Relying on the property tax

New England states are more dependent on the property tax to fund local services, including schools, than most other regions. Nationwide, about half of local revenues come from the property tax. But older industrial cities need to charge higher rates on lower assessed values to get the revenue they need, said Barry Bluestone, Stearns Trustee Professor of Political Economy and Director of the Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University in Boston. Bluestone spoke at a Lincoln Lecture Nov. 2 at Lincoln House titled “The Potential for Uneven Economic Development in Massachusetts: The Role of Property Taxation and State Local Aid.”
The property tax is a stable source of revenue generally, but it does put older industrial cities such as Pittsfield, New Bedford, Fall River, and Lawrence at a disadvantage: the more they raise rates, the harder it is to attract economic development. The state does step in to make up for shortfalls in local revenue, mostly in the area of school funding. But the state revenue stream is subject to vagaries of the economy, resulting in instability for non-educational local government funding. Spending on police per capita appears even across municipalities, but a closer look reveals much greater police spending per crime in thriving suburban communities, Bluestone said.
One surprising finding in Bluestone’s research: the inequities would be much greater without Proposition 2 ½, which limits the increase in revenue raised from the property tax across all 351 Massachusetts cities and towns.

http://www.lincolninst.edu/news/atlincolnhouse.asp

Tonight the local Chittenden County crowd was treated to a discussion with Senator Bernie Sanders at the 2007 CCMPO Annual Meeting. Sanders brought the rather progressive discussion from the Executive Director Scott Johnstone up a level by providing some legitimacy of federal policy and probably more importantly ..dollars to the discussion.

Much as the ULI’s annual meeting discussed transportation as it relates to land use - the more fundamental discussion is based on finding money to pay for transportation infrastructure that pretty much everyone agrees is necessary. The ULI discussion highlights comments from John Horsley from AASHTO discussing the VMT method of fees - but says it is out of reach for 10 to 20 years…

John Horsley, executive director of the American Association State
Highway and Transportation Officials, pointed out the impending crisis
at the federal level, a consequence of rapid increases in the price of
materials needed in construction and a flat gas tax per gallon which
has not been raised in 14 years. The highway trust fund is expected to
generate less income than planned spending by 2009, a deficit which
would cause sharp reductions in funding to states. New approaches for
charging drivers, such as by miles driven, may be more effective in the
10-20 year period, but for now AASHTO is calling for a 10-cent increase
in the federal gas tax to restore its buying power.

Come on… 10 to 20 years for a sustainable funding mechanism to be established? This could be established much sooner than that if people are willing to move forward and face the future.

Senator Sanders discussed his future role in the next transportation bill and mention that impacts from global warming, supporting transit, and moving people from their SOVs are intentions - however - given the recent reports from AASHTO and ASCE of the inadequacy of our current transportation infrastructure - significant pressure is being placed on highway infrastructure replacement. While this is of course an extremely important area we much address - but, perhaps first we need to decide … when is it time to NOT replace some infrastructure. The Operation and Maintaince of our current system is tremoundous, and the costs of maintaining it will only continue to increase given the future demand for oil based materials will increase in cost.

I urged the Senator to use the term Sprawl in his discussions in the next transportation bill. This term should be used to denote the unsustainable land use and development patterns leading to inefficient transportation systems (only one significant cost of sprawl).

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this is the news of the Day - Vermont has the ability to set Emissions Targets!

Article - Courtesy of the Union of Concerned Scientists

September 12, 2007

Federal Court Rules Automakers Have Technology to Makes Cleaner Cars
Court Upholds State Tailpipe Standards to Curb Global Warming Pollution

WASHINGTON (September 12, 2007) - A federal judge in Vermont today ruled that states can regulate vehicle global warming pollution, rejecting U.S. automakers claims that they don’t have the technology to meet the new standards and that they are pre-empted by federal law.

Related Links

UCS Vanguard

UCS Vanguard Brochure (pdf)

Technical Report (pdf)

The judge, William K. Sessions, reviewed analysis by Union of Concerned Scientists when making his deliberations. Earlier this year, UCS unveiled a vehicle design, dubbed the Vanguard, which would exceed the state standard by cutting global warming pollution by more than 40 percent using conventional, off-the-shelf technology.

