Skip Maccarone: Just Another Taxing and Spending Politician

We have long suspected that Shelby Township Supervisor Skip Maccarone is nothing but a big government taxer and spender in conservative clothing. He has shown this in his spending policies; he has shown this in his willingness to raise assessments and fees on homeowners and businesses; and he has shown this in his support for a massive $50 million township "campus" -- paid for by more money (taxes/fees) out of our pockets, without a public vote.

Now, an article from the Sunday, March 30th Detroit Free Press once again highlights how Skip Maccarone is nothing but a classic big government politician — albeit on a local level.

Here is a link to the Detroit Free Press article. When you read this story, you will see how Skip Maccarone is now taking it upon himself to lobby to take more and more money out of the pockets of Michigan developers. Skip's idea comes at a time when homes are not selling and our state's economy is in the toilet. Skip wants to place additional tax/fee burdens on people who create JOBS (and tax revenue) for our state, our county and our township.

The issue at hand is "IMPACT FEES."

Impact fees (a.k.a. taxes) are funds that developers would pay to a local community for road improvements whenever they want to build homes, supermarkets, or industrial buildings in a community. Michigan does not have a law requiring impact fees, and as TRUE conservatives we don't believe Michigan should require them. They would be counterproductive, and the end result would be a further weakening of our economy.

Whenever a community imposes an impact fee on new development, the actual costs are passed on to the purchaser through increased lot prices. This ends up being a hidden tax. As lot prices increase, the number of people who are able to afford the lots decreases. In addition, if the impact fees are too high, prospective home buyers will look to other communities (or other states) with lower prices. By reducing the number of prospective buyers who are either able or willing to pay for the increased lot prices (as result of the required fees), impact fees can have a devastating impact on local real estate markets - and on local communities.

New residents are not the only ones impacted by impact fees. According to a recent edition of Planning Magazine, fifty to seventy-five percent of new homes are purchased by existing residents looking to trade up within the same community. Accordingly, impact fees often penalize long-time, tax-paying residents for wanting to stay in the community.

Not only that, but there is enough evidence indicating very clearly that impact fees could be a deal killer for companies seeking to move into Michigan. Given the condition of our state, and the stated willingness of our elected officials to do anything to bring new business to Michigan and diversify our economy, impact fees would be a DISASTER. We honestly can't imagine any reasonable politician - of either political party - supporting local impact fees.

Nevertheless, Skip Maccarone DOES support impact fees.

Not only that, he is calling upon someone in the state legislature to do what he considers is the prudent thing and introduce a law requiring these fees. Business leaders are calling the mandatory fees "extortion", but Maccarone sees this as a way to get free money. Sure, anything FREE sounds like a terrfic idea, until you get into the details. There is no free lunch, and impact fees, as proposed by Skip Maccarone, will further dismantle our already crumbling economy.

Ask yourself this question: If you were a business owner seeking to build a development (residential, commercial or industrial) that was costing you millions of dollars, recognizing that it would bring jobs and tens of thousands of dollars of new tax revenue into a local community, would you want to be forced by government to shell out even more money (perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars more) for roads? Especially in these economic times?

The truth is that requiring impact fees, as Skip Maccarone wants, would slow economic growth in our state even more. President Ronald Reagan once said (to strong criticism from liberals) that lower taxes and fees actually INCREASE revenue. Much to the chagrin of liberals, history has proven President Reagan correct. Higher taxes and fees, as advocated by liberals, actually slow growth. That is a fact. Not surprisingly, this is one of several economic factors that doesn't seem to bother Skip.

Why should it? Skip Maccarone has raised fees on township residents and business owners since his election in 2000. He has raised assessments on homeowners and business owners. At the same time, Skip has proposed budget after budget which has expanded township spending astronomically.

Today, Shelby Township is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars more than we were just six short years ago. SPEND...SPEND...SPEND - that is what Skip Maccarone is famous for. Now, Skip wants developers (the engine of our economy) to spend MORE out of their pockets. Look around at our economy and ask yourself if this makes sense?

The reason is that Skip needs more money. Why? Because he wants to improve township roads. What we find interesting is that the money the township used to allocate for road and intersection improvements in our township has been severely cut under Maccarone's watch. Where has the money gone? To other areas of the budget?  Not only that, but Skip Maccarone has taken hundreds of thousands of dollars out of our reserve fund to support the increased spending, and also balance the township budget as required by state law.

The timing of Skip's push for mandatory impact fees is interesting. At the same time that Skip wants to spend $23 million of our tax dollars for a new police/court building, and at the same time that he continues pushing for $50 million in new spending for his township "campus", he is calling for higher fees on developers. Could there possibly be a link here?

Since Skip claims to have loads of contacts in Lansing, let's see if he can get any State Representative or State Senator to take up his cause. Lawmakers wisely didn't pass mandatory impact fee legislation in 1999, 2001 and 2003, and chances are they won't do it now.

Nevertheless, Supervisor Maccarone keeps beating the drum for mandatory impact fees. If Skip does (somehow) manage to get some lame duck, term-limited liberal friend of his in Lansing to accept his challenge, and introduce impact fee legislation, we hope the other reasonable lawmakers will, once again, say NO. Michigan can't afford to buy what Skip is selling!

Politicians are always looking for ways to spend our money, and Shelby Township taxpayers need to be on alert. Skip Maccarone is a classic taxer and spender. And no amount of election year conservative rhetoric will erase what Skip Maccarone really is.

If you want to contact us, send an e-mail to stopskip08@aol.com.

Remember to VOTE on Tuesday, August 5th