City council is claiming its most recent tax
bill increase is only 5.2 percent. This is simply not
true.
The situation is actually much worse. Your
tax bill is calculated by multiplying your home's assessed
value by the city's mill rate. The mill rate is a number
determined by council each year. This year council will raise
your mill rate by 5.2 percent. However, your home's assessed
value goes up
every year too.
My home's assessed value went up by 14.55
percent this year. There were no changes to the home or
property. According to the Municipal Property Assessment
Corporation, the average assessed value of homes in the city
went up by 8.14 percent. If the city never raised its mill rate
your tax bill
would rise anyway. This in effect a double
taxation increase.
The bottom line is the city is raising taxes
at more twice the inflation rate again this year.
In total, over the past three budgets, this
council has raised accumulative taxes by more than 20
percent.
Stephen Butcher
, Lively