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Tempe the city with the highest tax rates in the state of Arizona is raising taxes AGAIN!!!!! Yes those ruler in the Peoples Republic of Tempe really know how to tax and spend!!!
Tempe implementing fee hikes, plans others
Katie Nelson TEMPE - Partying in a Tempe park now costs more, and so might driving after drinking. New fees were implemented by the city in 2006, and more could be coming this year. Rewind to 2001, when Tempe's number crunchers anticipated a $6 million budget deficit for the 2006/2007 fiscal year because of sagging local sales tax revenue and a shrinking share of state tax revenue. To help cope, city leaders asked each department to come up with ideas for cost cutting. The projected deficit later disappeared, thanks to a spike in buying, but many of those concepts were still embraced by a budget committee. The resulting cuts and increased fees showing up now are expected to bring Tempe $1.3 million. "It will be good for the future," said Tom Duensing, Tempe's deputy financial services manager. "Tempe's share (of state tax revenue) went from 4 percent to 3.4 percent as result of the mid-decade Census. The strong state economy has made things OK for now. When things level off at the state, it'll be a concern." Many of the new fees Tempe residents and visitors will be paying went into effect last year. The two biggest amounts are expected to come from a "prosecutor fee" tacked onto the court process and a new single-family home rental housing requirement. They were implemented through ordinances in September and October, respectively. So far 1,913 rental homes have been registered. The city doesn't have any estimates of how many others might be out there, said Dean Doubrava, a city tax and license administrator. Other fees are being considered. One that was presented to a council committee recently outlines the possibility of charging for police and firefighters' time during car accidents. Another version would be to charge people convicted of driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Those and similar concepts are being studied by the Police Department as a way to make money off Tempe's position at the top of list for the highest number of traffic accidents per capita. Tempe leaders are also looking at increasing the fees for holding events at Town Lake based on whether a group is local or out of state, or for-profit or non-profit. Recommendations for new rates could come as soon as this spring. Fee hike endorsed, more coming?
Katie Nelson Partying in a Tempe park now costs more, and so might driving after drinking. New fees were implemented by the city in 2006, and more could be coming this year. Rewind to 2001, when Tempe's number crunchers anticipated a $6 million budget deficit for the 2006-07 fiscal year because of sagging local sales tax revenue and a shrinking share of state tax revenue. To help cope, city leaders asked each department to come up with ideas for cost cutting. The projected deficit later disappeared thanks to a spike in buying, but many of those concepts were still embraced by a budget committee. The resulting cuts and increased fees showing up now are expected to bring Tempe $1.3 million. "It will be good for the future," said Tom Duensing, Tempe's deputy financial services manager. "Tempe's share (of state tax revenue) went from 4 percent to 3.4 percent as result of the mid-decade census. The strong state economy has made things OK for now. When things level off at the state, it'll be a concern." The money Tempe makes off these fees and the cost cutting goes into the general fund, Duensing said. There, it pays for city services such as fire, police, sanitation and roads. Last year, the city government started trimming fat through measures that will affect its employees, such as cutting back cellphone budgets and buying computers instead of leasing them. Other cost cutting will impact Tempe residents, such as canceling the Tempe Youthfest that has been at Kiwanis Park in the spring. Five hundred to 3,000 people came to the family day featuring education, athletic, academic and arts activities for kids, said Tom Canasi, Tempe's community services manager. "We ran it for four years and each year tried to tweak it and improve it, but ultimately the investment of the dollar return wasn't what we thought was worth it," Canasi said. Many of the new fees Tempe residents will be paying went into effect throughout last year. The two biggest amounts are expected to come from a "prosecutor fee" tacked onto the court process and a new single-family home rental housing requirement. They were implemented through ordinances in September and October, respectively. So far 1,913 rental homes have been registered. The city doesn't have any estimates of how many others might be out there, said Dean Doubrava, a city tax and license administrator. Other fees are being considered. |