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A Thinly Veiled Tax Increase
The proposed bond referendum is creative financing at its best. The currently proposed general obligation bond is nothing but a moral failure on the part of Roswell's City Council to reduce expenses. Candidly, this proposed bond referendum is a veiled attempt to increase taxes.
I believe that more transparency and honesty is in order by our council for citizens to make an informed decision and that is the purpose for the following:
First, citizens need to know that the city is currently paying down the balance of an existing bond, with an approximate remaining balance of some $18 million. This taxpayer liability is scheduled to be paid off in early 2015.
The city currently pays $6.3 million annually in a debt service fee on the current $18 million bond balance. Roswell property owners are currently paying 1.396 mills in their property taxes to service that debt.
Well, the city plans on continuing to collect that $6.3 million instead of reducing your property taxes after the current bond is payed off. They will continue to collect that 1.396 mill portion of your property taxes and keep the $6.3 million to use as they see fit.
The currently proposed bond would be implemented in two increments of $12 million each, the first installment in 2013 for a period of 10 years and then in 2015 the other $12 million until 2030.
The city of Roswell is marketing this proposal from the standpoint that there will be "no increase in the current debt service millage rate."
Well, that statement is correct.
However, you will have to look at the fine print because what they are proposing appears to be a continuation, at a minimum, of the current total millage rate of 5.455 mills for 15 more years even after the scheduled retirement of the current bond in 2015.
The city will continue to take in an additional $6.3 million annually, even though the future debt service on the proposed $24 million bond will only be $2.5 million annually!!
As a matter of fact, a much smaller debt service millage rate will be used to service the proposed bond debt, precisely 0.560 mills, while the other 0.836 mills or some $3.8 million will in fact roll over into the General Operations Fund for Council to prop up a bloated operating budget in Roswell.
This is a well-guarded secret, but a matter of public record that must be exposed.
This link provides that reality. Click on "Council Budget Presentation January 23, 2012" at the bottom of the page and scroll to page 14 to see for yourself.
Lee Fleck
9:19 pm on Friday, February 17, 2012
Now for those, who like myself, like to get to the nuts & bolts of City finances, the numbers in the above article are contained within the financial forcast (Pro forma) that has been provided bt the City Director of Strategic Planning & Budget, Keith Lee, to the Roswell City Council, on January 23, 2012, in preparation for next years budget discussions.
Go to:
http://www.roswellgov.com/index.aspx?NID=1156
Click on "Council Budget Presentation January 23, 2012" at the bottom of the page and then scroll down to page 14
Dianne
7:51 am on Saturday, February 18, 2012
Thank you for the good information, Lee.
Tom Cork
2:59 pm on Saturday, February 18, 2012
Lee, Great work, as always!!!!! Thanks for keeping the Roswell citizenry informed on this unnecessary bond referendum. Roswell taxes are already too high and we cannot afford such extravegance. Is the leadership of Roswell insane? The entire country is "broke" and will soon go out of business if somethng isn't done to better balance our books. Tom Cork
Michael Reissig
9:00 am on Sunday, February 19, 2012
Roswell City Council at it's worst here, kicking and screaming in an attempt to waste our hard earned money. This 'bond' that they 'need' is evidence that they can not manage money wisely. I'm sure that the residents of the city would love to know about the nice, new, expensive marble floor that the council voted to install at the offices for the recycling center 5-1. I forget the exact amount but it was around 60K?
Salma Haleem Ahmed
4:00 pm on Monday, February 20, 2012
Lee, Well said.
I have 3 questions for the tax payers of Roswell:
Did you know that over 25% of your property taxes goes to pay down Bond debt?
Did you realize that if you vote against the upcoming Bond referendum you could lower your taxes by 25% ?
Does Roswell need to commit us to another 15 years of 25% tax increase?
Salma Ahmed
Lee Fleck
9:25 pm on Monday, February 20, 2012
And the $4 million the city will rollover into general operations as a result of the proposed bond referendum is ONLY half of what they need to maintain Roswell's bloated budget. There is another property tax increase coming too.
Jake Lilley
9:32 pm on Monday, February 20, 2012
Good article, Lee. Thanks for your work.
Richard Arena
7:13 am on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
What's going on down at Hill Street is an amateur version of Potomac fiscal mismanagement.
Okay, so the economy is slow, real estate values took a huge hit, and now tax revenues aren't up to the level of spending. That's simple to understand. So are the choices: cut spending, raise taxes or some combination.
In a world where elected representatives have respect for the electorate, they tell the truth (as novel and naive as that may sound), then listen to their constituents and vote their consciences.
Arrogant officeholders who think they are too important to tell the truth and risk getting voted out office, disguise a tax increase as anything but ....for example a bond.
It's time to brew a tea party for the next Roswell election.
Richard Arena
Dianne
8:09 am on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Richard...........it certainly appears from all of the numbers that Lee Fleck has presented, and he does an excellent job of this, that we don't have a very fiscally conservative city council looking after the taxpayers of Roswell, i.e., in this downturned economy spending $3M for a pedestrian bridge across the river. Further, adding a pool at the seniors center, which is a very nice thought, and given the annual maintenance to operate this pool, do they even know if there will be enough swimmers to support the maintenance? A majority of the projects are very nice when the economy is booming and the tax base will support them, but the council members need to take a look at the reality of lives of many of its citizens in this awful economy. I would rather have a property tax decrease at this time than approving a new bond referendum.
Salma Haleem Ahmed
1:51 pm on Tuesday, February 21, 2012
City Council could have chosen to be honest with themselves and the citizens of Roswell by cutting the bloated budget by 10 or 20%, like the rest of us had to do. Instead they are choosing to hide operational costs with a bond referendum that will add a 25% to Roswell citizen's for the next 15 years! That is the reality Roswell needs to deal with at the next election. Wouldn't you rather keep that 25% in your own bank account?