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0000017b-01f0-d19f-ab7b-19f505140000Listen to the series Monday, Wednesday and Friday on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. 13 City Council Candidates. Five Questions.WKAR reached out to 13 candidates running for City Council in Lansing and East Lansing to ask them the same set of questions about their respective cities. 12 accepted the invitation. This is what they had to say about big issues in Lansing and East Lansing. Lansing City Council How should the City of Lansing confront its legacy costs?How big of a role should cannabis entrepreneurship play in Lansing? Why?Lansing City Council Candidates What should be done to secure affordable housing in the city for people who live paycheck to paycheck?What are your plans to attract more businesses, residents, and investment to Lansing? Mayor Schor has been in office for two years now, Lansing operates on a strong mayor system, what letter grade you’d give him?East Lansing City CouncilAre you in favor of the pace of development in East Lansing and the direction it’s going in? What are your thoughts on the parking situation in East Lansing?East Lansing City Council Candidates What role should marijuana (recreational or medical) play in East Lansing’s future?Do you support the new East Lansing city income tax?What are your thoughts on the East Lansing City Council’s recent vote to criminalize LGBTQ conversion therapy?About The ProjectAll of the candidate interviews occurred in WKAR’s studio with the exception of one interview that was conducted off-site. Candidates were not provided with the questions in advance.The interviews took place between late September and mid October. Candidates were asked five questions about big issues in their city and asked to provide any policy changes they believe should be implemented around those issues.Of those questions, we chose three issues per city that are emblematic of this election cycle to air in a radio series called Roundabout: City Council Election Coverage. East Lansing will air beginning October 21. And, Lansing will air beginning October 28. Short clips of the candidate’s responses to all of the questions are included on the web.Over the course of the project, the Lansing City Council voted on new rules to govern recreational marijuana businesses. Lansing candidates Brandon Betz and Yanice Jackson-Long were interviewed in advance of that vote; thus, their answers may reflect that timeline.Lansing candidate Adam Hussain did not participate in the series. Hussain did not respond after multiple requests for comment.

Inherited Revenue And Uncertainty: EL City Council Candidates On The New City Income Tax

Newcomers made the biggest gains on both the Lansing and East Lansing City Council's with Brandon Betz ousting incumbent Jody Washington. And, Lisa Babcock and Jessy Gregg knocking off Eric Altmann in East Lansing.
Amanda Pinckney, WKAR
Many of the candidates running for council this year support the income tax, but how much revenue the tax will net for the city remains largely unknown.

East Lansing has a city income tax for the first time this year. It was passed by voters in 2018 after a previous iteration was defeated in a referendum several years before. Many of the candidates running for council this yearsupport the income tax, but how much revenue the tax will net for the city remains largely unknown.

One fifth of the revenue generated will go toward police and fire protection, the same fraction will go toward infrastructure and the remainder will go toward payments for unfunded pension liabilities. All East Lansing residents pay a 1% income tax and non-residents working in East Lansing pay a 0.5%  income tax. 

The tax was controversial among students and Michigan State employees, but it still passed.

John Revitte is running for one of the three seats on the East Lansing city council. Before moving to East Lansing, Revitte lived in Lansing which had a similar income tax to the current East Lansing one, so he said he doesn’t think the new tax is too demanding.

"I think there's enough reality that having people in East Lansing, and they're not just passing through, there's real cost to the city and to have them pay 0.5%. I don't think it's that terribly unfair, but we need to educate them so they don't feel angry about it and make sure it's clear what East Lansing is providing."

I do not think it is that terribly unfair, but we need to educate them so they do not feel angry about it and make sure it is clear what East Lansing is providing.

24 cities in Michigan have a non-resident income tax, most are 0.5%. However, there are four cities with non-resident income taxes larger than East Lansing’s, including Detroit with the largest non-resident income tax at 1.2%. 

In 2015, a similar income tax reform was proposed but failed to pass. Council members like current Mayor Mark Meadows and Mayor Pro-Tempore Erik Altmann, worked to get it passed. Now that the income tax is in effect, Altmann said he is pleased with the results.

“And now, four years later, we have an income tax and it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing. Our collections are right on track, we’re hiring back police and firefighters.”

However, some aren’t as happy with how much revenue the tax is yielding. Warren Stanfield III is a student at Michigan State University running for one of the four year terms on the council. He said that if the city doesn’t bring in enough money, it could lead to a city-wide problem, especially for public services.

It is a testy situation. You know if we are not bringing in that amount of money, then that is the problem we are all gonna face together, but it is definitely a problem.

“It’s a testy situation. You know if we are not bringing in that amount of money, then that’s the problem we are all gonna face together, but it’s definitely a problem.”

Like Stanfield, candidate Lisa Babcock said she also has concerns where the tax revenue is going.

“It’s also really incumbent now on the city council to make sure that the money raised in that income tax is used in a responsible way that covers the obligations that it was intended for. And it’s also really important that the city council not use that money as a hedge against tax breaks for developers, but remember that we also need to take in revenue from development.”

Jessy Gregg agrees with her fellow candidates She supports the new tax, but she said she doesn’t think it’s bringing the city as much money as they expected.

“You know the revenue it was expected to generate is not as high as we were thinking it was going to and then we have the 40% of it that is entailed to other services so really the amount that is going toward our pension is quite small.”

According to incumbent and current mayor Mark Meadows, it might take a while before the impact of the new tax is able to be measured. 

You gotta go through one whole year of collection and then refund before you really realize what the revenue is going to be.

“You gotta go through one whole year of collection and then refund before you really realize what the revenue is going to be and in the meantime, we’ve lowered property tax by, if you include all of our city’s services, then we’ve lowered them by about 26%.”

The tax will be up for renewal at the hands of the voters twelve years. That means whoever is elected to the new city council is unable to manipulate the income tax for now.

There’s no data yet on how much money the new income tax will bring into the city. In estimates used by East Lansing, it could be an extra $10 million in tax revenue, which, when offset by the decreases to East Lansing property taxes, means $5 million extra in the bank. 

The main factor will be time, and the city council in 2031 will determine if the tax was effective or needs to be adjusted.

Amanda Barberena helps write stories for online and books interviews for newscasts. The Michigan State University student started with WKAR in the Fall of 2017 during her freshman year.
Maxim Jenkins gather government and political news content for online and on-air..
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