Tuesday, April 27, 2010

“Oklahoma lawmaker pursues property tax measure” plus 3 more

“Oklahoma lawmaker pursues property tax measure” plus 3 more

Oklahoma lawmaker pursues property tax measure

Posted: 27 Apr 2010 12:48 PM PDT

OKLAHOMA CITY - Sen. Jim Reynolds on Tuesday renewed his call for House Speaker Chris Benge to let a property tax measure be heard on the floor.

The Oklahoma City Republican is the sponsor of Senate Joint Resolution 5, which would let people vote on reducing the allowable rate of property valuation increases to 3 percent from 5 percent. Property values are used to determine how much in property tax is paid.

"The full Senate approved this measure over a year ago, but we're still waiting for the House to take action on SJR 5," Reynolds said. "This issue remains a top concern, not just in my district, but in communities throughout the state. The voters deserve the opportunity to decide this issue for themselves."

In 1996, voters approved a 5 percent cap on property value assessment increases. The intent was to keep valuations under that cap, but many county assessors have raised values the maximum of 5 percent a year, Reynolds said.

Reynolds urged Oklahomans to call their representatives and ask that the measure get a hearing in the House.

"Time is running out," Reynolds said. "This resolution is still alive."

Benge, R-Tulsa, was not immediately available for comment.

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

Knox County mayor's $647M budget proposal has no property tax hike

Posted: 27 Apr 2010 09:08 AM PDT

KNOXVILLE (WATE) - Knox County Mayor Mike Ragsdale unveiled his $647 million budget proposal Tuesday with no plan for a property tax increase.

Ragsdale detailed the budget for fiscal year 2010-2011 in the annual State of the Community Address.

He proposed further reductions to general government spending. If commission approves the budget, the mayor said the overall county budget would actually decrease by $592,204. 

Ragsdale proposed reducing executive branch spending for a third consecutive year. This year's more than $1.2 million cut to that branch's budget is a three-year total reduction of almost $8 million. 

"We are doing all we can to meet the growing demand for the services our citizens need by finding more efficient ways to work," said Ragsdale. "Sometimes it just boils down to asking employees to do more with less. Fortunately, we have a lot of dedicated, innovative employees."

Early in the budget planning process, Mayor Ragsdale asked elected officials and department heads to develop budget scenarios with four percent and eight percent cuts.

The budget proposal includes an additional $3.5 million in school funding.

Planning dollars for a new safety center are also a part of this proposal. The center will "allow treatment so people can be moved off the streets, out of our jails, and back into productive lives," Ragsdale said.

This year's proposal also calls for insourcing the delinquent tax collections function to the Knox County Law Director's office as a cost-saving measure. 

The budget provides for an attorney and a paralegal position to handle this service, which had previously been handled by an outside attorney.

Ragsdale also advised the next Knox County mayor to build a new downtown library, but the candidates to succeed him aren't sold on the idea.

Republican mayoral candidate State Sen. Tim Burchett said, "It's not financially feasible right now. We're going to look at a few more lean years economically. If they want to raise private funds maybe, but then you'll have to deal with the maintenance."

Democratic candidate Michael McBath said, "Personally I'm not against it, but I think the money could be spent in a better way than rebuilding the downtown library."

Mayor Ragsdale said he didn't build a library because building Hardin Valley Academy became a priority.

The general election is on May 4.

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

Planet Election Guide: Property tax hike

Posted: 27 Apr 2010 08:22 AM PDT

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

Hoover residents to vote on extending property tax

Posted: 27 Apr 2010 04:04 AM PDT

By Melanie Posey

HOOVER, AL (WBRC) - Hoover residents will head to the polls for a special election Tuesday.

At issue is whether to extend an existing property tax.   

In the 1980s and 1990s, Hoover's population began to explode.  The city was forced to build many new schools in effort to keep up with the growth.  They levied a tax to handle the debt.  That tax is set to expire in 2027, but now school and city officials want to extend it another 18 years.   That would cause it to expire in the year 2045 instead.  

"We're not raising taxes," says Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos.  "It's like refinancing your home from a 15-year mortgage to a 30-year mortgage.  The debt service now is about 16-million dollars a year.  Doing the refinancing means we could see a drop of 6-million dollars a year."   

School officials say that is equivalent to the salary and benefits of 70 teachers.  "It'll help us essentially invest in the classroom more so as opposed to what amounts to a mortgage payment," says Hoover City Schools Superintendent Andy Craig.  "And with a loss in revenue we've experienced recently we want to better position ourselves to provide the quality of service our community expects."

Copyright 2010 WBRC. All rights reserved.

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