The Joke's on you, St James taxpayer!

[medic5740]

After a discussion on the budget at the Peaine Township Special meeting on Friday, March 31, 2012, Jack Gallagher announced that an increase in evaluation may allow a decrease in millage rates for 2013 for Peaine Township. This prompted a request by me to have the Peaine Township Board take some time to evaluate the fairness of every St. James Township taxpayer paying more tax for every jointly funded operation than any Peaine Township taxpayer.

From an editorial on Beaver Island News on the 'Net examples are:

BI Fire Department: On an evaluation of $80,000, a St James taxpayer pays $74.14 and a Peaine taxpayer pays $53.10.

BIEMS: On an evaluation of $80,000, a St. James taxpayer pays $78.78 and a Peaine taxpayer pays $54.78.

Information about all jointly funded operations are found in this editorial.

Why does any individual St. James taxpayer pay more for all jointly funded operations than an individual Peaine taxpayer?

Joe Moore

[sbsp]

Does anyone know the history of how shared services became disproportionate and what needs to happen to even the cost out between township tax payers?

Kirk D. McBride

[Alice Belfy]

Good question, Joe. Maybe a mathematical error?

[Jlafreniere]

one way to reduce some of the tax burden Mr. Taylor would be to get Mr. Gallager to put equal millage on for EMS and Fire department, and quit wasting money on attorney fees.

[Jlafreniere]

Mr. Taylor there is no way I would ever be on a band wagon any thing else with the likes of you. The people that have served on St. Jame township Board for a long time have done so for the simple reason that more than 50% of the voters feel they are the best people for the job. If you want thing to change get your name on the ballot and try to find 50% of the voters that agree with you GOOD LUCK!

[Pat Simmons]

Is it still winter?

[BI Pirate]

I'm with Pat, don't be spreading any of that cheer over here on my island.

[sbsp]

It's not a complicated process, just a matter of coming to agreement with all three parties. One party being the joint venture (EMS, Fire Dept, etc) the other two being the townships. Jointly work a realistic budget and adjust the respective millage rates so that the contribution from each township is equal.
Am I looking at this solution and resolution the wrong way? Another solution would be the "one township" concept.

Kirk D. McBride

[wmarkey]

Let's see if I got this right. (otherwise I'm totaly confused) The townships, St. James and Peaine, pay the same amount of support for the Joint operations on Beaver Island; B.I. Fire dept. etc., but because of property value differences the tax rate needed to get 50% of agreed support is lower in Peaine Township than in St. James Township. The individual property tax payers pay less in Peaine than St. James to get the same amount of cash by township.
Obviously, the most equitable solution would probably be by eliminating separate township tax rate and property value systems. (sure sounds easy) Short of that would probably always lead to some inequality of individual support. Lawyer fees and referendum expenses would most likely wither away any positive results. I agree with Joe that any solution must not lead to any decrease in overall support of essential services on BEAVER ISLAND!
William A. Markey

[Owen]

Far an taine â??n abhainn, â??s ann as mò a fuaim.

[Rory Connaghan]

Where the stream is shallowest, it is noisiest.

[jimmyd65]

Share expenses equally - share control and management equally.
Pay more of the expenses - have more control and management.

[JFPowers]

For all that are interested in this issue it is important to look at the overall tax burden including those that many of our seasonal property owners deal with the non-homestead tax rate. Also you can look at how we rate with the rest of the state, results that show we have higher than average tax rates but not the highest in the state.

This site is the estimator, where you can see what total homestead and non-homestead millage rates are:

https://treas-secure.state.mi.us/ptesti ... imator.asp

And secondly the overall picture, where you can look at our rates over the last six years:

http://www.michigan.gov/taxes/0,1607,7- ... --,00.html

I agree with all of these concerns, taxation should be a serious concern to a community such as ours, we definetly need to maximize the benefits we get from the tax dollars that we recieve from all of the taxpayers who invest in Beaver Island. Our future as a strong community depends on it.

[sbsp]

Has it ever been calculated to determine the annual savings to BI tax payers in going to one township and avoiding the annual duplicate costs that are now being paid?
Plus, the estimated profit from a one time sale of the St. James hall located on prime property at the point?

Kirk D. McBride

[medic5740]

You can read more about the topic in my editorial found HERE:

http://beaverislandnews.com/How%20serio ... 0taxes.pdf

As a St. James taxpayer, I think this is subject that needs serious discussion.

Joe Moore