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I agree, in part
I agree with the myth about schools keeping property value high. I also state that the schools are the most willing partner in the growth. The schools mandate residential growth to plan for their income increases from taxes. How much is too much? Ask the PLSD.
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Unvoted Tax increases
I have checked the auditor's web site also and I looked at my friend's homes and the increases in property taxes over the last five years. The one friend keeps his home maculate and there is no justification to lower his value.
I have also replaced my roof and siding in the last year. All of these homes have experienced a 150% increased in their property taxes over the last few years.
Normally the county will set the market value of your home at what they think is 90% of the actual market value (selling price). This makes it more realistic when you consider someone selling their home they will probably be paying out 10% of the proceeds to realtors and other expenses tacked on by the lender and title companies.
The sad part here is even new homes have actually lost value and judging and talking with local realtors many won't try to list in new sub-divisions because they can't bring the price the owner originally paid for their home new. (See Dominion; Columbus Dispatch).
Despite the fact the these production line builders do advertise the Pickerington Schools as part of their pitch their over building is first driving down the district property valuation down and second it places the home owners in a situation of not supporting levies on purely personal economic grounds.
What I suspect is happening at the Auditor's office is they are increasing the millage for district to make the payments on the minimum millage loan we all entered into in 2000 and these will continue to increase until the community gets ahead of the over building. However that will be painful as well in that less building drives up the individual home owner costs.
I would recommend that the board try to find someway to re-finance the $77 Million and to convert it to a straight line amortization. It may be expensive but we must find a way to control the unvoted yearly advances in property taxes. Unless the district can get a handle on that then I am afraid we will continue to fall behind in supporting the schools.
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Don't You Just Love It
Don't you just love it when rich people start poor-mouthing!! I'll bet a month's pay the Empty Nestor is closer to being a millionare than they realize. If they can't afford their taxes maybe they just keep buying too much stuff. If Nestor and the others of like ilk can't afford to sacrafice the price of one can of soda a day for education, then it's time to change everything.
Hey Nester, if you won't pay taxes for the schools (it takes a village--remember that?) then I want an immediate refund of every cent I paid into Social Security and Medicare. Oh, and an immediate repeal of the prescription drug act. No classrooms then no Viagra!! If you really want that kind of libertarnian society, bring it on. It holds no terror for me. Every man for himself; Ayn Rand elevated to sainthood. I doubt you'll like it much though.
By Any Mouse
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work ethic
Wow this discussion has gotten out of hand.
First I was accused of being a sexist. I raised three daughters and two sons. What you young people need to understand is that there are some major differences between teenage girls and teenage boys. At least in my family.
One example of that was I tried for years to teach my daughters how to check the oil dip stick in the car. None of them ever got the hang of it. My son called me one day at work and he was asking me how to change the oil in his car. I came home from work and he has the car up on ramps changing the oil and he is home alone. Of course he had oil all over the garage floor and the car was not centered on the ramps. No matter how hard I tried to instill an interest for the cars in the girls they only developed an interest in the mirror.
All five were required to work after school if they wanted money for entertainment or personal items. We did help them all with their education after high school. However even in college they all had part time jobs and in all but one case they all graduated in four years.
Their after school activities were limited to ONE per child.
My wife was a stay at home mother and we ate our evening meal at OUR dinner table. Surveys show that girls do 30% better on their aptitude tests when they have at least four family meals at home each week. We found this out after most of our children had moved out.
No we didn't have all of the newest fads or the latest toys on the market. We did celebrate a big Christmas and we took a family vacation in July.
Today I know that there are a lot of mothers that have more earning power than the fathers. I have no problem with a father staying home taking the responsibility of raising the children he helped bring into this world.
However for those that go to sit down restaurants and you see the behavior of young children running around the restaurant you can spot those families that have a stay at home parent. They are more disciplined and much calmer. I believe not being a child psychologist that they are probably more secure.
As for people like me not supporting the schools that is a not accurate profile of me and MY money. I will gladly support a school system that is educating our children, but I have a problem paying for a school system that now wants to take on every social problem that exists in our society and a system that feels they must be parents to young children.
As a parent it is my responsibly to ensure that my child behaves at school. It is my job to teach my child ambition and to take on responsibility for their own life. It is not the job of some stranger coach trying to win a championship in some sport. It is my responsibility to know the limitations of my children and to steer them to a productive life. When my children did poorly or screwed up I told them the truth, not ''GOOD JOB JOHNNY''. Do any of you think that the boss at one of these McJobs is going to tell your son or daughter ''good job'' when they ram the fork lift through a skit of crystal?
Clearly the schools need to scale back their offerings to be more basic and not all of the social ills they currently are trying to correct. We pay around $1.5 Million in supplementary contracts to coaches here in Pickerington. Could this team work and character also be learned at Wendy's on their team?
I think it is outrageous that our government requires that employers pay these kids the minimum wages. It seems we would be much better off if they allowed the employers to pay the kids under 18 say four bucks an hour. Maybe the employers would be more inclined to hire younger workers and we could start to rebuild that work ethic back into our younger generations.
By Empty Nester
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