Home rule hurts Lancaster City

When your car is on empty and gas on one side of the street is $3.99 while the other side $4.79, which way do you turn? It has been almost a year since Lancaster City voted for home rule and I believe we are starting to see some of effects in the local economy.

The uncertainty of home rule has already started putting pressure on real estate. Would you prefer to buy a house for which you know the expected taxes or a house on which the taxes can change any time the city council or mayor “needs” to spend more money? My assumption is you, and everyone else, would rather spend less, know how much to expect taxes will be each year and generally make smarter decisions for your wallet.

The downtown core is already light on businesses and heavy on non-profit build-outs, and I expect we will continue to see headlines about projects on the outer reaches of the county like the pharma project in Marietta.

Lancaster County is a thriving county because it is business friendly. Lancaster City is a locale that is culturally interesting but has always been light on businesses and heavy on nonprofit, non-taxpaying entities. Watch the business names as you stroll down Queen Street or King Street this week. Be duly skeptical of the firm names and do the quick math to understand what portion of the Lancaster office space is paying full rent from a profitable business. The city municipality needs the tax base to pay for all of those important projects. Which leads us back to taxes, which will be the highest in the region.

I expect growth in the city will slow as businesses and consumers choose to live life outside the city where everything is less expensive. The city could be left to tourists and those who can’t afford to leave. As we watch home rule come to fruition under a new mayor, I am sure we will see businesses suffer, housing prices fall, and the economy of the city retract in comparison to neighboring communities.

Anne Rivers is the president of the Women’s Republican Club of Lancaster.