It's almost become a regional joke. It's whispered through the halls of power to describe all of Gary's failings in one number.
Our property tax collection rate is abysmal. But can you blame people for not paying? Our city has lost so much population that the people left are paying twice as much for half the services our next-door neighbors get in Porter County. Less money means less ambulances and firemen, less teachers who are all poorer-paid, and a school system constantly on the precipice of complete collapse. The state of emergency never ends- it's just the new normal. If you call a policeman for a nonviolent crime, you can count yourself lucky if they show up within the hour. Yet, somehow we make it work. Everyone knows things shouldn't be this way. Most just accept it and resign themselves to thinking that things will never change. I don't.
In reality, Gary doesn't have a property tax problem- it has a city services problem. If there was some way for the city to provide services at a lower cost (or even free), it would go a long way to solving most of our city's issues and making what little money we do have last longer.
What if I told you there is?
Even better, what if I told you that there was a way we could motivate ordinary citizens to help make it happen?
That's right. Everyday people like you and me working to not just keep our city's proverbial lights on, but make it a better place. Getting local officials on board is only one small piece of the puzzle- but a very important one nonetheless.
The answer is simple. Allow people to do community service in exchange for an up-to 75% abatement on property tax. Full discount isn't provided since the city still needs some money for operating expenses, maintenance and office supplies. Many other cities already allow people to pay fines with service time, and this is only the logical next step.
This solution is radical, and I would be a fool if I expected anyone to seriously consider it if I didn't prove how it not only saves the city money and time, but is also necessary if we want to jumpstart revitalization efforts.
First, a question:
What is the purpose of property tax? It's not to make public servants wealthy. Ideally elected positions would be unpaid, but since everyone has bills that's impractical. The theory is that residents pitch in a certain amount of money yearly to help pay for city services, correct? That's not that big of a leap to contributism- where community members each pitch in a certain amount of time weekly to help maintain their communities and in return receive unimaginable abundance. There are so many benefits to this system that after you're finished reading this paper you'll want to beat down the doors of your city hall and demand it's immediate implementation.
"Take care of your community, and your community will take care of you".
First, let's talk green: Here's a financial analysis to explain how this benefits local government.
Money speaks. Even if you don't believe in charity or humanitarianism, adopting this policy just makes sense economically speaking.
The average property tax bill for a house in Gary is $3500 dollars, based on the median home value of $48,700 (Zillow) and a tax rate of 0.07 cents/$100 derived from the DLGF. Half of our houses cost more, and half cost less. From anecdotal evidence, I can say most in my neighborhood pay closer to $4000.
If one working-age adult lives in that house and does 10 hours of community service per week, (which they obviously would, otherwise taxes wouldn't be collected in the first place), assuming a wage of $10 per hour, that's $100 worth of work weekly. Taking out a two week break for Christmas and New Year's, 50 weeks of service translates to $5000 worth of value created for the community.
Immediately, the city earns a profit of $1000. But that's not all. The city actually pays more than $10 an hour to it's employees: The added price of salaries, insurance, unions and benefits makes it closer to $25 an hour. That means the amount of work we can do with what we have doubles.
If that wasn't enough incentive, every adult living in a home would be asked to join the program to receive this discount and all the benefits listed in our action plan. If there are two adults living in a home, as is the case with couples or healthy families, then the profit Gary receives skyrockets to $6000 worth of extra city services. Even if just one household takes the city up on it's offer, the city saves $6000 every single year.
And you can believe once citizens fully understand how this isn't just an isolated program, but part of a complete plan to revitalize the city, you'll find thousands of homeowners eager and willing to sign up. It's a win-win for everyone involved! First in line should be the over 10,000 unemployed adults living in town. Eventually, everyone in Gary- all 70,000 of us- should be contributing to the community's wellbeing. That comes later.
Employment and Budget Data
The City of Gary employs roughly 1,400 people. The school district, 2000, Housing, 117, Library 47, and Airport 16. Altogether, a total of 3580 people were employed by local government units in Gary, not counting the Sanitary District where there was no data available. (DLGF). A good 30-50% of those jobs can be done by community members or otherwise shared.
Yearly budgets average around $58 million dollars. In 2015, the yearly salary budget amounted to $36 million. We could probably cut that in half. What could we do with an extra $10 million each year? There's plenty of room for savings.
Imagine doubling the number of police officers walking the streets.
Imagine all of our libraries not just open, but thriving.
