YDF Grant Encourages Greater Civic Engagement by Local Youth

Let me explain this as simply as I can. See if you can follow this tiny government example. Your government receives $1000 in taxes each year and has $1000 in expenses. Taxes are predictable and stable. Then, your governing board decides that an item is needed that is outside the budget. Rules prevent them from raising taxes. They could “tighten their belt” and find areas to cut to accommodate the new expense. But instead, they decide it would be easier to borrow $100 for 10 years at a 5% interest rate. Even at simple interest rates, this means that the cost of the money borrowed is $5.00 that first year. The government must increase their expenses by $5.00 that year to cover the interest. With principal repayment, the government has now created a deficit of $15. They can either hope the rules allow them to raise taxes to balance the budget, or they may have to borrow again to cover the difference. This example can be expanded by moving the decimal point. A $10,000,000 budget and $1,000,000 in borrowing in the same example brings a burden of $150,000 per year.

Are you tired of your property taxes increasing every year while your household income doesn’t? Local government is an interesting entity. We all know that we can’t spend more than we make and expect our neighbors to make up the difference. In the governmental view, however, that doesn’t appear to be true. So what is one to do? Don’t let them get away with it. You don’t have to. You can do your homework on current Rock County Board Supervisors and see how they vote. (You can obviously do this at your local municipal level as well). Better still, seek out board members and ask some questions right now. You might ask why the county has continually allowed a budget process that ends in the result of spending growth outpacing the county resident’s ability to pay for it, or the growth of our community. You could ask what your county board supervisor is doing to drop Rock County’s status as one of the top four percent highest taxed counties in the nation (relative to personal income). You could ask them about upcoming budget items they plan to support and those they would not support funding with taxpayer dollars. Your board supervisors might be your neighbors, but is their hand out to help you, or to grab even more of your hard earned money? (BTW: ALL County Supervisors are up for re-election next April).