Property insurance rates are set to rise across Waterloo after city council voted against a small tax hike to speed up improvements to its fire department.
Consultant CGI warned this year that it was downgrading the city’s Fire Underwriters Survey rating from a 3 to a 4.
The ratings are used by insurance companies to set rates for all but single detached homes in the city.
The new rating will mean the total cost of insurance for businesses, institutions and multi-residential highrise units will increase by as much as $600,000 a year across the city, said Waterloo Fire Chief John deHooge.
At the heart of the issue is the city’s decision not to implement a one per cent tax increase spread out over three years that would cost the average homeowner about $3 a year.
The money would have allowed the city to implement a fire master plan that includes new spending to hire a training officer and more inspectors, over three years.
Instead, councillors opted to fund the master plan over five years, which meant no additional tax increase, but caused the city’s insurance rating to drop.
“Certainly from my perspective, any fire chief would want to have the best level of service they could provide to the community and the three-year option would have achieved that sooner,” DeHooge said.
“Having said that, the five-year option still achieves the outcomes. It takes a couple years longer at the end of the day.”
Kitchener has a rating of 3, while Cambridge has a rating of 4. Both cities respond to most calls within 5 minutes. Waterloo has set that target, but now takes around six or seven minutes to answer most calls.
The city has been pouring money into its fire department, said Coun. Jan d’Ailly, who chairs Waterloo’s finance and strategic planning committee.
The fire budget has gone up by more than a third over the past three years, the largest increase of any department.
That funding include plans to open a fourth fire station near RIM Park in early 2009 and hire 20 more firefighters to staff it.
Paying for the master plan is just one of several issues the city is grappling with, including how to fund $160 million in needed infrastructure repairs.
“That’s a huge amount of money that we really need for some of those must-have activities,” d’Ailly said. “We can’t even fund those. From my perspective, it becomes very difficult to fund a nice-to-have piece on an accelerated fire master plan.”
But the plan approved this week leaves no guarantee all the improvements to the fire department will get done if other budget pressures get in the way down the road, warned Coun. Karen Scian, who along with Diane Freeman and Mark Whaley pushed for a three-year plan.
“It was frustrating to me because we really missed an opportunity to walk out of office in 2010 and leave something fixed, and we didn’t do that,” Scian said.
Waterloo is the only city in the region without a training officer, Scian said. Under the plan that position was pushed back from next year to 2009.
The consultant’s report also recommend that the city eventually build a fifth fire station on the west side to serve planned subdivisions there.
GROUP TO LOOK AT FORECLOSURES – The city has established a Foreclosure Roundtable to try to address a spike in the number of filings for home foreclosures. According to city officials, Brockton has some of the highest foreclosure rates in Plymouth County. The roundtable will offer a discussion among city officials, bankers, and real estate professionals to try to determine why the area has seen so many foreclosures, and to find ways to help people struggling to pay their mortgages. A Brockton Housing Partnership hot line has been established at 508-586-6080. – Milton Valencia
Homeowners will have to dig a little deeper to pay their bills after selectmen last night unanimously approved a property tax increase that will bump the average yearly bill more than $250 to $4,820.
The rate jumped from $11.86 per thousand dollars of assessed value in fiscal 2007 to $12.53 in fiscal 2008. The new rate means a 1.06 percent jump for the owner of a home with the average assessed value of about $385,000.
The town’s residential rate is the second lowest among towns surveyed in MetroWest, with Natick at $10.01 per thousand, said Chief Assessor Michael Flynn. Southborough’s rate is $12.54 per thousand, he said.
Business owners, meanwhile, saw their rate drop to $28.09 per thousand from $28.43 in fiscal 2007 under the new rates that use a complicated formula that limits the amount of tax burden that can be placed on homeowners.
If Framingham used a single tax rate, the average homeowner would have paid almost $6,200 in fiscal 2008 taxes, with a $16.05 per-thousand cost, reflecting 77 percent of the town’s $141 million in taxes.
Framingham has $8.8 billion in taxable property, Flynn said.
The split rate drops the burden for homeowners to 60 percent of the town’s total and bumps the commercial rate to 40 percent of the town’s total.
“If we’re trying to promote economic development, one way to do that is to move off the maximum shift,” said MetroWest Chamber of Commerce President Ted Welte.
Town Meeting member Peter Pleshaw urged selectmen and town leaders to push for new income streams or run the risk of having municipal budgets slashed at next April’s annual session.
