johnsmith
01-31-2007, 09:40 AM
Because we pay for damn near everything.
Roddy Stinson: 'Please, tell me it ain't so,' cries city taxpayer about 'imbalance'
Web Posted: 01/29/2007 10:21 PM CST
San Antonio Express-News
Go ahead, ask me anything ...
Q. "Roddy, in a Jan. 28 Express-News article about a City Council candidate, the reporter said the candidate claimed that District 8 'accounts for 18 percent of the city's ad valorem taxes.'
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"Is that true? Does 18 percent of the city's property-tax revenue come from just one of the city's 10 districts?
"I know that all districts don't contribute equally ... and that District 8 business properties, like USAA and Valero, contribute to the high percentage ... but the imbalance is still greater than I thought.
"Please, tell me it ain't so."
A. Eighteen percent is certainly in the ballpark. The last official percentage published by City Hall as a projection for FY 2006 revenue was "District 8 — 16.12 percent."
Before you start grieving for District 8's lambkins, put this in your say-it-ain't-so pipe and smoke it:
Residential and business property owners in District 8 were second on the '06 revenue-per-district list.
The No. 1 honor went to District 9, whose property owners contributed 20.65 percent of the city's revenue from ad valorem taxes.
The other districts, in descending order of annual ad valorem revenue:
District 10 — 11.91 percent
District 1 — 10.14 percent
District 7 — 8.55 percent
District 2 — 7.92 percent
District 6 — 7.87 percent
District 4 — 4.19 percent
District 3 — 4.04 percent
District 5 — 2.67 percent
I have learned from experience that a number of readers will add those figures, come up with less than 100 percent, yell triumphantly, "The town's arithmetic-retarded columnist has screwed up again!" and either call or e-mail me to gloat.
To save those obsessive-compulsive quibblers the trouble ...
The unidentified author of the City Hall study noted that "5.94 percent" of the city's projected FY '06 revenue couldn't be linked to a specific district because "the addresses failed to validate on the Geographic Information System."
It seems safe to assume that District 8's share of the unlinked property would raise the district's percentage of all ad valorem taxes to at least 17 percent.
In any case ...
The 10 districts send significantly different amounts of revenue to City Hall.
Such "imbalance" is neither surprising nor particularly alarming.
In most large cities, high-dollar commercial and residential properties are located in a few areas.
In San Antonio, those areas are primarily in North Side districts 8, 9 and 10.
As a resident of District 10, I have no problem sending money to City Hall to help improve the infrastructure and pay for programs and services in less affluent districts. In fact, I consider such "giving" a privilege — and I suspect most other residents of districts 8, 9 and 10 feel the same.
My only quarrel is with politicians who act like the tax money rained down from heaven and landed in their pockets to be distributed to their friends, neighbors and constituents with no mention of the sources of the funds.
Looking back over 32 years of City Hall watching, I don't recall a single instance when a city official thanked residents and business owners in districts 8, 9 and 10 for contributing nearly half of all City Hall property tax revenue.
I do recall a number of occasions when North Side residents and business owners were bashed, thrashed, smashed, pummeled, pounded, pelted and gleefully raked over the coals by City Council members, City Hall hangers-on and an unending parade of professional "activists" with their hands held out for a little more North Side cash.
Perpetual "imbalance" doesn't bother me a whit.
Ceaseless, purposeful ingratitude always will.
Roddy Stinson: 'Please, tell me it ain't so,' cries city taxpayer about 'imbalance'
Web Posted: 01/29/2007 10:21 PM CST
San Antonio Express-News
Go ahead, ask me anything ...
Q. "Roddy, in a Jan. 28 Express-News article about a City Council candidate, the reporter said the candidate claimed that District 8 'accounts for 18 percent of the city's ad valorem taxes.'
advertisement
"Is that true? Does 18 percent of the city's property-tax revenue come from just one of the city's 10 districts?
"I know that all districts don't contribute equally ... and that District 8 business properties, like USAA and Valero, contribute to the high percentage ... but the imbalance is still greater than I thought.
"Please, tell me it ain't so."
A. Eighteen percent is certainly in the ballpark. The last official percentage published by City Hall as a projection for FY 2006 revenue was "District 8 — 16.12 percent."
Before you start grieving for District 8's lambkins, put this in your say-it-ain't-so pipe and smoke it:
Residential and business property owners in District 8 were second on the '06 revenue-per-district list.
The No. 1 honor went to District 9, whose property owners contributed 20.65 percent of the city's revenue from ad valorem taxes.
The other districts, in descending order of annual ad valorem revenue:
District 10 — 11.91 percent
District 1 — 10.14 percent
District 7 — 8.55 percent
District 2 — 7.92 percent
District 6 — 7.87 percent
District 4 — 4.19 percent
District 3 — 4.04 percent
District 5 — 2.67 percent
I have learned from experience that a number of readers will add those figures, come up with less than 100 percent, yell triumphantly, "The town's arithmetic-retarded columnist has screwed up again!" and either call or e-mail me to gloat.
To save those obsessive-compulsive quibblers the trouble ...
The unidentified author of the City Hall study noted that "5.94 percent" of the city's projected FY '06 revenue couldn't be linked to a specific district because "the addresses failed to validate on the Geographic Information System."
It seems safe to assume that District 8's share of the unlinked property would raise the district's percentage of all ad valorem taxes to at least 17 percent.
In any case ...
The 10 districts send significantly different amounts of revenue to City Hall.
Such "imbalance" is neither surprising nor particularly alarming.
In most large cities, high-dollar commercial and residential properties are located in a few areas.
In San Antonio, those areas are primarily in North Side districts 8, 9 and 10.
As a resident of District 10, I have no problem sending money to City Hall to help improve the infrastructure and pay for programs and services in less affluent districts. In fact, I consider such "giving" a privilege — and I suspect most other residents of districts 8, 9 and 10 feel the same.
My only quarrel is with politicians who act like the tax money rained down from heaven and landed in their pockets to be distributed to their friends, neighbors and constituents with no mention of the sources of the funds.
Looking back over 32 years of City Hall watching, I don't recall a single instance when a city official thanked residents and business owners in districts 8, 9 and 10 for contributing nearly half of all City Hall property tax revenue.
I do recall a number of occasions when North Side residents and business owners were bashed, thrashed, smashed, pummeled, pounded, pelted and gleefully raked over the coals by City Council members, City Hall hangers-on and an unending parade of professional "activists" with their hands held out for a little more North Side cash.
Perpetual "imbalance" doesn't bother me a whit.
Ceaseless, purposeful ingratitude always will.