The Observation Deck

Colleen Wing wrote:
Collect income tax from folks who "slip through the cracks"
It could be a start.

Colleen - excellent idea, although I would expand it to include property tax aswell. A previous post detailed the amount of missing revenue in Lakewood. I really do feel that we need to do a far better job in revenue collection.

There is a new program Senior Citizen Tax Deferral program. This bill, HB 293 was passed in December.

PROPOSAL FOR SENIOR CITIZEN TAX DEFERRAL (H.B. 293 & S.B. 205)
According to 2000 census data, 17.4% of Cuyahoga County households are headed by persons 65 years of age or older. Many of these seniors have resided in their homes for a substantial period of time and built up significant equity in the property. They worked hard, raised families, and planned to live out their lives in a memory filled home.
Rising property tax rates and home assessments, along with low returns on retirement investments, have made remaining in their home very difficult for many seniors. Additionally, energy and health care costs have exceeded the annual adjustments to social security benefits. More than 1000 low-income senior households are facing foreclosure for delinquent taxes in the coming year alone.

This program is a form of loan which is to be repaid upon the occurrence of one of two events: the death of the taxpayer (except in the case of a surviving spouse over 55 years of age) or the sale or other transfer of the residence.

I wonder how many of the people that owe money for property tax are in this category in Lakewood? Does anyone know the statistics? I was wondering if since the program is just getting started if the banks have kicked in yet with the funds. Anyone know the status?

I just wanted to toss in a couple of quick notes.

One, its an accepted fact of life that Lakewood's taxes are unusually high but thats not borne out by facts. Yes, our property tax RATES(most of which go to schools) are high but our income tax rates arent that high at all. The standard in Cuyahoga County these days is 2 percent (we pay 1.5) Only three towns in the county pay less than Lakewood.
Our immediate neighbors in Bay, River, and Westlake pay the same.
Further the difference in property tax RATES is made up for by the fact that the average cost per square foot of house is lower in Lakewood than in those other communities.

But here's a question to pondre. A town called Kettering in suburban Dayton is almost exactly the size of Lakewood. Its income tax rate in 2005 was 1.75, only a quarter percent more than ours, yet it collected $11 MILLION MORE.
I'm curious about that.

I'm originally from Dayton. Kettering is a wealthier suburb. Oakwood is the equivalent of Shaker Heights and Kettering is right under that. But unlike Shaker, I don't recall any poor sections of Kettering. Plus southern Ohio hasn't been hit as bad with downsizing and unemployment as NE Ohio. Remember we live next to the poorest big city in the Country - that is some distinction.

Perception means a great deal. I have people tell me often that they can't believe we can afford to live in Lakewood with all the taxes. I can counter that we get more for our dollar here - that we don't have to drive as far and spend money on gas. Doesn't matter. Real estate agents, our citizens have convinced people that the tax burden in Lakewood is too much to bear. The solution is not to raise taxes IMHO.

Lynn Farris wrote:I'm originally from Dayton. Kettering is a wealthier suburb. Oakwood is the equivalent of Shaker Heights and Kettering is right under that. But unlike Shaker, I don't recall any poor sections of Kettering. Plus southern Ohio hasn't been hit as bad with downsizing and unemployment as NE Ohio. Remember we live next to the poorest big city in the Country - that is some distinction.

Perception means a great deal. I have people tell me often that they can't believe we can afford to live in Lakewood with all the taxes. I can counter that we get more for our dollar here - that we don't have to drive as far and spend money on gas. Doesn't matter. Real estate agents, our citizens have convinced people that the tax burden in Lakewood is too much to bear. The solution is not to raise taxes IMHO.

The "high tax" perception may be hurting Lakewood, to be sure. But so is the even more widespread perception that the city is becoming unsafe and unkempt, which to be honest, real estate agents are contributing to, too.

There are no painless solutions. Raise taxes or cut services.

Dee Martinez wrote:

Lynn Farris wrote:There are no painless solutions. Raise taxes or cut services.

That is a false choice.

For a variety of reason city governments in this area have given government unions a blank check. That process ultimately destroys communities.

The real choice:

City employees can pay a 25% of the insurance premium and those policies can have a meaningful co pay and deductible.

Since sick time has become extra vacation time sick time should be replaced with a short and long term disablity policy. A typical policy that covers 2/3 of wages for six months can be had for about $5 per week.

The City has about 30% more employees than it did 20 years ago. How bad were City services 20 years ago? The City should benchmark staffing levels of 20 years ago to today. Would there be any savings? We won't know until we try.

The City can control overtime costs. Enough said.

The City can outsource many jobs held by government employees. The purpose of City government is not to provide employment opportunities it is the purpose of City employees to provide City services.

Any discussion of tax burden should also include the schools. Currently the taxpayer is paying the employee portion of the pension contribution. Such contributions should stop. School employees should pay 25% of the Health insurance premiums and those policies should have a reasonable level of co-pay and deductible.

Perception is reality.

Lakewood has some of the highest taxes in the entire country what will we gain by having THE highest taxes in the country?

Bill Call wrote: Perception is reality.

Lakewood has some of the highest taxes in the entire country what will we gain by having THE highest taxes in the country?

