Democracy is afoot in Madison again! Last week, the Madison City Commission approved adding a dollar for every foot of property facing city roadways to local property taxes. Commissioners say the new tax will raise $386,000 per year to fix Madison's streets.
Former city commissioner George Lee told his successors that this new fee would come to a public vote, and yesterday he, his wife Donna Lee, and Dean Kooiker started circulating referendum petitions yesterday to make that vote happen. George Lee says the city has enough money in the general fund to fix the streets. Kooiker says even if Madison needs more money to pour into potholes, this property tax assessment isn't the right way to get it:
Kooiker said that many residents whom he has spoken to about the new fee are interested in signing the petition. He has the opinion that the maintenance fee isn't a fair tax to assess, since it's only assessed to property owners.
"There are a lot of people on fixed incomes who are going to be hurt by this fee," Kooiker said. "We should have a tax that's paid by a larger group of residents. Plus the city has a $19 million budget; how much more do they need?" [Chuck Clement, "Madison Residents Seek Signatures for Fee Referendum," Madison Daily Leader, 2013.05.28]
A fair tax in South Dakota is about as common as a long, mild spring. Their petition and a referendum vote can't address this question, but I'm curious: what tax would Kooiker consider a fairer funding mechanism for local road repairs? Should the city get the county to assess an extra municipal wheel tax on city residents? Should the city add a half-penny sales tax to make sure lake folks like me pay our fair share when we use the city streets to get to JubiShine for groceries? Should the state hike the gas tax and increase aid to all local governments for road repair? What is the best way to pay for our local roads?
George, Donna, Dean and friends have plenty of time to come up with an answer to that question. They have until June 12 to collect 280 valid signatures from registered Madison voters.
Tax trucks. They are destroying streets and highways at about 15,000 times the damage of light cars. A recent TV show claimed the average car generates $324 of gas tax for highways. If trucks paid proportionate to damage, consider $324 x 15,000 and you will see where extra highway revenue should be coming.
Taxing based on damage done seems fair. Do cities have the authority to target truckers with some sort of tax?
Taxing based on damage does seem fair. Do cities have the authority to target snow and ice with some sort of tax?
Exactly what percentage of residential Madison streets do trucks actually use? I would venture to guess that other than main commercial routes I would say that percentage is very small.
Matt, which streets are in the worst shape right now? And is there a way to measure the relative cost of repair required by winter and repair hastened by heavy use?
How many sales tax dollars were given in a "kickback" to Custom Touch? How many dollars will the frontage tax raise?
Actually Charlie, Madison came out ahead on the Custom Touch deal. I'm not going to argue the morals of that deal, but there is most definitely more money in the city's coffers now than there would have been without said deal.
As for the roads, well shoot I don't know? I guess I need to hop on the bike (if it ever stops raining) and do an inspection. 2nd street has issues, but I suppose those are state issues?
Every entity that collects sales tax in Madison provides something for the community. Are they asking and receiving grants/refunds back?
No one was in such a prime position to expand operations and capitalize on out of state money due to the oil boom like Custom Touch could. That is a good community investment in bringing in outside money and creating a lot of good paying jobs.
I signed the petition last night, but I am not against this tax increase. I am for it if it means people actually get paved streets. I just support the idea of allowing people to vote as long as it isn't burdensome.
"Plus the city has a $19 million budget; how much more do they need?"
Chuck shouldn't have said this....makes him look ignorant.
(Dean Kooiker made that statement; Chuck Clement reported it.)
The Bakken housing boom guaranteed those jobs would happen, with or without the tax kickback. Custom Touch simply found a way to pay less in taxes and shift costs to other taxpayers. How about the city of Madison do us the same favor by offering all residents a 50% rebate on their sales taxes at JubiShine as a thank-you for not buying groceries at Hy-Vee in Brookings or Sioux Falls?