Property Taxes Decrease!

A couple months ago, a local paper had a letter to the Editor, where they Alderman was trying to explain how "property taxes are not related to the property values" and thus can go up even in a down market.

I read it and thought - IDIOT!

Everything about property taxes directly correlates to the value of the property. Why do you think homeowners stay on top of values and petition for changes when they see they are OVER ASSESSED.

Must just be, because they are bored or enjoy the web of confusion in our government systems.

If property values are dropping, which they are, all property tax bills should be declining at the same rate as the property values. So, if your property values decline by 3%, your tax bill should decline by the same number. Less any increases approved for line items.

After that b.s. letter was published - I assumed they were just trying to prepare the public for rate hikes.

Our area has never went down on taxes - well except when I appealed the numbers. So, I was nervous yesterday when I saw the first tax bill arrive in the mail. The largest of my tax bills, the commercial property is a scary one.

The bill shows a 1.2% drop from last years bill. Which amounts to pennies in comparison to the bill. Leaves me wondering if our area is not as hard hit as other areas.

Of course, review of the bill shows -

• the property value did not decrease
• some tax rates for various taxing bodies did increase (3)
• but overall, more taxing body decreases account for this decline(16)
• and one new taxing body

Now, I should be upset by this, but I'm not. Recently, I was privy to some information regarding a smaller commercial property near ours that was appraised at over $500k. Commercial properties are not like house and there are many variables, but

• the property is smaller then ours with 2 units (we have 3 and more SqFT)
• the property has less parking
• the property is close to our wear and tear level

I have our property valued at $350k and the tax bill, because of our length of time and ownership taxes us even lower at about $277k. So, I'm going to keep my mouth shut and ride the ride.