OPINION: Tax Growth Projections
The City released the draft budget for 2022-2023 last week and it’s on the May 16 Council agenda. ( City of Piedmont 2022-2023 Budget).
The City describes 2020-2021 transfer tax revenue ($6.3M) as an outlier, but that remains to be seen. 2021 transfer tax revenue was a record for Piedmont that may well be broken this year. Through the first quarter of the 2021-22 fiscal year, transfer tax revenue was ahead of last year by about 24% and carried over the year that comes to a transfer tax of $7.8M for 2021-2022. Staff may provide an update on this tax revenue at tonight’s meeting.
So this is good news but will it last? I don’t know, but it strikes me that averaging over the past 10 years is too conservative an approach that naturally leads the City to seek tax increases to make up for funding it projects it won’t receive when in fact it will. The City should at least run two financial projections – flat growth and expected growth – to provide City Council with a more balanced report for long-term planning. Perhaps the Budget Advisory and Financial Planning Committee can request this from staff.
Garrett Keating, Former Piedmont City Council Member