Thank You Romulus Voters. (Detroit, Pontiac: house, neighborhoods, schools)

[fmax]

When the "non-producers" outnumber the "producers" - the infrastructure of society is cannibalized.

This is just the beginning of the Tax Base Collapse. The tri-county area will be regionalized before it's through.

[Shinhiryuu]

Originally Posted by Retroit

That county-run library system described by Coldjensens sounds absolutely stupid. The residents of every Wayne County city should be complaining to their city councils about that. I've never heard of such a stupid system.
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I love to read books myself, and can't see myself buying a e-reader (Kindle, etc.) any time soon. A book is not a computer and a computer is not a book (to me). I haven't taken a book out from the library since I was a kid though. I prefer to buy them. The only think I use my library for is tax forms.
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Hooray, for cash-strapped cities closing their libraries (or reducing hours). Something must be done to reduce costs, and libraries are one of the least used and least critical facilities that a city runs. In my city, there is an ongoing debate on closing "senior centers". For the life of me, I can't figure out why we need them when there are so many other options for meeting places. Many churches have senior clubs. They certainly don't need a huge facility just to sit around and talk and play cards. Ironically, the Senior Center in Eastpointe started out as a Teen Center. Just goes to show how the "entitled class" changes with changing demographics.
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As for cities running out of money due to falling property values, I think now is a good time to re-evaluate how taxes are collected. It doesn't make sense for a city's fixed costs to be based on variable revenue. It would make much more sense to assess property taxes based on something that changes very little year-to-year, like square footage of homes instead of assessed value.

Helll yeeaaahhhhhhh. I pay 8K for my 4500 sq ft house... Why do I gotta pay so much just cause I can afford a house that I lucky got for 85k. Its not my fault other people dont/cant pay their tax that I gotta pick it up

[TaylorRothschild]

I voted NO and would again. Until our leaders get their books in order you'll have a hard time prying any more from me.

Tough times. About time some of these institutions trimmed the fat.

[killface0]

Originally Posted by TaylorRothschild

I voted NO and would again. Until our leaders get their books in order you'll have a hard time prying any more from me.

Tough times. About time some of these institutions trimmed the fat.

They're not really "prying more" from you! Your property value has gone down with the rest of the State, therefore the taxes you pay have gone DOWN! YOU ARE PAYING LESS!!! The millage would've kept services on going and wouldn't have affected your taxes.

[us66]

Originally Posted by killface0

They're not really "prying more" from you! Your property value has gone down with the rest of the State, therefore the taxes you pay have gone DOWN! YOU ARE PAYING LESS!!! The millage would've kept services on going and wouldn't have affected your taxes.

1. Everybody loves a library, it's just that nobody wants to pay for it. It's like having an art museum or a symphony orchestra.

2. Yes, we are paying less in taxes, but our houses are worth half what we paid for them back in the '00s. (I'll probably be upside-down close to half the life of my mortgage. I thought I was buying real estate, not a GM car.) Anyways, in these recessionary times, many of us make less money, either through unemployment, underemployment, or a reduction in overtime hours, so there goes the money to pay more property taxes. Also, in the last five years or so where tax revenues have been sharply reduced, the price of other things has risen. My property taxes in Harrison Township have gone down by probably a third just since '06- one of these years it'll cost them more to mail the bill and process the payment for my winter taxes than the actual payment. The $500 or so reduction in my taxes has been offset by other things, most notably, the price of gasoline. Paying those scumbags at OPEC and those (expletive deleted) Wall Street traders, in my mind, comes before funding libraries, expanding bus service, and making sure the children have art education and sports.

3. Why are there senior centers and not teen centers? Because seniors vote. That's why. Why do the poor get the short end of the stick? Because they often don't.

[Retroit]

Originally Posted by us66

1. Everybody loves a library, it's just that nobody wants to pay for it. It's like having an art museum or a symphony orchestra. If everyone loves a library, there would be enough people using it to justify keeping it open. Unfortunately, only a very small percentage patronize libraries, museums, and orchestras.

