Funny thing is that you folks ARE already paying taxes for services.... a lot of the taxes you pay to the state go to municipal governments as revenue sharing.... sounds like some of you feel "undertaxed"... I sure that most people would disagree with that... and feel like they're being "double taxed"...
Here's an excerpt from today's Detroit News Opinion Page that might give you pause...
Editorial: Dump the crash fees
Extra charges for accident investigations by local police and fire agencies are unfair and antagonize citizens
The Detroit News
Police and fire protection are the essential local services expected by citizens. If your taxes don't pay for those basics, what do they pay for? Yet a handful of communities are now charging "crash fees" in which nonresidents are charged for accident investigations or other services. That's not right.
The Detroit News on Thursday recounted the story of St. Clair Shores resident Gary Istok, who received a bill from Eastpointe for $327.35 for a police investigation of his one-car fender-bender. While Eastpointe officials contend that only nonresidents who are found to be at fault in accidents are charged, Istok says he was not at fault and points to the fact that his auto insurance company waived his deductible.
The details of Istok's case aside, the fact is that citizens passing through cities or townships do not expect to have to pay a special fee if they require the aid of a police and fire department.
Residents pay local operating millages, and in some cases special police and fire taxes, to support their own municipality's public safety services. For some cities to expect such citizens to then make additional payments for such services if they are out of their locality seems unfair.
This is especially true since all residents pay state taxes, a large portion of which are then returned to localities in the form of revenue sharing. So all citizens can be seen as funding a portion of all local government through their state taxes.
Now I can understand that some circumstances should require compensation to towns and cities... such as when an oil tanker truck flips over on the freeway and requires extensive Fire vehicles to put out the flames, and may require additional manpower [[or overtime).
But for doing what a police department is paid to do, such as handle accident reports... I think that becomes a blatant tax increase on all of us. Or perhaps, unless there are injuries... police response at accident scenes should be waived altogether... since we're a "no fault state" anyway... and we already have the highest auto insurance in the country [[per another report). This just adds to our already burdensome tax system.