Very interesting post. I live in a town in CT. We are having a vote on the town budget today. Ironically we had reassessed our home property values for the first time in 5 years. Required by state law every 5 years. Not surprisingly most people’s lost about 1/8 of their property value. I lost 1/6 of my value. However since moving here 4 years ago, the property taxes has increased about 15 percent in a recession. Of course, each budget vote, there will be signs all over town saying “Vote (Yes) for edcuation”. Why should we vote yes each time, should we give the town a blank check? Now that the reassessment comes back, they of course want to increase the mill rate to ensure that the budget is not endangered. Its pretty frustrating. I guess this is typical townlike shanigans. The surrounding towns did similiar things.
“Why should we vote yes each time, should we give the town a blank check?”
Governor Christie fixed that in NJ with a property tax cap; when teachers get 4% raises, and taxes can only increase 2%, untenured teachers and cops lose their jobs. This isn’t just theory, it already happened (and is why Obama is talking about re-hiring teachers and cops).