Home prices way down, should your city raise property taxes to make up for lost revenue?

In my home town the value of homes are down as much as 30 percent. Most of the revenue for schools and police comes from property taxes, so rapidly lower housing prices have cut the revenue needed for these important things.

What should the Mayor and City Council do with rapidly falling home asssesments and tax revenue, should they raise the tax rate to make up for the difference?

Start living with in there means! City county and state governments make decisions that affect the economic welfare of there citizens. They need to deal with the consequences. Just like you and I have to.

Maybe if the re salts of there decisions, hits in there own wallet they will start making better choices.

In most places, the city or county does not change the assessments as long as the decrease in value is fairly even. That way they don't have to raise the tax rate.

They tax the property not the house. Falling sale prices shouldn't affect their taxation calculation.

What would affect it is if people are moving away and homes were becoming abandoned.

Should they? No.

Will they? Yes.

City residents demand services. Property taxes pay for those services. There is not much else that they can do.