Dear editor:

Last year, Cass County imposed $8.51 million of taxes on property in Cass County and just spent $7.2 million on salaries, goods and services. The difference of $1.35 million was added to net unrestricted reserves. The year before last, $1.12 million of unexpended taxes were added to reserves and the year before that, $982,000 of unspent taxes were added to reserves. As of last year, Cass County’s audited financial statements showed we had $16.75 million of unrestricted net assets on hand, more per resident than either Kalamazoo or Van Buren counties.

During my review of last year’s audited Cass County financial statements, I discovered we had actually accumulated $19 million of unrestricted net assets, more on a per-resident basis than any county in Michigan. While last year’s financial statements are being corrected to show the extra $2.2 million of unrestricted net assets, we are also preparing to set the county tax rate for 2010, which will cover taxes due in September. Meanwhile, we are halfway through our 2010 year and have spent $650,000 less than our budget. It would appear we are heading for another $1.3 million of excess taxes over expenses unless we take correction action.

On May 20 I will prose to my fellow commissioners that we refund last year’s $1.35 million of excess tax collection in the form of rebate checks to the working families of Cass County. I will also propose a reduction of one-half of one mill in our county tax rate for the next three years. For a family living in a $100,000 house, the rebate would be $37.65 and the tax reduction would amount to $25 per year for three years.

Government should not be in business of collecting taxes they have no intention of using.

Cass County Commissioner David Taylor
District 7