One town balances public and private needs; who else will?

We pleaded in June that governments let taxpayers keep some of the huge gains they can collect from soaring tax bases. Hats off to Miami Lakes, which is letting taxpayers keep all the town’s property tax windfall.

That will aid about 1% of Miami-Dade taxpayers. Let’s see how far other cities will go to lighten economic loads by reducing tax rates to compensate for higher property values.

The Miami Lakes Town Council voted to cut the town tax rate by 9.3%. That doesn’t mean it will collect less taxes from anyone than it does this year, just that it will collect little to no more.

That’s because taxable values of all properties in town rose an average of 9.3% as well, so depending on any property’s valuation rise and any applicable tax exemptions, an owner will pay about the same to the town next year as this year. With no cut, they would have paid 9.3% more than this year for town taxes.

The Miami Lakes cut is substantial. Most communities that want to help their taxpayers equally would cut rates even more.

That’s because taxable property values countywide rose an astounding 12.7% in a single year – 11.1% due to a rise in property values and 1.6% due to new construction, which increased taxable values countywide more than $6 billion in a year. The Miami Lakes value increase of 9.3% was actually below average.

So when this week Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava called for a 1% rate cut on general county taxes, the county would still take in 11.7% more tax revenues under her plan.

The mayor would not lower rates in the unincorporated municipal services area, which would get a 10.7% growth windfall; the fire and rescue district, which would gain a 12.5% windfall; and the library district, which would collect a 12.6% windfall.

While Miami Lakes, for example, won’t collect more tax money than in the past, its residents will be paying those double-digit increases in county taxes under Mayor Levine Cava’s budget. The town’s restraint will just slow the tax burden’s rapid growth.

County rates aren’t set in stone just because Mayor Levine Cava proposed them. The commission could slow the county budget increase, and hence the tax increase. Because so many commissioners are in their first budget year, it’s hard to guess whether they are more oriented toward spending every dollar possible or helping taxpayers as much as possible.

We would never expect the county to bypass a budget jump. Each commissioner can no doubt devise a dozen worthy ways to spend more taxes. You and I both could too. And we know that the mayor already has.

But every taxing authority in this county needs to find a balance between spending everything possible – all for worthy causes, of course – and protecting the taxpayers.

Every official knows that the vast majority of Miami-Dade residents are not taxpayers. You must own property to be taxed. Most of us don’t own property. And a good slice of taxpayers don’t even live here – they live elsewhere, even abroad, but own properties here.

That makes taxpayers far fewer than voters, just as voters are far fewer than all adults who reside here. So who do elected officials look to aid: the taxpayers, the voters, or the people as a whole?

It is the taxpayers who pay, the voters who choose mayors and commissioners, and a far larger group who benefit from government services – including our 50-plus million annual visitors.

All the people have more and more needs, and government will pay for as many as it can out of the wallets of taxpayers, whose property values have truly soared. Unfortunately, added valuation does not yield money to pay those taxes until properties are sold at those higher values. Therefore, added taxes increase property owners’ current tax burdens.

Burden increases at last year’s tax rates would be significant: excluding new construction, values of existing properties rose 12.6% in Miami, 10.3% in Miami Beach, 10.4% in Coral Gables, 10.4% in Hialeah, 12.9% in North Miami, 15.5% in North Miami Beach, 16.2% in Bay Harbor Islands – everywhere, in fact, except a 1.6% decline in Virginia Gardens.

Every elected official can argue why every penny available should go to government. But then, the people who are paying the taxes and to whom the money now belongs can tell you why they should keep it.

Let’s hope other officials match the statement by Miami Lakes Mayor Manny Cid after the town’s significant tax rate cut: “We take care of Miami Lakers’ pocketbooks while ensuring that local government provides top tier service to the community.”

The county’s proposed 1% cut is window dressing. Miami Lakes’ 9.3% is real.