Below is a statement by Michelle Robinson, director of the Clean Vehicles Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“This stunning ruling will be seen as a turning point in the fight to protect Americans from the worst consequences of global warming. Judge Sessions affirmed what we at the Union of Concerned Scientists have been saying for years: Automakers have the technology today to meet this global warming pollution standard in a cost-effective way. Vermont and 11 other states have been leading the way by adopting this standard that originated in California, and now the federal government should adopt a standard that is at least as stringent.

“Meanwhile, the Environmental Protection Agency now has no excuse to stand in the way of state implementation. If the agency granted the necessary waiver, the dozen states that have adopted the standard would be able to cut as a much as 100 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020.”

Melinda Moulton interviewed David Sellers an architect in the Waitsfield area on her live TV show on Channel 17 in Burlington, vermont. You can check out all the shows here: http://www2.cctv.org/rss/index.php?cat=1.Live@5:25Shows

David Sellers -

what can we do to reduce sprawl and improve?

“Citizen’s Group (that can gather some identity) to lobby Montpelier to put a moratorium on some things such as the ‘Circ’, put in passenger rail, put pressure on new high-tech connections between Cities.”

David has an interesting view of sustainable living - be sure to check him out on his blog -

Check out his blog at http://sprawlfreevermont.blogspot.com/

Jon appeared on the Burlington, Vermont local Channel 17 on the Live at 5:25 Call-in show. The show was sponsored by CEDO and focused on the public participation process on the Transportation Plan. Jon appeared on behalf of the Burlington Walking Work Group and presented some information on how the Burlington Walking Work Group provides input in the process.

Jon also described the efforts that led up to the first Burlington Pedestrian Summit and the process that has occured since with the formation of the Burlington Walking Work Group.

Check here for the podcast once it is released.

Coming to us from PBS - given the recent scrutiny of the Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure, the US’s Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters spoke on how the US is addressing the problem.

Transportation Secretary Discusses Concerns About National Infrastructure
The bridge collapse in Minneapolis earlier this month raised questions about the state of the aging transportation infrastructure. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters discusses what the government is doing to ensure its safety.

More on this to come - there is a lot here for thought.

One quick read though came up with an interesting little line from Peters:

GWEN IFILL: Who is spending the money inappropriately?

MARY PETERS: Well, there’s about probably some 10 percent to 20 percent of the current spending that is going to projects that really are not transportation, directly transportation-related. Some of that money is being spent on things, as I said earlier, like bike paths or trails. Some is being spent on museums, on restoring lighthouses, as I indicated.

This is an outrage to anyone walking, biking. For instance - in Burlington, Vermont as stated in the 2000 Cencus, 18% of people walked or biked to work! In the Downtown core of the City that percentage jumps to 30%. Burlington is only 40,000 people! Because Land Use and transportation is so incredibly linked - we need to consider these modes as transportation, and sidewalks, and bike paths as transportation infrastructure.

Mary Peters - the head of our transportation department - doesn’t agree. I may be making too much out of it, since she is a very intelligent person, however, there is obviously a tinge of prejudice regarding biking.

You can read the transcript here

Hello All -

This weekend we have a big event going on nationwide - calling for a 80% reduction in Carbon emissions by 2050! Now - that is a big goal - but hey - lets start big for two reasons (1) We need to in order to minimize the already catastrophic effects of Global Warming (2) If you start with a grand goal - perhaps we can get close to it!

Go here to find out more: http://stepitup2007.org/index.php

For all of those reading this Blog from the good state of Vermont there are something like 65 or so events planned all over the State!

I will be attending the one in Burlington on the 14th. That is if the winter weather doesn’t destroy the whole thing and Senator Sanders can come and participate. Vermont Actions.  The local Burlington Step It Up Site:

In other news:
The City of Burlington is starting to put some additional measures into effect to help curb the Carbon emissions from our tailpipes with the recent proclamation by the Mayor on an Anti-Idling Campaign. The Burlington police will now begin enforcing a law that has been on the books for the past several years.

