Thirty-eight Lancaster City residents showed up at Polite Council Chambers at City Hall Monday evening to hear a presentation, ask questions, and share their thoughts on the draft home rule charter for Lancaster city.
Amy Ruffo and John McGrann, two of the home rule commission members, began the session with a presentation of the draft charter articles (PDF). They covered issues such as the process for adopting home rule, how the change would affect the city’s taxing powers, how city leaders would be elected, changes to the administrative code, and the process of transitioning from the current governmental structure to home rule.
Residents were asked to submit questions on paper at the beginning of the session. Commission members put the questions into clusters based on topic and addressed residents’ concerns. After answering questions, the commission invited residents to gather at four feedback stations. Stations were designated to address the articles of the charter that involved the most significant changes from the current structure of government.
The topics at the four stations were the structure of City Council, a city ethics commission, city budget and finances, and citizen petition and referendum processes.
Taxes
Taxes were high on residents’ list of concerns.
McGrann said the four principal taxes in Lancaster are property tax, earned income tax, local services tax and real estate transfer tax. Of those, all but the property taxes have their rates set by the state and the city can’t change them under current law. So, a property tax hike is the only way the city can increase its revenues.
McGrann noted that property taxes are based on assessed values, which are set by the county, not on market rates. The last time property assessment was done was in 2017.
“Because of all this, property tax can remain flat for years and decades,” he said, “except for when the city increases tax millage. And in a city like Lancaster, where we’re largely built out, even new, significant construction projects only make a small increase.”
Even with recent economic development happening around the city, the property tax base has only increased by 1.5% since 2018.
One concern raised in the questions was whether home rule would give the city the ability to freely raise or invent new taxes. McGrann said no: Even under home rule, “the city cannot invent new taxes … There’s no opportunity for us to dream up a new tax that doesn’t exist.”
He added that the home rule charter can place limits on how much additional revenue can be raised through tax hikes from one year to the next. That is an item on the commission’s next meeting, which is Thursday.
Government structure
At the beginning of the commission’s drafting process, it decided to take the city’s current structure as its basis and work from there, Ruffo said.
“When we were making decisions, we were saying, what is it currently? Does that work? What can be improved? What can be modified? And the commission aimed to make improvements for better accessibility, transparency, fiscal management, and increased citizen oversight,” she said.
One item of concern for residents was the creation of an ethics commission. Ruffo said its purpose would be to “educate elected officials, staff, and the public on the state Ethics Act, investigate complaints of wrongdoing, and enforce the rules.”
Commission member Carl Feldman added that the ethics commission would have subpoena power to compel people to share information related to an ethics complaint.
“I think that this can give us a lot of confidence in how government operates,” Feldman said.
Residents were interested in the size of City Council and how members will be elected. City resident Bruce Martin expressed interest in making sure there is representation for minority viewpoints in the city.
“I like some of the ideas I’ve heard about increasing the composition of council to nine members, four of which would be from equally designated districts, five of which would be elected at large,” Martin said.
“Of those five elected at large two of those would be designated to represent minority parties within the city so, for example, you would never have nine elected Democrats. There would always be at least two Republicans or Greens or whatever party gets the vote that would qualify them.”
Martin added that Lancaster is a diverse city but that diversity doesn’t always feel represented.
Another resident, Mimi Shapiro, said that she preferred to stay with at large elections for all City Council members. She also did not like the idea of a nine-member council, saying that having seven members was already “unwieldy enough.”
It was asked how difficult it would be to change the home rule charter if it were to pass. Feldman said it would depend on the kind of change. Altering the structure of government requires a new home rule commission to be empaneled. Less dramatic changes can be accomplished through a referendum. Any such referendum could happen immediately after the charter is passed.
Working with the state
Lancaster, and cities like it, operate under charter language that was written in the 1960s.
“Multiple administrations of the city of Lancaster have reached out to our state elected officials, representatives and senators, and pleaded for them to make state-level changes to give cities like Lancaster more flexibility with regard to revenue,” McGrann said. “They have, at different points, indicated the desire to do that but they have never come through with results.”
McGrann said this is in large part why the city is exploring home rule as an alternative.
During discussion at one of the stations, resident Mimi Shapiro raised the same issue.
“It’s a shame,” she said. “If [city and state governments] could figure out a way to work together, we could accomplish more.”
Looking forward
The next meeting of the commission is on Aug. 1. There are two other meetings on Aug. 5 and Aug. 29 where the commission can make adjustments to the charter if needed.
There are two more info sessions: At 6:30 p.m. tonight (Wednesday, July 31) via Zoom and 6 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 6, at City Hall. There will be a public hearing at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 8, also at City Hall.
The commission must vote to approve the charter no later than Aug. 29 in order to place it on the ballot for city voters on Election Day, Nov. 5.
Assuming it does so, the commission plans to hold educational events in September and October in neighborhood venues around the city. The dates and locations have not been finalized.
Ruffo encouraged residents to visit the commission’s web page. It contains information about the home rule commission, proposed charter and meeting dates. It also contains a feedback form for residents to give their thoughts on any aspect of the proposed home rule charter.
If a majority of voters approve the charter, it will take effect at the start of 2025.
“Ultimately you, the voters of Lancaster city, will make the ultimate decision whether we adopt or not,” Ruffo said.
