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iC BAR S COUNTYI <br /> <br />February 8, 1993 <br /> <br />MEMORANDUM <br /> <br />TO: Board of Commissioners <br /> <br />FROM: John V. Witherspoon, County Manager <br /> <br />SUBJECT: The Cost of Commuters <br /> <br /> The recent coverage of the Mecklenburg County payroll tax proposal contained <br />assertions that commuters don't pay their fair share. Those arguments turn the reality of <br />the situation on its head. Commuters take the high cost government service needs with <br />them when they cross the county line to go to their homes. They leave behind the tax <br />surplus entities, their places of employment, at the same time. This is a peculiarity of a <br />property tax revenue based system of government services. <br /> <br /> Attached are data that illustrate the point~ Every commuter's child that Cabarrus <br />educates saves Mecklenburg approximately $1,715. The average Mecklenburg house pays <br />less than half of that amount to cover all county services including schools. <br /> <br /> Meanwhile, the same child costs Cabarrus County $1,074 to educate. Again, the <br />average house in Cabarrus generates less than half of the cost of all county services. <br /> <br /> The difference is that every resident in Mecklenburg has half again as much tax value <br />supporting him/her than does a Cabarrus resident. If all Cabarrus commuters moved to, <br />Mecklenburg, Mecklenburg would be having greater budget difficulties, assuming a <br />reasonable number of school children went from Cabarrus to Mecklenburg schools. <br /> <br /> This memo is not intended to assert that Mecklenburg does not have problems, but <br />merely to give lie to the argument that commuters are a cause of the problem. <br /> <br /> If Mecklenburg is successful in its quest for a payroll tax, I see a benefit to the <br />surrounding counties that did not have such a tax. To me, it appears that a payroll tax <br />would influence business migration to the suburbs and thus Mecklenburg would have shot <br />itself in the foot. On the other hand, if all jurisdictions had a payroll tax, competitive <br />advantage would disappear and some relief could be gained for property tax payers on fixed <br />incomes. You might want to give the idea some thought. <br /> <br />JVW/sb <br />Attachment <br /> <br /> Office cf :k,e County Wlanager <br /> <br />F'C, ~.:;,: 7r.,7 * Cc"cc,5. ~,'C ~'~2~.G707 · (704) 788-8700 · Charlo:te <br /> <br /> ~ A-4 <br /> <br /> <br />