Somerset County property taxes are due next week and land owners will be writing higher checks than they paid last year. Mine are 8% higher than 2008.
What happened?
Somerset County Commissioners claimed to not raise property taxes. Even local papers dutifully followed in lockstep proclaiming "No Tax Increases".
What no one bothered explaining to the citizens of Somerset County and what the Commissioners left unadjusted is the CONSTANT YIELD RATE. If the constant yield rate remains the same as last year, the higher assessments will result in higher taxes.
For 2009 taxes to remain at the same dollar amount collected as 2008, the constant yield rate SHOULD HAVE BEEN DECREASED BY $ 0.12 (twelve cents). Not the $ 0.02 as proudly proclaimed by the County Commissioners.
The Somerset County Commissioners proudly proclaimed no tax increases yet your taxes may indeed be higher than 2008. To make matters worse, plummeting real estate values have rendered current assessments inaccurate.
As property values nosedive well below 2007 levels, assessments continue their three year upward spike. To be fairly taxed on the current decreasing land values, the constant yield rate should be dropped $0.20 (twenty cents). Then the County Commissioners could honestly claim to have not raised your taxes. Until then folks, it's a TAX INCREASE!
The group responsible for influencing the tax reduction is Americans For Prosperity. Americans For Prosperity, Somerset, will meet in Princess Anne on Tuesday, September 29 at 7:00 in Beach to Bay Seafood (opposite McDonalds). Arrive at 6:45 if wish to order delicious seafood.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
5 comments:
Most town officials will declare no tax increases when they actually mean they will not increase their tax rates.
Maybe you should have attended the meetings when the budget was presented. At that time, they explain the Constant Yield Rate to you, but you have to be there.
Delmar does the same thing on the Maryland side.
This is nothing new.
Just another person who instead of being PROACTIVE and showing up at meetings which have important topics they should be interested in, they would rather sit on their behind and do nothing. Then, after it's all said and done, they will sit on their behind, write in to the local blog and complain.
Pretty accurate wouldn't you say?
People did speak out.
That's what there was a 2 cent decrease.
Actually the local paper, Somerset Herald, bought into the phoney tax reduction.
The article gushed over the Commissioners for not raising taxes and praised the 2 cent decrease. Very misleading and dishonest.
This situation repeats its self each and every year. The folks are mis-lead by the commissioners and the local news media about the property tax situation. Ask yourself one question "are you paying more property tax this year than last year"? I thought so. So where is the tax decrease?
What does one expect from 4 democrats. They have never met a tax they didn't like. Get ready for more from Obama and O"Malley.
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