Opportunity missed

To the decision-makers who chose not to increase property taxes this year: Thank you. Thanks for resisting the urge to further burden so many residents still struggling mightily from the after-effects of the Great Recession.

But before this gratitude grows ungainly, we take a step back and say: To every taxing entity in the county, we think you could do better. We think you're going to have to do better in the years ahead.

Kootenai County, the city of Post Falls and Kootenai County Fire & Rescue were among the rare birds that did not peck into people's property taxes more in their newly adopted budgets than they did a year ago. Most of the others took what they prefer to call "small" tax hikes, noting their discipline at not accessing the full 3 percent allowed by state law.

Duly noted. But not overly appreciated.

Here was a lost opportunity, a time to cut, not to maintain.

It's difficult enough these days for most families to make ends meet. But the road ahead, in our view, is going to become even more challenging, no matter who's elected on Nov. 6.

That's because steps our nation must take - including reducing spending, which can be accomplished only by reducing services, grants and other massive funding mechanisms - will have a significant impact on our state and on taxing entities at every local level. You don't need a crystal ball to see the trickle-down effect that will be created when Uncle Sam goes on his desperately needed diet.

A couple of things must happen. The first is universal: We all need to think clearly about relying less on governmental services, whether it's for welfare, for new buildings or for smoother streets. How can we ethically complain about high tax rates when we demand increasingly expensive federal, state and local services?

And at the local taxing level, decision makers must get better at figuring out their priorities and then sticking to them. By law they'll be limited to 3 percent property tax increases, not including additional funds once new-growth rates are experienced again. Assuming federal and state governments cut their aid, that might not be enough to keep status quo, let alone provide higher levels of service desired by a burgeoning population.

With reduced services must come reduced payrolls, which constitute a lion's share of overall expense for most taxing entities. The significant reduction of government jobs will be painful but must be confronted as unavoidable. Ideally, the private sector will grow as the public sector shrinks, absorbing the best available governmental workers.

But for now, we may well lament the fact that during the recession and its aftermath, local taxing entities did not make tougher decisions and actually reduce their reliance on property taxpayers. That would have done more than let taxpayers save their hard-earned dollars against even darker days; it would have sparked some of the goodwill that will be needed when Big Brother's golden spigot gets turned down.