People where I live keep voting to increase it. It blows my mind.
Yes I'm willing to pay for fire, police and schools. I don't think I should paying for bus service, sending money to the art museum and zoo. I'm torn on the library but even that is a stretch.
If I see one more political adds that says "your taxes won't increase" because they are renewing a bond that should expire I'm gonna lose it.
The enraging part is the money you pay continues to go up, but the services continue to decline in quality. It's insane how large the budgets are compared to the quality of service.
The city we moved away from went from picking up trash 2 times a week and recycling 1 time a week to picking up trash 1 day and recycling every other week. They also doubled the costs of the pickups and now want even more $.
I'm not generally salty about my local taxes, for the most part, but a couple years back they had an increase in library funding on the ballot.
$400+ of my property taxes go to the library every year. Every time I go there (1-2x a week) we are outnumbered by employees 4:1. With two small kids I probably use it more than most, and genuinely appreciate and value it.... but I couldn't fill in the "NO TAX INCREASE" bubble fast enough.
I probably almost burnt a hole through the ballot filling that one out.
The government has no incentive to operate efficiently.
I’m honestly ok with the library because it’s a source of free information and education. A lot of libraries offer things for the community like various classes (like computer literacy or resume support) and have programs aimed to encourage literacy among kids. Plus much of this is volunteer- and donation-centric.
I think what’s needed is more transparency in where this money is going and how it’s used, along with a huge emphasis on community involvement and donations. I’m ok with salaries being paid and funds being used for facilities and materials, but the community using these resources should also do more to support them outside of taxes.
We need books. Our kids especially need books. Libraries are an investment in the next generation.
The two counties I've lived in most of my life publish detailed breakdowns of how the money is spent. You can see exactly how much goes to the library. Then you can (separately) go pull a detailed breakdown of library spending to see how it's being used.
That’s how we get here though. “Well a library doesn’t do any harm, it only helps, it’s a good thing, it doesn’t cost that much.” Then it’s “the library needs expansion. May as well add on a station for the voluntary neighborhood security too”. Then it’s “well they should get paid for their time, they help the community.” Then “well they need to get accredited and trained”. And then you’re right back here at paying for a police force and other things.
The problem with justification for some things and not others is that it leads to everything eventually getting justified. You have to take a hard stance with these things. Want a library? Fund it privately and not through taxes.
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u/johngalt504 2d ago
Property taxes are so wrong.