MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now to Saginaw, Michigan, where officials are trying to get rid of a limit on property taxes. Voters approved the cap almost 50 years ago, and it's meant city revenues haven't kept up with inflation. AJ Jones from member station WCMU has more.
AJ JONES, BYLINE: Every year, Saginaw's mayor delivers a state of the city address. It's a typical discussion about economic development and crime reduction. But earlier this year, Mayor Brenda Moore decided to go off script. She wanted to speak directly to residents about the city's tax cap.
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BRENDA MOORE: Lord, they're going to be mad at me. Lord, they're going to be mad.
JONES: The tax cap voters approved in 1979 only allows Saginaw to collect at most $3.8 million in property tax annually.
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MOORE: But I need you to understand. It's 2026, and we're living on a 1979 budget.
JONES: And Eric Lupher says he's never seen a city with a hard cash tax cap like Saginaw's. He is the president of the Citizens Research Council, a Michigan-based policy think tank.
ERIC LUPHER: What that amount meant when it was put in place and what it means today, many years later with much inflation between then and now, it creates a real issue.
JONES: Saginaw has other taxes to support services like a city income tax and state sales tax that has kept up with inflation, but it's one of the poorest cities in America with a poverty rate above 30%. Property taxes are key to any city budget, but Saginaw residents have consistently voted to keep the tax cap in place - in fact, seven times since 1979. However, there's a growing citywide debate over it, and a local group, Restore Saginaw, led by Saginaw's former mayor Floyd Kloc, wants to get rid of it. They say the cap has lowered property values and forced deep cuts to city services.
FLOYD KLOC: We used to have a forestry department. We don't have a forestry department anymore. We had a separate cemeteries department. We don't have that anymore.
JONES: Speaking at a public meeting in March, city manager Tim Morales said companies are hesitant to invest millions of dollars on property in a city with public safety needs.
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TIM MORALES: How do we fund the police and fire to protect that building? You don't. You don't with the tax cap.
JONES: Despite local leadership pushing for an end to the tax cap, it still may be a challenge to convince residents to get rid of it.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: She wanted tacos.
JONES: Inside a farmers market, 38-year-old Adan Mosqueda is cooking at his taco stand. He's lived in the city most of his life. He says he would support keeping the tax cap.
ADAN MOSQUEDA: I would probably vote to keep it 'cause it's hard enough to pay bills, let alone property taxes. So if the property taxes went up, it'd be a little bit more of a struggle.
JONES: Outside, James Michael Lorenz is selling snacks. He is with the Southwest Saginaw Neighborhood Association. He says the community doesn't trust the city council with more money.
JAMES MICHAEL LORENZ: That's why the taxpayer put a cap on it. That's why the people don't want it all.
JONES: Even so, the Saginaw City Council has approved putting another question on the November ballot to end the tax cap, which could possibly mean new funds for a long, struggling city and an end to Saginaw's unique tax position.
For NPR News, I'm AJ Jones in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
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