“If we can’t find new income, we’ll have to take a strong stand on those departmental expenses,” he said.
Selectman Charles Sisitsky noted, though, that the rates are set based on Town Meeting’s vote of department budget requests, and the maximum requests allowed are set by state law.
In other news, selectmen also conditionally approved six-month licenses for all lodging houses. Two of the properties – 140 Union Ave. and 12 Lexington St. – must provide the name of their resident managers under the newly approved lodging house bylaw.
The board also granted Dakshin a liquor license for 2008 as long as it meets the terms of a 2004 law – prompted by the 2003 Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed 100 people – that requires installing sprinkler and fire alarm systems in all establishments that house 100 people or more.
Fire officials approved Dakshin’s fire alarm plans yesterday, said Chief Ollie Gadson. Phil Ottaviani of Delcisa Realty Trust, which owns the building, said the sprinkler plans will be submitted today.
After the dust settled, city council signed off on a six percent property tax increase, which includes a 2.3 percent capital levy.
However, as with past years, the city’s finance committee was quick to remind everyone that after the provincial education tax rate kicks in, the effective tax increase is 5.1 percent.
For the average homeowner with a property worth $120,000 this means about $121 per year or $182 for an $180,000 house.
Council also approved a water and wastewater increase of 5.7 percent, draining an extra $58 out of the pocket of the average homeowner using 360 cubic metres of water annually.
Government a-la-carte could be ‘nickel and diming’ Seminole County homeowners. If voters pass the tax reform amendment next year to lower their taxes, local governments are coming up with new ways to make up the difference, such as extra fees for things like fire service.
Longwood is just one of many local governments, like Winter Springs, Sanford and others that have signed on with the consultant. They haven’t taken action yet, but they could create a special fee for fire and other services if property tax revenue drops off.
Vernon McGill has had his house in Sanford about year and he doesn’t have any trouble remembering the whopping dollar figure on his latest tax bill.
“My taxes are $5,500 a year now and we don’t know if they’re gonna go up or if they’re gonna go down,” he said.
The latter seems less likely than ever. Sanford, like many others in Central Florida, is considering a special assessment fee to cover the cost of fire service if revenue from property taxes goes down.
In Sanford’s case, the fire department’s budget is about eight million a year. If voters cut the property taxes, the city says it could fill in the gap with a new fee, but some homeowners are worried that could leave them with no savings at all.
Many local governments in Florida have turned to a consultant, Government Services Group Inc., to draw up the plans for a fire fee. Sanford said it paid the company about $80,000.
City manager Sherman Yehl said local governments have to find a way to continue to provide a level of service their residents demand.
“I can’t think of a single service we provide that a resident has come to us and said, ‘Don’t provide this service anymore,’”
he story about taxes in Prince William County is a complex one. Due to rapid growth, we have to pay for rapidly growing services. That includes our school system, roads, and police stations and so forth. So no matter what, we are going to pay. The question is how much. What should our property tax rate be?
Two Conservatives leaves no doubt he is unhappy with the latest decision by the Board of County Supervisors.
You will read tomorrow about the “compromise” $1.00 tax rate. Don’t be fooled.
May and Nohe should be ashamed. They both earlier had supported a $1.00 rate, May as a “compromise”, and Nohe because I presume he can only deal with whole dollar amounts
But they proposed that rate when we thought assessments were down 16%. At that time, the $1.01 rate was seen as an 8% increase, while a $1.00 rate would be a little over 7%.
Today, we learned that the assessments were only down 15%. Also, the School board miraculously found that they didn’t need as much money as they INSISTED they needed just 3 weeks ago. (from here)
Is Charles right? Should we have lower rate? The fact of the matter is that there is no simple answer. Property tax collections depend upon the assessed value times the rate, and property values are sagging. The Washington Times reports a 25 percent drop in Prince William County (here) over the last year. That is not good news. How will that affect assessments in 2009?
Property values are assessed every January, and these values have been varying wildly. For example, in 2006, my home was assessed at $438,900. In 2008, the assessed value was $324,200. You can review the assesment of your own home here.
The budget story, however, has just begun. The tax rate the BOCS set on Monday (see here, here and here) is the advertised tax rate. We still have the following events in the future (from here).
* Public Hearing for FY07 Budget, Monday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Dr. A.J. Ferlazzo Building.
