Read the column here.
Unified Government’s Public Hearing on the FY 2013 Budget:
The “double dip” housing market problem (of particular note
for local readers are the absolutely horrid numbers for the Atlanta market):
The “shadow” inventory problem:
The “robo-signing” settlement problem (originally applicable
to five major banks in February, expanded to another eight in March; by the
way, true to form and reminiscent of the tobacco settlement of years ago, several
states have already started to apply their windfalls not to redress mortgage
foreclosure problems as intended, but to plug various holes in their budgets):
http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2012/03/19/fed-plans-to-fine-eight-more-banks-for-foreclosure-violations/
Addendum
I never stated that the only way to account for the additional
revenue needed was by adding owner-occupied residential units, as I am fully
aware that local government has a variety of income sources. What I said was “That means the equivalent
of more than 6.3 homes, just like ours, must be added to the county’s property
tax digest every day for the entire year to account for the new spending in the
proposed FY 2013 budget.” Since the
point of my column concerned City Hall’s millage rate, this seemed a useful way
of presenting my argument.
Be that as it may, the proposed FY 2013 Operating Budget is
$104,338,470 and the proposed FY 2013 Capital Current Services and Additions
& Improvements budget is $3,194,000, for a total of $107,532,470. The equivalent figures for FY 2012 are $103,892,731,
$2,300,800, and $106,193,331, respectively
So, even if one excludes the CCSA&I portion of the
budgets, FY 2013 is still increasing spending by $445,739 over that of FY 2012.
FY 2013: http://athensclarkecounty.com/DocumentCenter/Home/View/9383
(see page A-3)
FY 2012: http://athensclarkecounty.com/DocumentCenter/Home/View/3629
(see page A-9)
Also, see these previous Banner-Herald articles that mention
a $107.5 million figure for the FY 2013 budget:
http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2012/04/12/the-true-unemployment-rate-tr...
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/05/04/why-did-the-unemployment-rate-...
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230475280457738422097782764...
Oregon Labor Market Information System:
http://www.qualityinfo.org/olmisj/ArticleReader?itemid=00000486
Bureau of Labor Statistics:
http://bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpihqaitem.htm
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpihqaqanda.htm
http://www.bls.gov/cpi/cpiaudio.htm