$25-Per-Student Tax Proposed For St. Paul Colleges
City Council Member Jay Benanav, who represents Ward 4 (area around St. Thomas and down to north of St. Kate's) on the St. Paul City Council, has proposed a $25-per-student tax for the St. Paul colleges. The proposal has not been adopted--the city council is merely looking at it--but it is already drawing a lot of attention from colleges and community members alike. The discussion over at the St. Paul Issues Forum has been going on since December 28th, and you can read it by clicking here.
St. Paul is third in the nation for post-secondary schools, behind Atlanta and Boston. Some 37,000 students attend the 10 colleges located within St. Pauls' city limits.
From the Pioneer Press:
"Benanav said the fee is justified since the schools largely do not pay property taxes. Though they pay an assessment for public works services, the city has no way of recovering costs associated with parking enforcement or police and fire services, for example."
Jay Benanav says that the idea was originally suggested back in 2003. You can read his comments on St. Paul Issues Forum by clicking here but here's the important stuff:
"One of the city's most important functions is to ensure the public safety foreveryone who lives, works and owns property here. The cost of public safety is borne by the city's residential and business taxpayers. Colleges and universities in St. Paul do not pay taxes, while they benefit from the high quality public services provided by the city. At the same time, Governor Pawlenty has cavalierly cut local government aid, putting more stress on city taxpayers, and making it more difficult to ensure the public safety of students, residents and workers."
He also notes that, "[t]he City of Boston, to which St. Paul is often compared for its number of institutions of higher learning, is considering a $100 per student assessment to cover city services."
Tell our city council your thoughts about this proposal. Jay Benanav can be contact at ward4@ci.stpaul.mn.us, and Pat Harris (our city council member) at ward3@ci.stpaul.mn.us.
And click the "Post a Comment" link below to discuss this topic.
3 Comments:
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Benanav should levy this tax against all institutions that use St. Paul's fine public utilities without paying taxes, including churches. Or he should realize what kind of benefit the city receives for being 3rd in the nation. Just as Boston no doubt benefits from its rank. Just one of many examples: Mac students that volunteer at Expo and other city schools. Or maybe the hours and hours my Intro to Urban Studies group put into a Light Rail parking study?
But churches don't use public safety services as frequently as college students. The fact is that we, college students, frequently use an area of services paid for soley on city funds; students don't get charged for emergency services unless they are actually transported. Also, we contribute to the city just as much as other residents--residents who pay taxes. The social requirements of citizens--right or wrong, that's another conversation--involve some monitary compensation along with civic services.