* Public Hearing for FY07 Budget, Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. at Stonewall Middle School.
* County Executive’s Budget Recap, Tuesday, April 11, at 2 p.m. in the Board Chamber of the McCoart Building.
* Board of County Supervisors Budget Markup, Tuesday, April 18, at 2 p.m. in the Board Chamber of the McCoart Building.
* Board of County Supervisors Adopts FY07 Fiscal Plan and FY07-12 CIP, Tuesday, April 25, at 2 p.m. in the Board Chamber of the McCoart Building. (wrong year ;-( )
* Public Hearing for FY07 Budget, Monday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m. at the Dr. A.J. Ferlazzo Building.
* Public Hearing for FY07 Budget, Wednesday, April 5, at 7:30 p.m. at Stonewall Middle School.
* County Executive’s Budget Recap, Tuesday, April 11, at 2 p.m. in the Board Chamber of the McCoart Building.
* Board of County Supervisors Budget Markup, Tuesday, April 18, at 2 p.m. in the Board Chamber of the McCoart Building.
* Board of County Supervisors Adopts FY07 Fiscal Plan and FY07-12 CIP, Tuesday, April 25, at 2 p.m. in the Board Chamber of the McCoart Building. (wrong year ;-( )
Unfortunately, the Republicans on the BOC do not have a cohesive coalition. The three low tax Republicans and three “moderates” are not working together, and that bodes ill. Stewart, Stirrup, Covington, Nohe, and May, at least, should be able to work together most of the time (See BOCS profiles here.). May has advertised himself as budget conscious. As a businessman, Nohe should know how to conserve money.
With property values falling, the BOCS has a distinct problem. When taxpayers are taking a hit in their pocketbooks, they have every right to expect their government to sacrifice something too. These five gentlemen are all Republicans and usually allies. Unless they want the opposition and a liberal news media to find joy in their divisions, they should work to together to do two things:
* Jointly target and remove any fat they can find in the county’s budget.
* Provide comparisons with other counties in the area (and not just big spending Northern Virginia either). There is plenty of stuff in the budget to talk about besides the funding required to discourage illegal immigrants from coming into the county.
Comparisons with other counties, such as Stafford, Loudoun and Fauquier, should either help to alleviate taxpayer concerns that Prince William has its budget under control or provide ammunition for reductions.
Everson council passed a 2008 budget Monday with a half-mill increase in the property tax rate.
Two mills were removed the budget after borough residents voiced opposition by voting against the real estate tax hike in a referendum on the Nov. 6 ballot.
The 2008 budget, however, include a half-mill increase
Two developments that could transform key parts of the city — the Mid-South Fairgrounds and Highland Avenue near the University of Memphis — received important City Council backing Tuesday.
Fairgrounds redevelopment efforts got a boost with the council’s resolution supporting the establishment of a Tourist Development Zone at the 170-acre Midtown property.
The TDZ allows local sales taxes collected within it to be used to help finance the projects.
Before the full vote, city finance director Roland McElrath told the council’s economic development, tourism and technology committee Tuesday morning that the TDZ funds can only be used for a “public-use facility” that costs at least $75 million.
McElrath said Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium would serve as the “public-use facility,” and that money from new sales tax revenue from retail in the TDZ would be used to renovate the Liberty Bowl or build a new stadium.
The city is waiting on a U.S. Department of Justice ruling on what Americans with Disabilities Act improvements must be made at the 42-year-old stadium before it decides whether to build a new stadium or repair the existing one.
McElrath told council members that the city would try to use a variety of methods to fund the stadium work without issuing city bonds.
But under questioning from Councilman Scott McCormick, McElrath said general obilgation bonds could be issued if the funding options the city is considering don’t reach the $75 million threshold.
On Dec. 4, consultants hired by the city unveiled three options for redeveloping the fairgrounds.
The city is now seeking a master developer for the fairgrounds. The chosen developer — to be selected by April 18 — won’t be restricted to the consultants’ options.
A team led by local real estate developers Henry Turley and Bob Loeb have already applied to serve as the master developers. Turley helped push for and secure the TDZ, which can be used by any development team the city picks.
The council, following the Shelby County Commission on Monday, also authorized the Community Redevelopment Agency to issue $12.5 million in bonds to fund part of a $63.5 million mixed-use project that would renovate two blocks on Highland south of Central and add more than 200 apartments and townhomes, plus retail space.
