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White Plains Proposes 18-Percent Property Tax Hike
Property Tax Deadline Quickly Approaching
Bradford to host meeting Thursday on property tax

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White Plains Proposes 18-Percent Property Tax Hike

Posted: 06 Apr 2010 11:12 AM PDT

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White Plains Proposes 18-Percent Property Tax Hike

City Sales Taxes Down Significantly; Assessed Home Values Dropping Also

By CBS 2's John Metaxas
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (CBS) ―

Click to enlarge: AP

It was a tax stunner in Westchester County on Tuesday. White Plains residents could face a nearly 20 percent hike in property taxes.

Reaction in White Plains was sharp and swift to the city's proposed 18 percent property tax hike.

"It's ridiculous! I'm gonna have to move, I can't even afford to live here anymore, I've been living here all my life, 34 years," said an unidentified single mother.

The hike is contained in the budget presented at City Hall by the administration's appointed Budget Director Michael Genito.

"We don't like the fact that we have to present a budget like this one ourselves, but we worked very hard to bring that rate down as far as we could," said Genito.

According to Genito, the problem is that White Plains is being squeezed by the economic downturn. Sales taxes, which normally account for some 30 percent of city revenue, are down significantly, and assessed home values are dropping too, which means White Plains has less money coming in.

The budget does cut 48 municipal jobs, but Genito says those cuts have their limits.

"We have garbage pickup, water and sewer services, we have police and fire protection, and all of those services are critical to the operation of the city," said Genito.

Critics in the council are vowing a fight, and many homeowners say the city needs to come up with a better plan.

They are expecting some contentious sessions in the council chambers when budget sessions begin Monday night. The budget needs to be approved by the end of May, and if it is, new higher tax bills could start going out July 1.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Property Tax Deadline Quickly Approaching

Posted: 06 Apr 2010 11:03 AM PDT

Posted: Tuesday, 06 April 2010 10:46AM

King Harris Reporting
news@920kvec.com

Bradford to host meeting Thursday on property tax

Posted: 06 Apr 2010 09:50 AM PDT

By Brendan Purves
Associate Editor

With tax day on its way State Representative Matt Bradford, D-70 district, wants taxpayers to talk about everyone's favorite kind of tax – the property tax.

Bradford will be hosting a property tax town hall meeting Thursday, April 1 at the Skippack Township Building to discuss the issue of increasing property taxes, and to start a discussion that will get all of the key players involved in creating a solution to this growing problem.

"I want to start a real dialogue about how the commonwealth can fix [property taxes]," Bradford said.

When the economy dipped and home values dropped in 2008, school districts were forced to increase millage rates to compensate for the drop in assessed value, Bradford said. Because of this, seniors and first time homebuyers have been finding it difficult to pay the tax bills being levied for homeowners.

"It's particularly harsh on seniors and those on fixed incomes," Bradford said. "It keeps young families from buying their first homes."

According to Bradford's Web site the state needs to take some of this burden away from the taxpayers by helping to fund the school districts that have been forced into increasing property taxes for residents.

To help begin to work on a plan to solve this problem Bradford will be bringing in experts and representatives from different cross sections of the community including the a representative Pennsylvania School Boards Association, Gov. Ed Rendell's head of educational policy, the head of the Commonwealth Foundation, local school board members and board members and supervisors from local municipalities.

"If you are going to get serious about it, you're going to have to get buy-ins from all parts of the community," Bradford said about bringing leaders together at the Thursday town hall meeting.

In addition to key players in government, Bradford is hopeful that taxpayers from all across the 70th district show up to voice their opinion on the issue.

Bradford believes that it is important to have residents from all across the district because the district stretches from urban areas like Norristown into the suburbs and then into more rural parts of Montgomery County like Lower Salford Township.

"I think that my district is really unique in the conversation because of its diversity," Bradford said.

Once all of the parties come together, Bradford's goal is to work towards getting a consensus opinion on the issue, at which point the hard work in Harrisburg will begin for himself and the other state representatives.

"It's going to be a heavy lift," Bradford said about effecting real property tax change in Pennsylvania.

Although this could be a tough road to walk, Bradford is committed to seeing this issue through, and does not want it to be an election year stance.

"I don't just want to talk about it during election season," Bradford said.

The situation may be grave for some of Bradford's 70th district constituency, but he is hopeful that through an open dialogue of ideas and solutions, the state will be able to achieve property tax reform so that all Pennsylvanians will have the option of home ownership.

"With great adversity," Bradford said. "There can be great opportunity."

The town hall meeting will be Thursday, April 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Skippack Municipal Building, 4089 Heckler Rd., Skippack.

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Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Property Tax

Tuesday, April 6, 2010