It is good to see that Burlington’s retail establishments are seeing that supporting the biking crowd can perhaps be a beneficial business plan - If we can all reduce our vehicle miles driven - we can improve our air quality, reduce our roadway congestion, become healthier (as we walk and bike more), and hopefully reduce our impact on this earth.

Check out the program here - and encourage your business to sign up! [Bicycle Benefits]

I would encourage you to support these businesses and to all show your support for a City wide business plan that supports local first!
The benefits of bicycling [link to article]

Published: Wednesday, April 11, 2007
By Lauren Ober
Free Press Staff Writer

The benefits of bicycling are many: improved physical fitness, zero carbon emissions and reduction in road congestion. Now, thanks to a new initiative called Bicycle Benefits, discounts on coffee, clothing, shoes and food can be added to the list.Bicycle Benefits began in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and is the brainchild of brothers Ian, 29, and Dillon Klepetar, 21. The program is simple. Local businesses reward cyclists in the form of discounts for riding bicycles instead of driving cars. Discounts are no less than 10 percent and can go up to 25 percent.

As long as cyclists have a Bicycle Benefits sticker on their helmets, they are entitled to the discounts at participating businesses. Having to show the helmet with the sticker is a way of promoting bicycle safety, Dillon Klepetar said.

The program has operated successfully in Saratoga Springs for two years and the younger Klepetar, a junior at St. Michael’s College, recently brought it to Burlington, hoping that people here will be even more receptive to the idea of providing incentives for alternative modes of transportation.

Klepetar, a psychology and political science major, peddled the program to local businesses all winter and has 23 on board, including American Apparel, Dobra Tea, Nectar’s and ECHO science center and aquarium. He sold the idea to the businesses as an opportunity to increase revenue.

“More people are going to go through their doors because they’re a bicycle destination,” Klepetar said. “If bikers know they’ll get a discount, they’re more likely to go.”

In choosing the businesses to approach, Klepetar said he wanted one from “each discipline” to retain the benefits the business might gain from participating. To that end, there is one Thai restaurant, one pizza joint, one shoe store, etc., and there is very little overlap. In Saratoga Springs, about 50 merchants participate in the program.

“They’re happy because they sort of monopolize the environmental community in town,” Klepetar said.

Klepetar is almost messianic in his desire to see fewer cars on the road and more people biking or walking. The program’s mission — to get people out of cars and onto bikes — sums up his personal philosophy. The towheaded student, who wears plastic bags inside his shoes to keep his feet dry while biking in the winter, says people need to start living a sustainable lifestyle.

“I think we need to re-evaluate the convenience and impact of driving a car. Biking is healthy on many different levels,” he said.

Chapin Spencer, executive director of Local Motion, a nonprofit bicycling/pedestrian advocacy organization, applauds the program’s goals, but said its success relies on people’s knowing about the program.

“It needs a fair bit of horsepower to sustain it and market it,” Spencer said. “The challenge is to organize it so it’s viable long-term.”

Spencer said Local Motion is committed to helping Klepetar get Bicycle Benefits off the ground and said that in the future they would like to see a pedestrian element to the program.

Local merchants seem to be on board with the program. American Apparel manager Melissa Claus said she thinks “it’s pretty cool,” and said it’s definitely something the forward-thinking retail company wants to promote. Kathy Bouton, manager of the Peace & Justice Store, said she likes the idea of people’s being rewarded for not using their cars.

“We want to support anything that’s not adding to global warming,” Bouton said.

Klepetar says Burlington is the perfect city to support the Bicycle Benefits program because many people commute year-round on bikes, and if they can be rewarded for using a bicycle, that should be all the more reason to abandon the car and strap on the helmet.

“It’s about making the inconvenient choice because it’s right,” Klepetar said about biking instead of driving. “You have to listen to your environmental conscience.”

Contact Lauren Ober at 660-1868 or lober@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com