Save yourself money, vote yes on millage

Posted

On Friday, I coughed up $81 check toAyles Tree Service for grinding down that stump in my front yard … orin the city’s right of way, to be more exact.

Up until May, the city would have takenflattened out the remains of that 80-year-old maple like they’ve donein years prior for my neighbors. Then they would have planted a brandnew tree right next to it.

Not anymore.

The millage failed. The city’s forestrydivision got nuked and now I’m looking at another few hundred bucks toget a decent-sized tree, if I want.

Lansing is known as "The City in theForest," having been designated a Tree City 23 times. But now thecity’s forestry chief tells me his depleted ranks can hardly keep upwith the demands of chopping down dead ones, let alone replacing themone-for-one as they did in the past.

Failed millages have consequences, andthis is one of them. The shuttered fire station around the corner onJenison is another one. An e-mail I received a few months ago from aneighbor about the creaky police response time to a theft down thestreet is Exhibit C.

Yes, had the 4-mill increase passed inMay, I’d have had $211 more taken out of my escrow, but thehypothetical $1,026 is just about what I paid in 2008, and less thanwhat I paid in 2006. Look at the cost … and I’m not talking about theprice of stump grinding, either. 

Like nearly 40 percent of Michiganhomeowners with an outstanding home loan, I’m underwater on mymortgage. I couldn’t sell my house for even close to what I bought itfor.

I’d love to refinance for a cheaperinterest rate, which would save me money, too. The banks don’t share inmy excitement, though. If I bail on the loan, they’re holding a housethat isn’t worth the note. I understand. It doesn’t make good sense todo business with me.

Like just about every other city inMichigan, we’re stuck in this death spiral, and canning local operatingmillages only speeds up the spin. It’s a simple, unfortunate equation.

We won’t pass a higher millage rate = Services get cut.

Services get cut = Fewer reasons peoplewant to move to Lansing (bad schools, crime, blah, blah, blah). Housingmarket gets worse.

Housing market gets worse = Home values keep tanking. 

Home values keep tanking = The deeper the bath we take on our home investment

The deeper the bath we take on our home investment = The more broke we are. 

The more broke we are = We want a tax cut, meaning we won’t pass a higher millage rate (see above).

Around and around the drain we go until one day we’ll wake up and Lansing will look like Saginaw or Flint.

On Nov. 8, Lansing voters have anothershot at stopping our dizzying journey into a city slum blackhole. Thisisn’t about "giving Virg more money" or throwing more money at policeand fire unions (who have given up considerably in the last five years).

Be completely selfish about thisdecision. Vote yes because you need to protect the biggest investmentyou probably have — your home. Some day you’re going to sell thatbuilding you sleep under today. When that happens, you’d probably likeyou or your heirs to make money on it.

A home in a treeless city with spottypolice and fire service is about as attractive as a leaky roof or acollapsed porch. A decently staffed police and fire department is moneyin your wallet, not money out of your wallet.

Now is not the time to give up on yourhome or your neighborhood. The state is going to clobber cities likeLansing with more budget cuts, which means pitching in the same amountyou paid in 2008 can stop an even thinner Police Department or snowplow staff.

Citizens in cities across the state sawthe wisdom in protecting their investments in May, passing theirmillages while ours failed by 4 percent. Voters do realize that slowerpolice response times, unmowed parks, unplowed streets, shuttered firestations, don’t entice people to buy property.

The City Council gave us another chanceto approve this 4 mills. Don’t vote yes to make their jobs easier. Voteyes to make your job easier when it’s home sale time.

A "yes" vote won’t mean a city-paid treein front of my house or a reopened Fire Station No. 6. But if my 2017property tax statement has my assessed home value back to where it wasin 2006, I’ll declare victory.



Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here




Connect with us