Wednesday, May 19, 2010

“Mammoliti vows property tax break for seniors” plus 3 more

“Mammoliti vows property tax break for seniors” plus 3 more

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Mammoliti vows property tax break for seniors

Posted: 19 May 2010 09:04 AM PDT

Mayoral candidate Giorgio Mammolitti has promised to reduce property taxes by five per cent for both home and business owners if he wins the Oct. 25 election, with an even larger tax break for lower-income seniors.

In a speech at the Columbus Centre on Tuesday, the North West councillor said he would eliminate property taxes for senior citizens living in households earning less than $65,000.

He also vowed to help family members who care for seniors by giving them an annual $10,000 allowance.

Mammoliti said the measures should give older Torontonians "some dignity" and a choice to stay in their own homes instead of moving to retirement homes.

The plan to cut property taxes by five per cent would cost about $135 million dollars a year, he told reporters at the community centre on Lawrence Avenue. He said in a release he could cover the cost by making "bureaucratic cuts" at City Hall, as well as introducing a Toronto-based lottery and raising boat club fees.

Mammoliti is one of a group of six frontrunners in the mayoral race leading up to the Oct. 25 election. The others include Rocco Rossi, George Smitherman, Joe Pantalone, Rob Ford and Sarah Thomson.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Plano ISD seeks higher property tax rate

Posted: 19 May 2010 12:37 AM PDT

The Plano school district wants homeowners to pay a higher property tax rate next school year to reduce debt for school construction and repairs.

Faced with a dip in tax revenue because of lower property values, district officials have proposed boosting the overall tax rate by 2.5 cents, to $1.35 per $100 assessed value. But the hike could be mitigated by a drop in home values.

The increase would not fund day-to-day school operations but would go toward paying down more than $1 billion in outstanding and unpaid bonds.

If trustees approve the increase, the district's tax rate would have jumped 6.5 cents since voters approved a $490 million bond package in 2008. District officials noted that this year's tax rate proposal falls below what they had projected.

A public meeting to discuss the proposed tax rate is scheduled June 1, but trustees won't authorize it until a later date. School board members approved a similar tax rate increase last year.

The Plano school district no longer gains students or builds schools with dizzying speeds like its Collin County peers. But the district has remodeled several schools recently, has started construction on perhaps its last two and has $112 million in debt payments due in 2010-11.

Richard Matkin, the district's associate superintendent for business services, said the district might scale back issuing more bonds in the future.

"We do have a lot of projects that are outstanding," he said. "It's a hard time to pay it back. We want to make sure we stay on a good course for the tax rate."

The new tax rate represents a 1.8 percent increase. But because the average home value in the district has dropped nearly $8,500 to $253,000, some homeowners could ultimately pay less taxes next school year. Total property values in the district have dipped 6 percent since last year.

Plano ISD's tax rate is one of the lowest for Collin County school districts, but it's the largest chunk of the property taxes that district homeowners pay.

The state limits the amount districts can collect from taxpayers, and the proposed $1.35 tax rate inches closer to Plano ISD's cap of $1.38541. Plano ISD is already at the maximum tax rate of $1.04 for maintenance and operations.

Any amount higher would require voter approval.

"Our goal is not to go for a tax rate election," Matkin told board members.

Five Filters featured article: The Art of Looking Prime Ministerial - The 2010 UK General Election. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.

Litchfield Park votes down property tax

Posted: 19 May 2010 06:47 AM PDT

Litchfield Park voters went to the polls Tuesday and voted down a property tax.

After months of emotional debate, voters spoke, and what they said was: "No new taxes in Litchfield Park."

The city has no property tax. The levy would have raised $1 million the first year.

The decision to create a property tax split the community since the City Council voted 4-3 in January to send the measure to residents.

Anti-property tax residents said there is no financial crisis for the city and that it has savings to weather the recession. They said sales tax revenues will eventually increase, so there is no need for a property tax.

The pro-property tax side decried what they see as a shabbiness creeping in upon Litchfield Park. They note the worn roads and say the perimeter fence around the city has become an eyesore.

Mayor Thomas Schoaf said it is a difficult time for all residents when it comes to increasing taxes.

"All the residents are under tremendous pressure, and all the governmental units need to respond to that pressure and figure out ways to create value for our residents without having to increase what they have to pay," he said. "We hope . . . that we will continue providing the services we've provided historically without having to change the way that the tax structure exists in Litchfield Park, and that depends on our economy."

The mayor said he hopes the economy comes back and the Wigwam Golf Resort & Spa does well, which would allow the city to continue to provide the services that residents are accustomed to. The Wigwam is the city's biggest sales-tax generator.

The mayor said the property tax issue may come back, but if it does, the council should be united behind the tax.

"If there's a need for a property tax, it was premature today, and we'll have to see how things unfold for Arizona and for Litchfield Park," he said.

Councilman Peter Mahoney, who was one of the council members who brought the property tax question up for a vote, said he isn't disappointed, he's sad.

"I'm just sad knowing we are going to be back at this time next year doing this again unless we make some incredible cuts that are going to hurt our community," he said.

He said the economy will have to improve dramatically to avoid service reductions. He added that sales taxes are not improving and that the city manager said that the city has cut to the bone, so now the only thing left to do is cut into the bone.

Councilman Paul Stucky, who voted against the tax by early ballot, predicted Tuesday that the measure would be defeated. He said the economy is cyclical and that Litchfield Park has had bad economic times before and will again in the future.

He said that tax proponents like to say that those who pay Rural/Metro Fire Department for fire services would pay less money via the property tax.

But Stucky said there are people in the city, especially retirees, who can't afford to pay Rural/Metro, much less a new property tax. Those people aren't writing letters to the editor to argue their side because they are likely embarrassed by their circumstances, Stucky said.

"I've been told by several people that there are people living that close to the vest in this town, and this would be a disaster for them," he said. "Nobody talks about that. It never ever comes up."

Litchfield Park is nearing an agreement with Goodyear to buy into that city's fire service. Now, residents pay Rural/Metro, a private company, for fire protection.

Some have estimated that only half the residents pay Rural/Metro, and they complain that they carry the others who don't pay.

If the city reaches an agreement with Goodyear, the first year of the fire-services contract would cost $482,000, which would be paid out of the general fund. The agreement is for 25 years, with provisions for two 10-year extensions, or a maximum of 45 years.

Tessie Van Wagner, who has lived in Litchfield Park for 28 years, voted for the property tax Tuesday.

"Obviously, a logical mind would conclude that we don't have enough money to keep the city at the standards that we're all used to seeing," she said. "I'm very concerned when they talk about not over-seeding the park and not running the Rec Center on a regular basis, because we've come to rely on these recreational venues for years and years, and we treasure them."

Van Wagner said that when her family first moved to Litchfield Park, they paid $350 a year to the unincorporated town to keep up the common areas and to keep the grass mowed and green and "looking great."

"When we became a city in '87, we didn't have to pay that anymore," Van Wagner said. "So who's paying for all that? The sales tax is. So the citizens are not contributing at all to the environment that we live in, and that's not right. I think we should all contribute a little."

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 tax deadlines are fast approaching

Posted: 19 May 2010 10:50 AM PDT

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