"When we bought our house three years ago I never expected it to come to this."
His shoulders widened from years of manual labor and his face prematurely aged from stress and worry, John Doe* sits hunched over a cup of coffee remembering how he felt the day the bank handed his wife the keys to their new home.
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Fri, May 17, 2013 - 09:32 AM
Good choices, what is accurate, and what is best are often not related at all to pop [...]
Fri, May 17, 2013 - 09:18 AM
It will be difficult to get any government employee or official to consider science, [...]
Fri, May 17, 2013 - 04:25 AM
How horrible. And what seems worse is the fact that this is the first I have heard o [...]
Thu, May 16, 2013 - 10:56 PM
If they were qualified and there were open positions, then I am sure they would have [...]
Thu, May 16, 2013 - 08:52 PM
The noise from the plant can be heard in the Laurel Drive, Pine St, and Maple Dr are [...]
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Our local school system is building based on plans and monies that have been in effect or budgeted (SPLOST) for a few years.
The total tax collected will have to be the same net dollar value. If real estate values drop the school system will have to increase the millage rate until they have what they want and the county will have to do the same.
The only important thing is everyone be valued by the same standards, not that it be the actual value. If everyone is over estimated by 90% the effect is the same as if everyone is under estimated by 90%.
The effect on the rest of us when areas of Barnesville were not updated to a value based on the same standards used for the rest of us is the rest of us saw a tax increase while those properties continued their extended tax break.
This is why it is important to keep politics out of the tax process and just do the thing fairly evenly. All prices should be estimated at pre-recession values, or they should all be adjusted to post-recession values. What the absolute value is doesn't matter so long as they are on the same standard.
Tom
Isn’t it ashamed that what you say isn’t what happens. We got to get a grip on the politicians and those involved in the process and take their manipulation of the system out of the equation.
You seem to forget that we don't live in a perfect world. And, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon and an eye doctor to see that they try to be fair to everyone while eking out every benefit possible; legal or not so legal.
It is good to see that someone actually understands how the taxes are calculated.
The problem is the Commissioners and the School Board have continually increased the taxes collected every year and dramatically increased over the last 2 years. "THE SPENDING IN OUT OF CONTROL" not the valuations.
I had a home built in Lamar County last year. The value was in the 300K range. It was a long time in the making before we actually broke ground. My search for a prime contractor was a real education. I interviewed several before settling on one. I found many had a lot of conflicting information. It seemed that most wanted to sell me a home instead of just building one for me. What I mean is that they wanted to build it for the actual market value instead of cost to build plus 15-20% (which would be about 45-60K). I stopped asking around who was a good builder and started asking who would you have build your house.
If I was to give a report card on the end results it would be something like this:
Concrete work A
Framing +A
Brick work - B
Pluming C
Electrical +B
Roofing A
Trim work A
Painting +B
Material quality A
Tile and flooring +B
Financing A
Drywall A
Fire place +B
Cabinets A
Counter tops A
Prime contracting +B ( I would use him again )
Would I do it again………yes. Word to the wise. One of my most difficult challenges was working with the local building supply here in Lamar County. Even though it was a custom home and not a track house it became quickly evident that I was not the customer and that my builder was. This I had to correct immediately and met constant opposition through out the experience. Prices and variety of material did not compare to the big box stores. I had to go outside this local supplier for much of my materials. I then became very unpopular.
Golden rule: Keep all the receipts and a constant tally on all the out of scope cost. Know the added cost up front and keep a journal with dates. Take plenty of photos. Don’t close the deal until after a very vigilant check out.