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City by the Lake.org, The Voice of Michigan City, Indiana _ City Talk _ MCAS tax increase FAQ

Posted by: Southsider2k12 Apr 18 2015, 07:44 AM

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Posted by: Jesse B Apr 20 2015, 07:38 PM

What a joke. School board please learn to be fiscally sound before you take our money.


Posted by: taxthedeer Apr 20 2015, 07:56 PM

QUOTE(Southsider2k12 @ Apr 18 2015, 08:44 AM) *

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This looks like the same propaganda that the public relations firm that the school system hired to promote the referendum, comparing Michigan City's rate to those with the communities of Lake County.

That referendum was the first one that that public relations firm had ever lost.

My taxes did not go up that much because my property is not worth that much but my 71 year old widowed mother's went through the roof.



Posted by: Southsider2k12 May 6 2015, 03:37 PM

http://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/michigan-city-school-tax-rate-prompts-examination/article_3848d79c-7998-5abb-bf10-34eedc9f60a1.html

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By Stan Maddux Tribune Correspondent

Property owners in the Michigan City school district, which includes The Pines, are suffering from sticker shock due to a tripling of their tax rate.

School officials say the rate skyrocketed to make up for taxes in 2013 and 2014 being artificially low' during a period of financial uncertainty caused by delays in the countywide property tax reassessment, which is now completed.

Others, though, place some of the blame on the schools not reducting costs enough to compensate for millions of dollars in school revenue declines from the statewide property tax restructuring and a nearly 10 percent drop in the school district's assessed property values.

LaPorte County Council President Mark Yagelski, whose tax bill went up by $600, said people have contacted him claiming they don't have the money to pay this year's much higher tab.

He predicted if spending is not scaled back to a bare minimum, enrollment declines will grow from people moving elsewhere.
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Yagelski said the assessed value of the school district has fallen because aging house is worth less.

''So what happens is you have a situation like in Gary. Gary didn't happen because there was a black or white issue. It happened because there was a declining issue and if property values keep going down and people can't afford the taxes, they walk away,'' said Yagelski. ''This is the same thing that is happening to our system right now,'' he said.

Michigan City Schools Superintendent Barbara Eason-Watkins and school corporation business manager Lance Werner, along with the district's financial advisor Todd Samuelson, were called before the county council last week to address the concerns.

Samuelson, who's with the Indianapolis firm of Umbaugh & Associates, said the tax rate in 2013 and 2014 was just over 30 cents for every $100 of assessed valuation.

That generated about $10 million each year to fund school transportation, finance debt on prior construction projects and other things such as new technology purchases, he said.

The new rate, although much higher at 99 cents, will not produce any huge surpluses.

Instead, it will generate $24 million or the amount that should have been generated in each of the two previous years had the reassessment not been hanging in balance, he said.

''It's not going to create three times the money,'' said Samuelson.

Werner said the school corporation has reduced staff and taken other steps to trim millions of dollars from its operating costs.

''We've been trying to cut back as much as possible because the dollars are not there,'' said Werner, who noted an additional $4 million in lost revenue is expected this year when the state property tax cuts take full effect.

Councilwoman Lois Sosinski said no other school district in the county is having tax rates skyrocket and felt part of the blame was Michigan City taking on debt in the years when other local entities kept their purse strings much tighter until the reassessment was completed.

Yagelski said the new debt included building new elementary schools in Long Beach and The Pines and floating bond issues to cover debt payments that could not be met from the 2013 and 2014 cash flow shortage.

For many property owners, the increase is about equal the reduction in taxes they experienced the past two years.

Yagelski, though, said school officials knew two years ago the rate was going to triple, but failed to notify property owners who had they known could have started budgeting their funds to cover the increase.

''I definitely agree that better communication should have been provided,'' said Werner.

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