Up $1,836, or 34% if I ciphered correctly. What the hell?!

quote:

Originally posted by Dinsdale:

... even when BTN explains this assessment stuff in baby language, it still makes my stunted reptilian lawyer-brainstem hurt.

And this is only the most local of issues. ...

It really seems like it shouldn't be so hard to live a moderately well-informed middleclass suburban life.

That's really the nut of it, isn't it? Why must our system be so artificially and intentionally opaque?

It seems like the one thing that everyone would agree on is that our system should be transparent, consistent and predictable. And yet those are the things it is clearly not - it is a system intentionally constructed for impenetrability and to work to the detriment of the citizen.

quote:

Originally posted by jombl:

quote:

Originally posted by Dinsdale:

... even when BTN explains this assessment stuff in baby language, it still makes my stunted reptilian lawyer-brainstem hurt.

And this is only the most local of issues. ...

It really seems like it shouldn't be so hard to live a moderately well-informed middleclass suburban life.

That's really the nut of it, isn't it? Why must our system be so artificially and intentionally opaque?

It seems like the one thing that everyone would agree on is that our system should be transparent, consistent and predictable. And yet those are the things it is clearly not - it is a system intentionally constructed for impenetrability and to work to the detriment of the citizen.

Hammer hits nail on head! Can I get an "Amen" Somebody?

If I had a sawbuck for every time I bitched to an assessor, or a county "supervisor of assessments" or a local town "finance director" or a Fire Chief and was told: "We posted a notice in the newspaper, I guess you didn't read it."

I'd have at least a couple of hundred smackers.

You see, as working, property owning citizens, we are expected to attend every droning, soporific tax-a-palooza for every one of the 18-19 tax pickpockets on our bills!

You'd need a full-time army of doppelgängers or clones to keep up with the crazy Chinese fire drill known as the Property Tax Combine of Pain!

It is good to be south of the tracks. We are down 464.40, almost 9%.
EA dropped and rate dropped. I will never figure this out.


From the assessor's web site:

In 2007, Milton Township consists of 41,109 parcels. The township's tentative total EAV (Equalized Assessed Value) for 2007 is $5,193,144,037, or a market value of $15,579,432,111.

Milton Township assessment anticipates assessment mandated increases throughout the township to average 7.20% for 2007 general reassessment to bring the median level of assessments to the state-mandated level of 33 1/3% (one-third) of market value.

The mission of the Assessor's Office is to assess all properties in a manner that is fair, accurate, and equitable to all. If you have questions about your assessment, please feel free to contact our office or consult our Property Search Online Database.

FYI

There are several legal firms that will take up this cause for you. I believe they will only charge you 1/3 of what they can save you in these confiscatory taxes. So it is in their interest to save you as much as possible.

Has anyone tried one of these firms yet?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: GEM,

As Gus and ohma so aptly point out . . . despite the see-saw, disparate nature of assessments on our most recent property taxes, the bills all have one glaring thing in common . . . a tax rate that remains inflated due to the phase-in of District 41’s 2001 referendum. This year alone, the rate is approximately $0.45 higher than it should be due to the District’s sleight-of-hand.

$0.45 may seem sufficiently benign . . . but as a function of beefing up the total tax rate, it is anything but!

Want to calculate the impact to your May Day “love letter” from Gwen Henry?

Get your tax bill. Three-quarters of the way down the page, just above the coupon perforation on the far left-hand side of the summary line, is a box with your Equalized Assessment. If you have senior and/or residential exemptions, they will be subtracted yielding a 2007 Billing Value, which is then multiplied times the Total Tax Rate per $100 Valuation to compute Total 2007 Tax Due.

This year, the rate for District 41 taxpayers is $5.8754 per $100 valuation. Without the manipulation of the phase-in, that figure would (and should!) be approximately $0.45 less . . . or $5.4254 per $100 valuation.

Multiplying $5.4254 times your 2007 Billing Value yields a property tax amount, which is not only lower than the actual tax due this year . . . but more accurately reflects the amount that District literature assured voters that the 2001 referendum (without the phase-in) would cost.

Doing the math another way, you can calculate how much of an actual premium the phase-in is costing you this year alone.

Divide the 2007 Billing Value by 100, and multiply the result by $0.45.

To wit: If Total Billing Value = $150,000, divide by 100 = $1,500 x $0.45 = $675.00 that you will “overpay” in property tax this year due directly to the District 41 phase-in.

If Total billing value = $200,000, divide by 100 = $2,000 x $0.45 = $900.00 that you will overpay in property tax this year due directly to the District 41 phase-in.

If Total billing value = $250,000, divide by 100 = $2,500 x $0.45 = $1,125.00 that you will overpay in property tax this year due directly to the District 41 phase-in.

If Total billing value = $300,000, divide by 100 = $3,000 x $0.45 = $1,350.00 that you will overpay in property tax this year due directly to the District 41 phase-in . . . etc. etc. etc.

