heartlessly twist the dagger into the people they supposedly represent:

XLFD:  "I posed this poll question on my Facebook website called the Ludington Pitchfork on Friday: 

"State law prohibits revenue from a city's property taxes, excluding new construction, to increase by more than the rate of inflation. Fixed tax rates will reduce to assure that. In Ludington, the city council on Monday July 10th will hold a hearing to avoid coming rate rollbacks, ensuring they get nearly $260,000 more in taxes from property owners in Ludington they wouldn't otherwise be entitled to. Should your councilor vote to raise the taxes of you and your fellow taxpayers?"

It may come as no big surprise that a $260,000 tax hike is even less popular than Stearns beach parking fees, with 94% [34 of 36] of the respondents saying their elected representative at the city should not vote to increase their tax burden.  

The Headlee Amendment was enacted to keep local governments from expanding their tax revenues by more than inflation without either new development or a vote of the residents to allow for greater growth in tax bases and revenues.  Where is all of that money coming into city coffers from recent new developments like the bowling alley block, Lofts on Rowe, and the up and coming 106 Laura Street?  It's not, but our city leaders expect us taxpayers to foot our share of the costs of our growing infrastructure needs plus theirs for the future. 

Because you're so deeply involved in a growth Ponzi Scheme, you fail to live within your means and ignore the reality that your addiction must be funded regularly by extracting more of the lifeblood of your tax base and invest it in speculative development projects where you can tout your glory while exploiting your constituents.  Your city's income goes up by a lot more than the inflation rate, while the people you supposedly represent lose ground because you believe that hiking their taxes is the best way to help them even when 94% tell you otherwise.

When 94% of your constituents tell you that they are against this tax hike, you may want to heed them.  I know that if my ward councilor votes to affirm these unpopular tax hikes, I will assuredly take out a recall petition on him and I will easily get signatures based strictly on this vote taken firmly against his constituent's interests and wishes.  I encourage others to do the same with their ward councilor should they get greedy with your money." [END Comment]

COUNCILOR ACTION:  At the June 26, 2023 council meeting, the six ordinances were given first reading without any discussion of their effects on the taxpayers or the city's significant gain in income.  At the July 10, 2023 meeting, the council would pass all six without further discussion after my comment at the public hearing.  After all of the ordinances were passed.  The Finance Chair, Les Johnson, would say on the record:

"If we did not approve these ordinances, we would not have garbage pickup, we would not have a lot of other services that we have.  The police department, I don't know of any of you would like to live here without the police department that we have, so I guess I just want to make that clear that if these did not pass, we wouldn't have a lot of these services." 

According to the councilor with the most seniority on the council, who lead discussions at the Finance Committee, the loss of a $300,000 raise in revenue above the inflation rate would mean that the COL could no longer provide basic services.  No official corrected his bogus claim.

EFFECT ON CITIZENS:  Citizens will pay an estimated $286,000 more in taxes in the year 2024, and continue paying that extra amount every year after that, compounded by whatever amount the councilors raise it in this summer and coming years through the Truth in Taxation process.  We do not know what that extra amount will be used for by the city.

Last year, this citizen took out a recall petition on Councilor Les Johnson, spurred by his reckless comment and lack of compassion for the people he supposedly represents.  Before enough signatures could be collected for his recall, Johnson jumped over to the Mason County Board of Commissioners to avoid being held accountable for his actions.

Three other councilors this year will face the music for their apathetic act of hiking taxes on the overburdened populace should our recall efforts bear fruit.  Four others will undoubtedly have to defend their action if they decide to run for reelection.  

Reasonable citizens recognize that local governments need to bring in revenue through taxation; problems arise when those local governments believe they are entitled to take as much as they can just because they have the ability to do so.  Reasonable councilors at the least need to acknowledge why the COL needs that money more than you do when they make votes to take more from reasonable citizens.  If they don't, all citizens need to take notice, sign petitions, and vote accordingly so that they can have reasonable councilors.

[Willy]

Thanks for the explanation X. Wise decision to get the word out on exactly what the recall is all about. If nothing else, the public will be well informed on the situation. This is the first recall I can remember when all the pertinent information has been laid out so that people can make an informed decision. If the recall does not work then people can only blame themselves for the bad representation they receive from these elected officials. Looking forward to the next 5 articles. Why not send your 6 articles to the LDN to be printed in the editorial page. I'm sure they would be more than happy to keep their readers informed about such an important news story.

[XLFD]

Thanks for the encouragement and advice, and the plan is to get these six articles out here before Friday, March 22, the 151st year birthday of the City of Ludington and have a letter to the editor of the COLDNews out sometime that week summarizing the reasons and the vision behind this effort.  I am also hopeful I can market a regular story on the effort out around that time to the local media.  

It would be great to have more petition circulators and at least one 'alternative' candidate for each city ward, so part of the effort will be recruitment of concerned citizens for both tasks along the way, so part of the outreach efforts will to be get folks involved in their city's future.