Greensboro property owners: Are you willing to pony up $12.50 per year to keep the White Street Landfill closed?
That's how much the city manager's office estimates that a homeowner could save on their taxes assuming their house is assessed at $100,000 of valuation, based on the "push and pack" option to reopen the landfill that was approved by council last week.
The tax rate reduction that could be realized is 1.25 cents.
Staff ran the numbers in response to a question posed by Mayor Pro Tem Nancy Vaughan at yesterday's briefing session.
That said, no promise has been made that the savings realized from reopening the landfill will be realized. To the contrary, at-large Councilman Danny Thompson has been talking up the idea of plowing the savings from reopening the landfill into a solid waste enterprise fund to purchase an equity stake in a future regional landfill.
Ed Cone has also explored that idea.
8 comments:
I have to admit a little bit of ignorance on this:
Because I don't own property, does this mean that even if the savings were given back to residents, I wouldn't save anything?
What percentage of residents don't own their properties? I wonder if there is any correlation between property ownership and market value of that property and support for the landfill.
If we followed a proposal like Thompson's, where even property owners don't see savings, what exactly is the argument in favor of changing our disposal methods?
I think a useful concept for considering the tax burden is that renters pay property tax through their rent. Landlords always argue that they will have to pass on the the cost of burdensome regulations to their tenants, so it should work in reverse, too. So, if the landfill reopens and the savings is passed on to taxpayers, then renters should should have strong grounds to argue for a reduction in their monthly rent of, say, 80 cents per month.
Thompson's idea here is not inherently unsound, but may not be realistic. It's basically to invest the savings on behalf of the taxpayers rather than to give them immediate dividends. Theoretically, by putting funds aside in a solid waste enterprise fund that could be invested in an equity stake in a future regional landfill the city could realize more significant savings over the long run.
But, since none of us would ever bother to ask for such a minor rent reduction, and even if we did our landlords likely wouldn't grant it or reduce rent on their own regardless of the savings, realistically renters wouldn't save anything.
Thanks for clarifying Thompson's proposal too.
Good point.
By the way, during the briefing Wade made a distinction between property owners and renters, saying that renters won't be affected by a lost savings to taxpayers by not opening the landfill, so she appears to be arguing that property owners have shouldered an undue burden from the city's decision to close the landfill in 2006.
$7 million annual savings / 70,000 households (is that a good guess?) would be $100 per household. Which of my numbers is off?
Here's the math, as provided by Nelsie Smith, assistant to the city manager:
"The full calculation is shown below:
"$3,077,789 (projected savings) / 2,375,000 (penny on tax rate generates) = 1.296 cents
"The tax rate reduction that could be realized is 1.25 cents.
"Current taxes on $100,000 property = (100,000 / 100) X .6325 = $632.50
"Revised taxes on $100,000 property = (100,000 / 100) X .6200 = $620.00
"Difference = $12.50"
I can't say I complete understand every step of the formula. Does that answer your question?
Everybody keeps talking about the so-called "savings" without considering the loss in revenue to the city from reduced property taxes from the hundreds of nearby homes. Plus, consider the 10s of businesses that would simply go under due to reduced traffic as customers simply refuse to patronize them due to the awful smell. This would PERMANENTLY DECIMATE the local Northeast Greensboro economy, and weaken the city as a whole.
These cost calculations about $12.50/homeowner is, quite frankly, insulting to the people who live near the landfill. It devalues us; our worth, our livelihoods, our lives. For example, how can the City justify spending $18million/year (equals roughly $80.00/homeowner extrapolating from the $12.50 argument) on public parks without any brouhaha, and turn around and raise such cane about $3.1million/year to spare 8,000 tax-paying citizens the harm and nuisance of a stinky landfill?
Not that I consider it a waste of tax-payers' $18 million dollars to maintain and revitalize our public parks - far from that. This is just so the discussion can be out in proper perspective.
The solution is obvious and simple:
1. Keep White Street Landfill closed. This ensures future growth of the city eastward, and brings relevance and meaning to the millions we spent building the transportation "urban loop" around the city.
2. Pursue the "Regional Solution" with Randolph county. That landfill is several miles away from their population centers, and could be developed in a true Green Processing Plant for capturing and re-selling of natural gas and other forms of energy.
3. White Street could be used for a solar energy farm, for example. National Solar Power, of Melbourne, Florida has recently shown interest, and while we were not selected, it exemplifies the kind of forward-thinking ideas that the City Council could (and SHOULD) be considering.
Some may not know this, but the GTCC Technology Center at the corner of E. Wendover and Penry Rd (also in Northeast Greensboro) was initially intended for A PRISON! Yes, A PRISON(!) until residents protested, and now we have something better and safe for the community - a school. Build prisons and landfills in the county woods, not in our neighborhoods.
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