Yes means yes. No means try again.
That seems to be the message that local governments take from the voters with respect to tax increase proposals. When one fails, you can almost guarantee that something similar will be on the ballot in the future. With the deadline for the November 2007 ballot approaching, two tax hikes previously rejected by the voters will return to the ballot in November.
One is the KRESA tax for the Croyden school, which was rejected in May. It has been slightly reduced since the previous proposal.
(This is not to be confused with the other KRESA tax, which was approved in 2005. It was funneled to local school districts whether they needed it or not. School officials want to renew it, even though it was promoted as a one-time fix.)
The other is the Portage Public Schools tax hike. It also has been reduced since last time. It has also been broken into two proposals. The board voted 5-2 to put the proposals on the ballot. Conservatives Wendy Mazer and Melanie Kurdys voted against raising taxes.
The timing of the KRESA proposal appears to be strategic. The only other things on the ballot will be city commission elections in Kalamazoo and Portage. Kalamazoo, and to a much lesser extent Portage are more likely to support tax hikes than the surrounding townships. Higher turnout in those jurisdictions could put the KRESA proposal over the top.
1 comment:
We had this in Grand Rapids where GRCC tried a millage, had it defeated so they just went ahead and put it on the ballot again.
Guess what. It failed again.
Now there's some talk in the "progressive" circles in GR that they'll try a third time.
Take the hint, boys and girls.
--Nick
www.RightMichigan.com
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