2. Yes, we are paying less in taxes, but our houses are worth half what we paid for them back in the '00s. (I'll probably be upside-down close to half the life of my mortgage. I thought I was buying real estate ...there's the problem. People should have been buying homes and not real estate. A home is a place to live; real estate is an investment (read: gamble)..., not a GM car.) Anyways, in these recessionary times, many of us make less money, either through unemployment, underemployment, or a reduction in overtime hours, so there goes the money to pay more property taxes. Also, in the last five years or so where tax revenues have been sharply reduced, the price of other things has risen. My property taxes in Harrison Township have gone down by probably a third just since '06- one of these years it'll cost them more to mail the bill and process the payment for my winter taxes than the actual payment. The $500 or so reduction in my taxes has been offset by other things, most notably, the price of gasoline. Paying those scumbags at OPEC and those (expletive deleted) Wall Street traders ...who were speculating like many real estate purchasers (i.e. human nature)..., in my mind, comes before funding libraries, expanding bus service, and making sure the children have art education and sports.

3. Why are there senior centers and not teen centers? Because seniors vote. That's why. School children don't vote either (but they have schools). Why do the poor get the short end of the stick? Because they often don't.

Do the poor benefit more from the non-poor, or do the non-poor benefit more from the poor? Who is truly getting the short end?

[us66]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Do the poor benefit more from the non-poor, or do the non-poor benefit more from the poor? Who is truly getting the short end?

1. Okay, I'll amend my first statement. Now it's "Everybody loves to have a library, museums, and orchestras in their area, it's just that nobody wants to pay for them.":

2. The poor versus non-poor benefitting from tax dollars- you make a good point, but what I said comes from two things: the song "Summertime Blues" with the line "I'd like to help you son, but you're too young to vote," and a call I made to a 1310 AM back in '03 before it went liberal...the host was saying something about low voter turnout, probably about the poor not voting or something like that, to which I called in and replied that if they don't vote I don't care about their problems because they couldn't be bothered to go and vote, the one basic requirement demanded of a citizen.

[Retroit]

Originally Posted by us66

1. Okay, I'll amend my first statement. Now it's "Everybody loves to have a library, museums, and orchestras in their area, it's just that nobody wants to pay for them.": I think it's more like: Everyone says they love these things, but they rather spend their money on wide-screen cable/satellite television, high-cost sporting events, gambling, etc.

2. The poor versus non-poor benefitting from tax dollars- you make a good point, but what I said comes from two things: the song "Summertime Blues" with the line "I'd like to help you son, but you're too young to vote," and a call I made to a 1310 AM back in '03 before it went liberal...the host was saying something about low voter turnout, probably about the poor not voting or something like that, to which I called in and replied that if they don't vote I don't care about their problems because they couldn't be bothered to go and vote, the one basic requirement demanded of a citizen.

Poverty is not the consequence of not voting. It is the consequence of something beyond which the government can create and beyond which the government can alleviate. People should vote based on who will govern best, not on who will steal from future citizens the best to provide for current wants and needs.

[Shinhiryuu]

Originally Posted by Retroit

Poverty is not the consequence of not voting. It is the consequence of something beyond which the government can create and beyond which the government can alleviate. People should vote based on who will govern best, not on who will steal from future citizens the best to provide for current wants and needs.

you vote doesnt count, from presidential elections, i.e. bushs second term, lost the popular but the college voted him in anyways. to city councils, i.e. whoever has the most funding has the most media coverage.
then you got things pushed into place that we wont have a way out of later.
this is just something i read, but it was from bings formal council woman.
says that the city reduction is just a plan to get rid of dead weight, example, clearing up east outer or east english village to allow grosse pointe to eat it up.

[Retroit]

Originally Posted by Shinhiryuu

... clearing up east outer or east english village to allow grosse pointe to eat it up.

I think you misread something there. Grosse Pointe doesn't want to "eat up" Detroit.