Cities Forced To Tap Homeowners By Raising Property Taxes…. How Else Are They Going To Pay For Exploding Workers’ Retirement And Health Costs? Inquiring Minds Want To Know!
Posted By thestatedtruth.com on December 25, 2010
The new world order will see tax hikes every where, it’s unavoidable!
Cities across the nation are raising property taxes citing rising pension and health-care costs for their employees and retirees.Â
Local officials and government workers say a confluence of factors is driving the increases, including the need to make up for staggering investment losses from the financial crisis and rising costs as more workers retire. In addition, benefit increases promised in flush times are coming due as revenue flounders, and some cities have skipped payments to their pension funds over the years.
Representatives of government workers, including for unions, don’t deny that pension costs are rising. But they blame local officials for failing to fund pensions adequately in better times.
“The main driver is the irresponsibility of local public officials who for years and years have not been funding their pensions,” said Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 union, which represents 72,000 employees in Illinois.
Many local officials say they have been trying to right their pension funds without raising taxes. They have borrowed money from reserves, trimmed services and cut back on staff.
Some cities have also pushed unions to reopen contracts in an attempt to pare benefits or raise workers’ contributions for pensions and health care. They have faced stiff resistance from some unions that argue it’s unfair to penalize workers for a financial crisis that isn’t their fault. Others have agreed to some cutbacks.
State aid to many local governments and other revenue remain below precrisis levels. Nearly half of states reduced aid to local governments in 2010, and 20 states have proposed additional cuts in 2011, according to a December report by the Congressional Budget Office.
“Unless governments really want to squeeze essential services…there are likely to be a lot more property tax increases” across the country, said Don Boyd, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York.
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