Tax cut plan a missed opportunity

To the Times:

County Council Chairman John McBlain’s proposed tax reduction has me thinking what a missed opportunity it would be to give back an unanticipated surplus.

A $25 tax reduction sounds good, right? Who doesn’t want their taxes lowered? But does this small reduction offer taxpayers the best value and use for those dollars? The tiny amount that would be rebated to individual taxpayers wouldn’t return much value or purchasing power to a homeowner, but the sum total of all those small reductions represent millions the county could use to create long lasting if not permanent value to property owners in the county.

A small tax reduction equal to a date-night movie with the spouse is money quickly spent and forgotten. But a county-wide street tree project, matching funds for municipal open space acquisitions, and many park and playing field improvements would return much more than $25 worth of value to county residents. It would permanently improve quality of life by greening streets, making parks more attractive, expanding the county park system, and protecting our vanishing open space.

The proposed small individual property tax reduction should be weighed against the greater value of investing that surplus back into the county. Open space acquisitions and easements would gain taxpayers usable open space and also save much more than the proposed $25 reduction by preventing the addition of more traffic and limiting increases in school populations. It’s well understood by real estate agents that nearby parks increase a home’s value, so using the surplus to create more of them would have a measurable impact on county property values. It would also help hold the line on school taxes as open space sends no kids to school or cars to roads and doesn’t use sewers or need police protection.

Much more value would be created for individual taxpayers through green investment in the county than by returning barely enough money for a case of craft beer.