Thank you for your question. It is a valid concern, especially as our population ages, and more and more folks are on fixed incomes. As the City prepares the budget spending plan each year, the discussion around managing expenditure growth and holding taxes down is at the top. We are often asked to explain the relationship between taxes and fees and the use of public services.

Taxes are generally applied to support the funding of services for the whole community. For example, taxes are collected in relation to the activities of property ownership, generating income, or selling goods. These funds are used to support services that are generally considered the entitlement of all community members such as the support of health, safety, and education regardless of the individual use of such services. Taxes will generally follow economic factors such as population, inflation, cost of living, or home valuations. Unless a specific legal exception is made, classes of citizens are generally not exempted from those taxes.

Fees, on the other hand, are directly linked to the cost of providing a service. Fees may be reduced by simply refusing to use the service or the decreasing cost of providing the service. Therefore the budget plan reflects the priority of spending so that all community members receive the greatest value for the taxes that have been paid. Anyone may provide feedback on any specific issue for explanation and justification of spending, and we encourage all to participate through the current budget connect process.

Chandler has done this successfully over the years, as the following community comparison shows. Chandler falls in the bottom 4 communities with the lowest property tax rate compared to other Cities.

This chart shows the portion of the bill that the City receives and has control over. Although only 9.8% of your property tax dollar belongs to the City, Chandler has successfully held this rate low through the years. The majority of these funds pay principle and interest on debt incurred to ensure quality infrastructure (i.e. streets, parks, libraries, public safety facilities, etc.) which are used by our entire community.

We thank you for your question and add that as we prepare the FY 2018-19 Budget for the City, this concern will be vetted and discussed.

Thank you,