Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Yeah, I'm calling out Doug Wilder again...
So I was listening to sports radio again today (as I do from time to time), and I heard about how Doug Wilder was going to announce that some basketball tournament was coming back to Richmond. The commentator said Wilder probably didn't have anything to do with it but "was going to take credit for it anyway."
See, it's not just me.
Anyway, on to more serious issues... I saw a statistic recently about how home assessments in one county (I can't remember which one) went up between 20 and 30 percent this year. The county is responding by dropping the taxation rate from $1 per $100 to $.93 per $100 of assessment. 25% increase vs. 7% decrease.
Am I wrong, but isn't that a HUGE increase in the amount of money rolling into the government? One's a fat 5th grader sitting on a see-saw. The other's the skinny kindergartener. You do the math.
This really hits home for me, as I received my new assessment today, and it went up a sizeable 16%. My next door neighbor had a similar increase. As an elderly widow, she barely made her payment last year. How is she going to do it this year, and how many times is this happening around the city?
Rising assessments are a fact of life... but the change in what it ends up costing is simply too much to bear for many.
Say the average City of Richmond assessment goes up 10-12 percent. Will city leaders (Wilder) drop the taxation rate by anywhere close to that? Highly doubtful. If last year is any indication, they will make a token adjustment, but we will still end up paying more taxes than the previous year. (Remember this from the election?)
So my question to you is, why is this happening? Where is all of this money going?
I can't deal without a roof over my head. And until we get a handle on how much we're paying in the City of Richmond (and other cities), we will continue to see flight to the suburbs, thus rising crime, and thus, more of a tax burden for those who are left behind.
When's Doug Wilder going to take credit for that mess?
See, it's not just me.
Anyway, on to more serious issues... I saw a statistic recently about how home assessments in one county (I can't remember which one) went up between 20 and 30 percent this year. The county is responding by dropping the taxation rate from $1 per $100 to $.93 per $100 of assessment. 25% increase vs. 7% decrease.
Am I wrong, but isn't that a HUGE increase in the amount of money rolling into the government? One's a fat 5th grader sitting on a see-saw. The other's the skinny kindergartener. You do the math.
This really hits home for me, as I received my new assessment today, and it went up a sizeable 16%. My next door neighbor had a similar increase. As an elderly widow, she barely made her payment last year. How is she going to do it this year, and how many times is this happening around the city?
Rising assessments are a fact of life... but the change in what it ends up costing is simply too much to bear for many.
Say the average City of Richmond assessment goes up 10-12 percent. Will city leaders (Wilder) drop the taxation rate by anywhere close to that? Highly doubtful. If last year is any indication, they will make a token adjustment, but we will still end up paying more taxes than the previous year. (Remember this from the election?)
So my question to you is, why is this happening? Where is all of this money going?
I can't deal without a roof over my head. And until we get a handle on how much we're paying in the City of Richmond (and other cities), we will continue to see flight to the suburbs, thus rising crime, and thus, more of a tax burden for those who are left behind.
When's Doug Wilder going to take credit for that mess?