The council action enables Memphis-based Poag & McEwen Lifestyle Centers to make use of tax increment financing (TIF).
TIF projects rely on publicly issued bonds to help developers pay for infrastructure improvements. The additional property tax revenue generated by the new developments go to pay off the bonds.
This particular TIF would pay for sidewalk improvements, add street lights, fund demolition in the area and build a parking garage.
The U of M and Poag & Mc-Ewen applied for the TIF together, with the private firm developing about half of the area, and the university adding another $18 million in the coming years for new buildings, including a new alumni advancement center and a new grand entrance to the campus from Highland.
The university and Poag & McEwen say the project has the potential to draw $130 million in investment to the area and about $26 million in new tax revenues over the next three decades.
G. Dan Poag Jr., chief executive officer of Poag & McEwen, said if the Community Redevelopment Agency signs off on the measure Thursday, which is expected, his company hopes to close on the purchase of the Highland Street Church of Christ property — the key piece of the planned development — on Friday.
The project has the support of the U of M and a host of neighborhood groups.
“This developer has done their homework and worked hard to reach out to the neighborhood groups,” said Steve Barlow, executive director of the University Neighborhoods Development Corp.
The council also approved a moratorium on new construction in the Pinch District while the Center City Commission develops a new master plan for the area, which is again in the spotlight thanks to the ongoing Pyramid redevelopment process.
Brinks, who works as the Moffat County assessor, is concerned potential rule changes at the Colorado Division of Property Taxation will prevent local tax authorities from properly assessing the taxable value of oil and gas company property.
The state has a history of undervaluing that property and not revaluing it thoroughly enough to keep in stride with rising inflation and worth, Brinks said.
If the state mandates certain property values through “basic equipment lists,” local assessors won’t be able to use discretion when they know something is worth more, she added.
The Moffat County Commission signed a letter from Brinks to the Statutory Advisory Committee for property taxes and the State Board of Equalization, which helps govern property tax laws, addressing her reservations.
Currently, the state provides basic equipment lists to county assessors, which provide general values for property items, including equipment used at oil and gas wells.
Local assessors can use the state’s values or assess a different value based on their reasoning that the state’s assessment is undervalued.
Oil and gas company personal property tax revenue totals about $5.5 million each year in Moffat County, a little more than 1 percent of the county’s $474 million in property tax revenue, Brinks said.
“Even though it’s a relatively small amount, it’s a question of equality for all taxpayers,” Brinks said. “These things need to be properly valued.”
The state recently hired Visual Lease — the same Oklahoma-based consulting firm Moffat County hired this year to assess oil and gas property locally — to update its oil and gas personal property values described in the basic equipment list.
Brinks and her staff generally approved the new proposed values, she said.
However, she is concerned the values will fall before they are instated because the Division of Property Taxation is conferring with energy companies from the northeastern part of the state.
“The Division has said, when these were first brought to the industry, they gnashed like mad cats,” Brinks said. “Of course, the industry says they (taxable values) are too high.”
The Division of Taxation sent comments back to Visual Lease to ensure it was assessing correct values, said JoAnn Groff, Division of Taxation property tax administrator.
Brinks also is worried the state will not revalue oil and gas company personal property for a number of years, and counties will be forced to use values that are not adjusted for inflation and new technology.
That has been a pattern for state-issued values before, Brinks said.
Before the Visual Lease assessment, “It became increasingly obvious that the values were absurdly low,” Brinks said.
It’s not fair that oil and gas company personal property would be adjusted less frequently than residential and other commercial property, she added.
For those reasons, Brinks wants to continue to have the authority to assess property values independently, she said.
That discretion violates statutes regulating oil and gas company personal property, Groff said.
Statutes dictate that when there is a basic equipment list, counties must enforce those values uniformly, Groff said.
“I absolutely applaud assessors doing their job and feeling as though they want to do what is right for their property owners,” Groff said. “I think assessors want to make their own decisions. I appreciate that, I just don’t think the statute allows me to do that.”
The only other course under current statutes is to do away with the basic equipment lists altogether and have every county do their own independent assessments, Groff said.
“Not all counties have the ability to do outside contracting to a private consulting firm,” Groff said. “The other bad side is in the oil and gas community, and how much angst there is over these values. Hopefully, we don’t get to the point that counties are expending a lot of their resources defending property values in court.”
The point is to get the values right, Groff said. She feels compelled by law to require uniformity across the state.
