Despite the implication of Gray and the above article, Revenue from City property taxes only makes up 48% of the City revenue!
Other revenue sources are Regulatory Licenses, DECD Licenses/Permits, Public Safety Fees, Public Works Fees, Miscellaneous Revenue, Other Income, and Use of Fund Balance Reserves.
Do you wonder why the City’s Health Care premiums are so high? Check out slide #39 of http://www.co.lancaster.pa.us/lancastercity/lib/lancastercity/2010_budget/2010_proposed_budget_summary.pdf Also, IIRC, these plans do not have deductibles or employer co-pays.
More questions: When did the City go beyond it’s property taxes for revenue? Can we get a dollar figure for the last few decades for each revenue category for each year? How does the City’s health care coverage compare to the private sector?
The city’s health care coverage for public safety employees is excellent, and rightfully so. In no private sector career field is any private sector employee under a legal mandate to provide service to the public that places the employee in mortal danger as a part of the job description.
Don’t begrudge city employees good healthcare at low cost to the employee.
Ask the question this way: Why is it that over the course of 5 years, healthcare costs increased by about $16,000 per employee?