I think there is a tendency for taxpayers to think of the 2001 referendum as past history . . . and yah, we got the fuzzy end of the lollipop, but what the hell?? Move on.

The truth is, we are paying our eighth annual installment of the referendum . . . the last seven of which have been impacted to various degrees by the phase-in. By keeping the meter running for four additional years, and ratcheting up the stakes forever going forward, the take to District 41 is currently in the multi-millions of dollars, and the personal cost to individual taxpayers is in the tens of thousands . . . with no end in sight.

In our increasingly fragile economic world of fluctuating interest rates, home mortgage foreclosures, rising gasoline costs and higher food prices to name the most obvious . . . who among us can afford to forfeit this kind of cash annually to a school district that was never granted permission to take the money in the first place . . . and who, even worse, must now concoct a never-ending wish list of cockamamie schemes to spend it????

Six new portables at Hadley, anyone? No problem!

In addition to the assessor’s office, taxpayers should be storming the Bastille on North Main Street . . . holding accountable those whose manipulation and deceit has been most responsible for exploding tax bills over the past 8 years . . . and demanding that District 41 honor its commitment from 2001!

I just purchased last July, so the county has the actual selling price for the "fair cash value" for 2007. That amount is up $33,000 (10%) from the estimated 2006 fair value. The taxes are up $340 (5.2%).

I think I'm in the "posh YMCA district," but not sure of it's exact borders.

quote:

Originally posted by Melbourne:
I think there is a tendency for taxpayers to think of the 2001 referendum as past history . . . and yah, we got the fuzzy end of the lollipop, but what the hell?? Move on.

The truth is, we are paying our eighth annual installment of the referendum . . . the last seven of which have been impacted to various degrees by the phase-in. By keeping the meter running for four additional years, and ratcheting up the stakes forever going forward, the take to District 41 is currently in the multi-millions of dollars, and the personal cost to individual taxpayers is in the tens of thousands . . . with no end in sight.

In our increasingly fragile economic world of fluctuating interest rates, home mortgage foreclosures, rising gasoline costs and higher food prices to name the most obvious . . . who among us can afford to forfeit this kind of cash annually to a school district that was never granted permission to take the money in the first place . . . and who, even worse, must now concoct a never-ending wish list of cockamamie schemes to spend it????

Six new portables at Hadley, anyone? No problem!

In addition to the assessor’s office, taxpayers should be storming the Bastille on North Main Street . . . holding accountable those whose manipulation and deceit has been most responsible for exploding tax bills over the past 8 years . . . and demanding that District 41 honor its commitment from 2001!

Thanks, Melbourne, for articulating so well what many of us are feeling.

We are now on Superintendent #3, since the whole phase-in began. How nice that those earning the top dollar compliments of their stakeholders can afford to pull up stakes and move on to "greener" pastures when the citizens start to catch on. And what has been the main focus on those administrations -- bricks and mortar. When the numbers in enrollment don't go the right way, the district has to revamp the curriculum to bolster up the need for space. Or, my favorite, telling the community that we are increasing class sizes. Pardon me if I don't get choked up, but the other part of the story is that we have had class sizes of 16, when the targets are 5 - 10 students higher.

Like Melbourne's math examples above, I would suggest an individual analysis of the previous tax bills. Set them side-by-side and see the increase going to D41 and then take a look at the District 41 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. Just the increase in the numbers of administrators sickens me.

Six new portables at Hadley anyone? Fine with me if the District goes and finds $500,000 elsewhere in the budget to fund it and quit taking more from the "stakeholders."

While the math to calculate what we have been over-charged is easy enough to accomplish, it will never measure the toll it has taken in personal lives, the lost opportunities elsewhere.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ohma,

You know Ohma, I'm not sure the majority of the people in this town really have the guts to protest a roll back to the green line. Reminds me of the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie where the townsfolk were lining up at the gallows to be hung, powerless in their remorse.

Bring back Lynch I say!

quote:

Originally posted by Fish:
Mine went down $240

If you know your PIN you can find your bill here.

I will be calling my cousin at the assesors office to see if he can correct this injustice
Sincerely,
Your friend
Mr. Arten

quote:

Originally posted by Mrs Arten:

quote:

Originally posted by Fish:
Mine went down $240

If you know your PIN you can find your bill here.

I will be calling my cousin at the assesors office to see if he can correct this injustice
Sincerely,
Your friend
Mr. Arten

Good to hear from you again Mr. A. I'm shocked this came as a surprise to you. Your cousin said he would be sending you your cut of the deal.

I lost my 2005 appeal with the State. I hate those MFers. I received a 9 page decision saying a whole lot of nothing. Guess it's now ok to use properties outside your taxing neighborhood as comps. I guess it's also ok not to have any any rules/criteria as to when and under what circumsatnces a certain method of valuation is used vs. another. Milton Township is F'd up and nobody will admit it. I hate them all.