Property tax bills have just come in the mail. As you might know, between me and my mother, we have four properties, so this isn’t exactly a fun time of the year. Additionally, my house is in the city of Waycross, which has absurdly high property taxes, considering. My first year of home ownership, my property taxes were nearly $500. Now, I pay a monthly fee for water/sewer/trash, so what is it my tax dollars are paying for? The non-existent police presence? The fact that the defaced street signs which say I live on the corner of Ass and Ass have been there since before I bought my house? Anyway, after I had to pay my first outrageous property tax bill, I applied for homestead exemption. This greatly reduced my property taxes; last year they were something like $60.
This year, there was a yellow notice attached to the tax bill which reads:
The state homestead tax relief grant that funded an increased homestead exemption for homeowners for the last several years will not be available this year. Declining state revenues during the current recession means there is no money for the state to give tax relief to homeowners. This will mean a property tax increase of $200 to $300 on the 2009 tax bills for many Georgia homeowners. The grant appropriated by the General Assembly and the Governor for the past several years to counties, cities and schools had given tax relief to homeowners in the form of a credit on their tax bills. According to legislation passed this year, the grant will only be made available in the future if state revenues grow at least 3% plus the rate of inflation.
I owe $416 on my property taxes this year. I should at least get some new street signs.
Meanwhile, as much as I do very much want to go to Nicaragua as part of the WorldVets.org spay/neuter program, my mother pointed out to me that for the amount of money I’d be paying to take part in that program, I could pay for all of the kittens we got this spring to get fixed, now that they’re getting old enough. After thinking about that, it is kind of hard for me to justify going, despite the fact that I really would love to make an overseas trip to pretty much anywhere right about now. So, that being said, I’ve decided not to go to Nicaragua :-(
To Rob B and Diana E, it turns out that I entered the wrong email address in ChipIn... it’s still *my* email address, but in ChipIn sends money to PayPal based on the email address provided, and to receive money through PayPal, one’s email address must be confirmed. In order to confirm your email address, you must provide PayPal with your bank account number. I have only one bank account, and it is linked to my pre-existing PayPal account, and therefore can't be linked to any other. As a result, I can’t “confirm” my account or receive your donation anyway – must be a sign that I’m not meant to go. No worries; PayPal will refund your money if I can’t confirm my account (and I can’t).
This year, there was a yellow notice attached to the tax bill which reads:
The state homestead tax relief grant that funded an increased homestead exemption for homeowners for the last several years will not be available this year. Declining state revenues during the current recession means there is no money for the state to give tax relief to homeowners. This will mean a property tax increase of $200 to $300 on the 2009 tax bills for many Georgia homeowners. The grant appropriated by the General Assembly and the Governor for the past several years to counties, cities and schools had given tax relief to homeowners in the form of a credit on their tax bills. According to legislation passed this year, the grant will only be made available in the future if state revenues grow at least 3% plus the rate of inflation.
I owe $416 on my property taxes this year. I should at least get some new street signs.
Meanwhile, as much as I do very much want to go to Nicaragua as part of the WorldVets.org spay/neuter program, my mother pointed out to me that for the amount of money I’d be paying to take part in that program, I could pay for all of the kittens we got this spring to get fixed, now that they’re getting old enough. After thinking about that, it is kind of hard for me to justify going, despite the fact that I really would love to make an overseas trip to pretty much anywhere right about now. So, that being said, I’ve decided not to go to Nicaragua :-(
To Rob B and Diana E, it turns out that I entered the wrong email address in ChipIn... it’s still *my* email address, but in ChipIn sends money to PayPal based on the email address provided, and to receive money through PayPal, one’s email address must be confirmed. In order to confirm your email address, you must provide PayPal with your bank account number. I have only one bank account, and it is linked to my pre-existing PayPal account, and therefore can't be linked to any other. As a result, I can’t “confirm” my account or receive your donation anyway – must be a sign that I’m not meant to go. No worries; PayPal will refund your money if I can’t confirm my account (and I can’t).
2 comments:
I doubt this will make you feel any better, but my landlord told his property taxes on our building were $42,000 this year.
And to give some perspective, there are five rental apartments in the building and a restaurant on the ground floor.
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