“Planet Election Guide: Property tax hike” plus 3 more |
- Planet Election Guide: Property tax hike
- Christie's property tax plan
- Property rates down, but tax bills up
- Coles residents to begin receiving property tax bills
| Planet Election Guide: Property tax hike Posted: 01 May 2010 06:44 AM PDT Dear Reader - We wish to keep our comments section as open and unfettered a forum as possible. However, in posting below you agree to the following guidelines: Be relevant. Keep your comments germane to the issue. Be respectful of others, the writer and the subjects of the story. Do not post potentially libelous statements or ad hominen attacks; obscene, explicit, or racist language; personal insults or threats. Never use another person's real name to disguise your identity. Be aware, in accordance with the Communications Decency Act, you are responsible for comments posted on this Web site. And while you may post anonymously, your anonymity is not guaranteed. All IP addresses are kept on file by Telluride Daily Planet. TDP is not liable for messages from third parties. TDP reserves the right to edit or remove any posting. Thank you for your comments, Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Posted: 01 May 2010 07:13 AM PDT Gov. Chris Christie this week pitched his plan to cap annual property tax increases at 2.5 percent and told a group of mayors to have "the backbone" to tell residents times are tough. The governor is right. We hope the state Legislature agrees to put the cap referendum on the November ballot. We think it will be approved. Christie also proposes to give municipalities "tools" to make complying with a 2.5 percent cap more realistic. They include such major initiatives as reforming collective bargaining, pension and civil service regulations to save towns' money. All of these are good ideas, and the Legislature should pass them. The problem is that even if all goes according to plan, relief will be some time away. For example, reforming collective bargaining regulations are not going to help a municipality until current contracts expire, which may not be for two or three years. But don't blame the governor for that. Christie is trying to improve a property tax system in New Jersey that has been years in the making. Change is not immediate. And his advice to municipalities to have a backbone in some cases is timely. In Denville, for instance, the township council is poised to approve an ordinance next Tuesday giving police and other employees a four-year contract with yearly raises of 3 and 3.5 percent over the length of the contract. How does giving out raises in excess of 3 percent on average coincide with a possible 2.5 percent annual cap? What the governor is doing is challenging municipal officials to have those discussions. Good for him. We would be remiss, however, if we did not note that Christie's property tax plan, while laudatory, is not genuine reform. The step to genuine reform would start with a discussion about whether property taxes are the best way to fund local government and schools. While Christie does not propose anything that bold, his ideas are a step in the right direction. Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Property rates down, but tax bills up Posted: 30 Apr 2010 09:28 PM PDT Jim Fields, running for the District 2 Hamilton County Commission seat, says property tax bills are higher than ever and incumbent Commissioner Richard Casavant has voted three times to raise taxes. Dr. Casavant says property tax rates are at their lowest level since he was elected in 1998. They're both right. The tax rate is at its lowest level since 1997. But because property values have grown, many people are writing bigger checks when the tax bill comes due. The county tax bite has become an issue in the commission race. Dr. Casavant at the April 15 commission meeting reasserted his claim about the lower tax rate, presenting numbers from the county auditors to support his position. He said that by voting to lower tax rates keep revenue collections consistent with prior years, he, in effect, supported lower taxes. Mr. Fields said the bottom line is, "How much money's coming out of your pocket?" "If I paid $1,500 in property taxes five years ago and I'm paying $1,600 today, I'm paying more, whether it's the rate or the assessed value," he said. When Dr. Casavant joined the commission in 1998, the tax rate was $2.93 for every $100 of assessed value of property. The present rate is $2.76. Residential taxes are assessed on 25 percent of the appraised value. Records show he voted to lower rates after reappraisals in for 2002, 2006 and 2010. He voted to increase tax rates in 1999, 2005 and 2007, generating an additional $60.6 million in annual revenue. Dr. Casavant argues that his votes to readjust tax rates show he has voted for lower taxes. "I voted for three tax increases and three tax decreases," Dr. Casavant said. "We could've turned around and adjusted the rate back up. We didn't do that." He said if he had not supported the tax increases the county would be "in a pickle" financially. Property tax revenues are the main source of income for county government. The county reappraises residential and business property every four years to account for changes in value. When that's done, people whose property values grew faster than the average see their tax bills go up, County Auditor Bill McGriff said. "So I'll be paying higher taxes even though the tax rate went down," Mr. McGriff said. "But you have to remember for everybody paying higher taxes (some) people are paying lower taxes, because it averages out." Hamilton County property tax rates Fiscal years Property tax * 1998-1999 $2.93* * 2000-2001 $3.51 * 2002-2005 $3.06 * 2006-2007 $2.89 * 2008-2009 $3.15 * 2010 $2.76 * Per $100 of assessed value Property reappraisal years: 2001, 2005, 2009 Property tax increases approved by the commission: * 1999 -- 58.7 cent increase * 2005 -- 26 cent increase * 2007 -- 26 cent increase Hamilton County Assessor of Property Bill Bennett used a general example of three properties valued at $100,000 in different areas of the county. Say that after a reappraisal, a home in Soddy-Daisy grew in value to $106,000, a second in Ooltewah grew to $112,000 and a third in East Brainerd rose to $118,000. If property values increase 12 percent overall, as they did in 2009, the owners of the house in Soddy-Daisy would pay 6 percent less in taxes, the Ooltewah homeowners' tax bill would not change and the East Brainerd owners' taxes would increase by 6 percent, Mr. Bennett said. Growth in the tax base comes from properties added to the tax rolls since the previous reappraisal. Mr. McGriff and assistant county auditor Lee Brouner said that by law the county adjusts its property tax rate after reappraisal. If property values increase overall, the county must adjust the tax rate to make sure no new tax revenue is generated from existing properties, according to Mr. Brouner and Mr. McGriff. But if commissioners pass a tax increase, "all of that falls by the wayside in the future," Mr. Bennet said. "If the commission increases taxes 10 percent, the homeowner would have to pay that additional 10 percent," he said. Continue reading by following these links to related stories: Times Editorial: A tax increase appears due Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction. | |
| Coles residents to begin receiving property tax bills Posted: 30 Apr 2010 11:29 PM PDT | Coles residents to begin receiving property tax bills
CHARLESTON — Coles County property taxpayers soon will receive their real estate tax bill.
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