Okay, I've been thinking again....(boy,theres trouble already ) We discuss sometimes taxes and who pays how much. But I'm wondering just what do we really get for our money ? Never mind for a minute who pays- what are we, as citizens, getting ? Do you have police protection where you live ? A fire department ? City water&sewer ? Decently maintained roads ? Or do you live in a rural area and get nothing ? DF

 

In Northern Virginia, we have both a police department and Sheriff's office. Neither one can 'protect' us.
We have a fire department, but most of the firefighters at the over 15 stations are volunteers!
We have sewer and water, but pay a 'extra' fee quarterly for the priveledge.
Decently maintained roads... Everybody knows that paved roads are yet another example of useless goverment spending.

And there are also rural areas in the county that get nothing!
Where does our tax money go? Very little to schools. A bunch to politicians for their services? The county recently spent over five thousand dollars each, for two signs to name a road after a local politician that is still alive. Wouldn't you have a hard time spending that much and then saying you serve the public interest?
By the way, the county had already made two 'regular' signs at an expense of $500 each. Go figure.

 

Dont even get me started on that subject today...Im in much to good of a mood...No one will ever be able to sufficiently explain to me the "how, what, where, who, why" the guvmint does with our money then turn around and act like their doing us a favor, we should be honored to be "served by them"...
why is it easier to get on welfare than get a building permit...
when did the news media become so expert at "interpreting the news" instead of just "reporting it", and letting me form my own opinions...
how come tribal gamming is 1billion dollar a year industry, and the tribes are not taxed...
what happened to accountability whether personal/guvmint...
where is the "none of the above" option on my voting ballot...

and last but not least...a kennedy automobile has killed more people than any of my guns...Just goes to show ya cant legistrate morality...

 

Post office charges 37 cents to mail a first class letter anywhere in the US. Now, it seems to me that if I send a letter to mother across town that I am paying too much when my neighbor sends a letter to his brother in Alaska for the same price. But apparently this is how the post office wanted to do it. I don't know if it saves them having to figure different prices or it is just a subsidy for outlying areas. Interesting that it is against the law for a private company to provide first class mail services.

INLINE SIX POWER! '95 F150 XL
300 Cubic Inches of Low RPM Truck Torque! And twin-I-beams too!
"Drive a stick young man! There'll be time for automatics when you're old and unable."

 

The 37 cents is still one of the cheapest in the world. What erks me is the special rates to everyone other than me. If they need more money, I'd suggest knocking off Saturday delivery all together, and then quit Tuesday and Thursdays if you need to.

All I get in the mail is bills, it's not that important to get that stuff six days a week, they are monthly bills with grace periods.

 

 

Everybody is pretty much the same on income taxes I would expect, so I will cry in my beer about my property taxes. When I bought my house I was in the county. About a year later I got annexed. We signed a petition, but the city limits surrounded the area I live so we were forcibly annexed. My taxes doubled in the first year. And here is what I "received" for that increase. The road and sewer project the county had budgeted didn't get done before the annexation, and at this time is still not even started. Before we had two county cops that covered our area, the city absorbed the area and didn't hire any new cops. So an area the county deemed needed two cops is now covered by one city cop, and all they did was extend his area, less service for me and the area he previously served. According to city code sidewalks and street lights are required, they have not put any in, however they did just spend 5 million replacing operational lights downtown that were more architecturally correct for the area. We are now covered by city fire protection, we had a volunteer station two blocks from my house, but like with police protection they just absorbed the area. No new firefighters, equipment, or stations were added to cover the area. The volunteer station had two engines, one tanker, one rescue squad and a ladder truck and had 35 members. Recently a mile away they started building a new subdivision. So my property taxes have increased twice in the last eight months. All I have to show for it is increased traffic on my already cracked and potholed road. By the way the "subdivision" I live in is six square miles with a population of 20,000 people. I have whined enough now so I will go have some cheese. Thanx for listening to my rant.
T. Roberts
UFD Local 1147

 

Okay I am going to play the devils advocate and respond to some of these questions. To the point of police “protection”, the role of the police is NOT to protect but to enforce the law. If you were to employ enough police officers to “protect” each citizen of your town/city you couldn’t afford to live there. Also there are very specific federal guidelines that your police department must meet in order to receive federal grants. I am 99% sure that your department is meeting these medium guidelines for fear of losing grant money.

As to only having one cop for 20,000 where there use to be two. First of all when you had two I would lay money they were not working 12 hour shifts (one on each shift) 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Once you do the math and figure out the total amount of time each cop spent in actual patrol of your area I think you will find that one police officer working on an 8-hour rotating shift (3 police covering 24-hours, 7days a week, 365 days a year) you now have more actual police man hours then before.

As to the rise in your taxes, your homes tax base is figured on your homes net worth or market value. If your taxes have gone up this is because the assessed value has also increased. If you feel that the worth of your home has not increased as much as the city as assessed you have the right to have it re-assessed by the city at no charge to you. If you still disagree with the new assessment you have the right to have it assessed by someone you have hired. If the city refuses your assessors appraisal then you have the right to enter into arbitration that will become binding on both you and the city (the city must pay for this arbitration and not you!). Note that during this time you do NOT have to pay the city taxes, but be prepared to pay off the back taxes when your arbitration is finished.

As to the fire department, what you have lost in size I will wager you have made up for in response time. You must remember that your volunteer department did not have a full-time staff. These guys do a great job, but cannot match the response time of a full-time department. Even if your full-time department is now 3 miles further from you then your old volunteer department they will still be to your house faster then the volunteers could have hoped for.

I too hate the idea of paying more taxes, but you have to look at both sides of the issue and do the math. Though it is not true in every situation, in general and the majority of the time, being incorporated within the city leads to better coverage, better services and increased property values. I understand your prospective, but I think you have not seen all the facts and figures.

 

How does ones area get annexed? Do the residents get to vote or is your area just eaten up by a big greedy, tax hungry metropolis? The place I live in is a township that once was a full 36 square miles, but long ago (I think back in the 40s) the City of Detoit annexed all but about 11 square miles of the township. I live in the remaining part that did not get Annexed. (In this case, my proper taxes actually would be lower if I were part of Detroit.)

INLINE SIX POWER! '95 F150 XL
300 Cubic Inches of Low RPM Truck Torque! And twin-I-beams too!
"Drive a stick young man! There'll be time for automatics when you're old and unable."