“Braun late on property tax bills” plus 1 more |
| Braun late on property tax bills Posted: 06 Jan 2011 03:52 PM PST Braun late on property tax billsBy Chris Fusco and Abdon M. Pallasch Staff Reporters Jan 7, 2011 02:33AM Carol Moseley Braun paid five of her last six property tax bills late and was only 20 days away from having her taxes sold at auction, potentially threatening her ownership of her Hyde Park house. The first installment of the mayoral candidate's 2008 taxes were nearly a year-and-a-half overdue when she paid them on Aug. 16, 2010, and avoided a tax sale, according to Cook County Treasurer's records. Braun paid her most recent bill on time — after she announced her campaign for mayor. In the past three years, she has paid a total of $3,403.94 in penalties. Her taxes are now up to date. Braun's house — which she bought for $1.7 million in 2006 and is now trying to sell for $1.9 million — has four mortgages, which she's said she took out to support her struggling organic-food company. "She was balancing everything to keep her business going, trying to keep people employed," Braun spokeswoman Renee Ferguson said. "She is paid up [on her taxes]now. It was a personal sacrifice." After initially refusing to release her tax returns, Braun has provided personal tax information this week, including portions of her 2006 and 2007 returns on Thursday. The documents, however, make no mention of her food company, and she has refused to say how many people it employs. Braun paid no federal taxes in 2007 because of losses from a company called CMB One Corp. She paid $2,509 in self-employment tax in 2008 and $785 in 2009. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php | |
| Posted: 07 Jan 2011 05:38 PM PST North Dakota residents have long complained about property taxes being too high, and are constantly searching for property tax relief. Williston residents are starting to get their tax bills and aren`t liking the numbers they`re seeing. However, it`s more than just the value of homes that is increasing. Some Williston residents were shocked to open up their property tax bill this year. | "I think they`re kind of outrageous because of the oil boom," said three year resident Ron Blekesked. While others in town saw a smaller increase of a few hundred dollars. "Seems to be fair enough," said Williston Native Jim Horob. With the booming economy in Williston, many attribute these spikes to the increase in house values. However, other components that go into property taxes also increased this year. All sectors increased their budgets, including the city, vector and soil conservation, Parks and Recreation, County and State, and School Districts. "Any entity, governmental agency, has those cost increases year to year. Every business has those cost increases from year to year. So the board has the option of finding revenues to offset those cost increases, or making a decision to obviously cut services in certain areas," said City Auditor John Kautzman. From 2009 to 2010, the city budget went up by $51,000, Vector up by 15-thousand, Parks and Recreation $87,000, County and State $78,000 and School Districts $352,000. Kautzman says he can speak on behalf of the city, and believes their increase is not bad. "A 1.5% increase, per year, on average for 10 years, is below the inflation rate. And I guess I would think defendable in terms of reasonable increase," said Kautzman. Kautzman also argues that Williston still falls very low in property taxes behind 11 other cities in North Dakota. (show City Tax sheet) "If you were to compare to other major cities within the state, we`re on the low end of any comparison I`ve looked at," said Kautzman. Despite the justification of inflation rates, Kautzman urges residents still upset by their property taxes to attend public hearings. It`s a common misconception that the equalization hearing is the only hearing residents should attend. "If they want to protest the amount of tax levy then they need to come to each one of the four entities, when they have their public hearings on the budget," said Kautzman. The equalization hearing takes place in the spring, and the city`s public hearing will mostly likely be the first week of September. However, you can check the website and all of these hearings will also be published in the media. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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