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Tax Impact We were told that although the School Board members were still getting emails, that the numbers they are receiving is not as high as before the decision. We know people are unhappy with the fact that this money will be spent without a referendum, so we need to keep the issue hot and keep people talking. For that reason we suggest that people keep writing editorials to the News Tribune. Editorials that continue to point out how much money this is and that taxpayers should demand a referendum will keep the media interested in doing stories on it. It was suggested that we keep the editorials positive. One issue that has not been discussed much is that the tax rate might be a "flat rate" but it is certainly not a "flat tax" meaning each year as your property values increase over those 20 years that the amount of tax will increase. So just because the first year your tax might be 114.00 on a 125,000 home, the following year it could be 140.00 going up each year that property values do. One in our group likened it to an adjustable rate mortgage. Although this tax will adjust only up, and never down. The other issue to consider when you discuss the tax impact is something that the News Tribune pointed out - The estimated tax impact that we have been shown is "if all the operational savings gained from closing schools are put back into the project. If the savings are spent elsewhere, the impact will be higher than shown. The tax increase is slated to last 20 years" (this is a direct quote from the news tribune's article dated Sunday, June 24, 2007. |
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