Our town manager presented his budget recommendations for the coming fiscal year last night:
Property taxes would rise to 54 cents per $100 of valuation. That equates to an additional $45 on a property valued at $150,000.
And in the process he stepped on that third rail and was lucky to get out of the room alive. It didn't help that we had just undergone property revaluations in both counties our little border town straddles, which could have allowed our elected officials the chance to knock a penny off the 51 cents we are currently assessing. Some of the things I heard last night (from a few Democrats, no less) were borderline absurd, such as "Whenever I talk to people, they say 'please don't raise my taxes'." Yeah, no shit. If you were expecting maybe to hear an occasional "please raise my taxes," I've got a bridge to sell you. We haven't had a property tax increase in twelve years, and our population has increased about 40% during that time. Yes, that means more revenue, but it also means more costs. More policing, more water and sewer maintenance, more cleaning up yard waste, etc. I thought the town manager (and the Police Chief, when he was asked) explained the needs very well, but that just brought about some angry and short-sighted comments about "things we don't need," with each elected official bringing up their pet peeves. Strangely enough, earlier in the day at the County Commissioners' meeting, a Republican made an argument I wish I had heard last night:
http://ift.tt/2p37Ych
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