Perception is only reality if you choose to ignore facts.
You have done a remarkable job at putting a scope into city operations and we owe you a debt of gratitude for that. Your research into what Lakewood is paying though, needs a little work.

As I stated, and you can visit the Ohio Department of Taxation website to verify this, only 3 Cuyahoga County communities have lower income tax rates than Lakewood, and nearly half are higher. Parma Heights and Euclid are double Lakewoods.\
Yes, our school property taxes are high. But the tax rate for operating the schools hasnt gone up in 6 years which is unheard of in Ohio.

Now if you want to cut the minimum staffing for fire and EMS, thereby reducing response time and the ability to respond to multiple calls, you may not consider that "cutting services" but others might.

As for the schools, they have done exactly what you propose in terms of staffing levels and increasing health insurance payments. They havent increased their operating millage in 6 years.... and you STILL want to inflict more pain. At some point Lakewood will only be able to attract eduators that cant get hired anywhere else. Is that what good for our community?

Your views toward public workers tends to the extreme and obscures some of your truly valid points I fear.

Bill Call wrote: Lakewood has some of the highest taxes in the entire country what will we gain by having THE highest taxes in the country?

The County Auditors website has some intriguing public information



Voted Tax Rate: The Voted Tax Rate is the total rate approved by the voters in your taxing district for support of your school district, library, municipality, vocational school, community college, metropark system and county-wide services. This rate also includes 10 mills of unvoted taxes guaranteed by the Ohio Constitution.

Lakewood ranks 6th

Effective Tax Rate: The Effective Tax Rate is your tax rate after the tax reduction factor is applied. You are protected from unvoted increases in taxes by Ohio Legislation known as House Bill 920. Passed in 1976, HB 920 reduces your rate as property values in your district increase during triennial reappraisals and updates.

Lakewood ranks 9th

Tax as a percentage of Market: The Tax as a percentage of market is a simple percentage used to estimate total property taxes for a property. Multiply the market value of the the property by the percentage listed for your taxing district.

Lakewood ranks 9th

Not as bad as perception would have us believe

http://auditor.cuyahogacounty.us/realprop/calculate.htm

Bill,

You are quoting the wrong person - I believe Dee is the author of that quote.

I will agree the solution is to cut costs or raise revenues. But that doesn't necessarily correspond to cutting services or raising taxes.

As we have discussed, part time employees, college work study where the city pays only a small portion of the wage, elimination of OT by appropriate staffing are all ideas to save money without cutting services.

Encouraging more people/businesses to move into Lakewood, collecting taxes better are ideas that raise revenues.

I'm excited about this thread - lets hear some more ideas.

Lynn Farris wrote:Bill,

You are quoting the wrong person - I believe Dee is the author of that quote.

I will agree the solution is to cut costs or raise revenues. But that doesn't necessarily correspond to cutting services or raising taxes.

As we have discussed, part time employees, college work study where the city pays only a small portion of the wage, elimination of OT by appropriate staffing are all ideas to save money without cutting services.

Encouraging more people/businesses to move into Lakewood, collecting taxes better are ideas that raise revenues.

I'm excited about this thread - lets hear some more ideas.

Please understand. I hope some people DO come up with other ideas.
I'm resigned though that in the end the stone will not deliver any blood. The math is too simple and unforgiving.

By the same token while we speak sometimes here of our poor civic self-esteem, one of the things we accept without controversy is that we are such oppresed tax slaves. As Mr. Cole and I have both offered evidence on, I believe, such is not really the case when you look at it objectively.

If someone called Lakewood the "crime capital of Cuyahoga County," everyone here would rise up as one with statistics to refute the "perception" But when Mr. Call asserts we have "nearly the highest taxes in the country (the WHOLE COUNTRY??)" we tend to take that on faith. Why is that?

How about city income tax? Does anyone know where LKWD ranks on that?

Stephen Eisel wrote:How about city income tax? Does anyone know where LKWD ranks on that?

I posted that earlier. Cuyahoga County municipalities have rates ranging from 1.0 to 3.0 percent. Most (I counted nearly 30 when I ran out of fingers and toes) are 2.0 percent. 12 match Lakewood at 1.5 A half dozen (mostly smaller villages like Gates Mills and North Royalton) are 1.0.

Dee Martinez wrote:

Stephen Eisel wrote:How about city income tax? Does anyone know where LKWD ranks on that?

I posted that earlier. Cuyahoga County municipalities have rates ranging from 1.0 to 3.0 percent. Most (I counted nearly 30 when I ran out of fingers and toes) are 2.0 percent. 12 match Lakewood at 1.5 A half dozen (mostly smaller villages like Gates Mills and North Royalton) are 1.0.

Kewl and thanks!

http://tax.ohio.gov/divisions/tax_analy ... 11cy05.pdf

LONG url

Interesting read.

As well as promoting efficiency in expenditures, I sincerely believe that efficiency in collection is vital. Before we cut jobs, diminish good paying jobs, deny benefits to working men and women, lets make sure we're getting the revenue.

It's not rocket science - if someone owes, let's collect!

In my opinion, Lakewood needs to develop a technology zone (with private funds) and attract businesses to the city. The retail industry is very saturated in this area so there is no reason to build another shopping complex here.

Also, Lakewood should take advantage of its lake front and partner up with a utility company and get some wind mills on our shores.