Imagine our old schools transformed into productive spaces that help feed and raise money for projects all over town.
Imagine all of our parks and streets regularly cleaned by local residents who get rewarded for taking pride in their community.
I can already see it. Can you?
Now, let's talk green- the color of growth and urban renewal.
When most people think "community service", they see people cleaning up litter, feeding the homeless and maybe working at a nursing home. Those are all great things- but that isn't what we mean when we say "community service".
We're talking about projects and programs that will help (literally) rebuild Gary- transforming it within 5 years into an abundant city that's beyond self sufficient in food production, energy and housing. We mean reversing the flow of money- from one where Gary residents do all their shopping in Merillville and Hammond to one where surrounding communities do all their shopping in Gary. Think it's impossible? Think again. These projects are detailed in the Ubuntu action plan for racial and economic justice, but here are a few examples:
- Large scale community agriculture: Efforts at urban farming have been scattered and piecemeal because there's no unifying incentive for people to participate, or serious plan. Every inch of Gary should be productive in some way, and this even includes open fields of grass. Being abundant means that you produce far more than you can ever possibly use. A rule of thumb is to produce three times the amount of food that your community requires. We then sell this food to surrounding cities at half-price and use the money to fund the other projects. Try as they might, Walmart can't get it's employees to work for free. Since our prices can't be beat, guess where everyone will come to shop?The process begins with a well-advertised farmer's market and "Made in Gary" bazaar situated directly off 80/94.
- Building new housing and renovating existing properties: Using open schooling to train residents in masonry, carpentry, plumbing and wiring, we can mobilize large "reconstruction mobs" to help create new, efficient housing in a short period of time. Reconstruction mobs don't build one house here and there- they work one block at a time to create cohesive neighborhoods. Mobs of 20-100 people each trained in a specific aspect of the homebuilding process work in an assembly-line system, moving from house to house to complete a specific task. People given these houses then pay off their debt by helping to build two more homes for other people. Suddenly, an unstoppable chain reaction of revitalization takes off and gathers speed. To lower the costs, smaller single-person homes can be built with shared community kitchens and laundromats. Each home can be built for approximately $15,000, paid for by the resident over 10 years.
Multiple homes can be connected townhome-style so that families can live together.
Sand, clay and cement are the perfect material for these homes, since they're very inexpensive, durable and widely available. Adding just a bit of water to a 75-20-5 mix of sand, clay and cement allows them to be compressed into bricks and wall panels.
http://www.earth-auroville.com/maintenance/uploaded_pics/cseb.pdf
- Volunteering for desk work at city departments, schools and libraries: Community residents can easily fill the roles of desk secretaries and librarians, saving the city hundreds of thousands in salaries each year. This would be perfect for older citizens who aren't adept at physical work.
There are many other programs included in the reconstruction process and detailed in the action plan, but these are a good start.
- A practical guide to how this program would work.
This video was created by a group in Britain who's done the same thing- to excellent result.
Residents who do one hour of community service get one hour's worth of time credit that they can use to trade with other neighbors for an hour of their time. All time is valued equally because all of our contributions matter- and we all have a limited amount of time on Earth. Let's say Bernice spends one hour at West Side cleaning up or doing secretary work. She earns a time credit that she can then give to Shawn to mow her lawn.
10 hours is the minimum people can do each week to be eligible for benefits. For those who work overtime, they get time-and-a-half: 1.5 "hour" credits/hour. The physical time credits are not given to the city- those belong to the volunteer as a reward for their work. The tax is "paid" via the initial work done by the citizen.
To encourage people to go further, I propose discounts increase the longer you stay on.
10 hours - $50 discount
20 hours - $125 discount
50 hours - 5% discount
100 hours - 15% discount
200 hours - 30% discount
300 hours - 45 % discount
400 hours - 60% discount
500 hours - 75% discount (max)
Local service-oriented businesses also get in on the action. By accepting time credits, they also become eligible as places to earn them. A great example is the barber shop who offers haircuts for 1 hour's worth of TC. Now, someone who volunteers to help sweep up hair will be eligible to earn free haircuts on an hour-for-hour basis.
A community job resource will be created to post job and project listings- with people encouraged to stick to a single project for a week, though the exact specifications will be set by the person listing the job.
So there you have it. With people given the autonomy to choose how they want to help the city, tax collection rates will improve- along with the entire region. Thanks for reading, and if you'd like to make a difference, share this with your councilman! http://www.gary.in.us/city-departments/
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