Property Taxes (Baton Rouge: low income, mobile home, calculating)

[BetaBeta]

I don't usually engage in political discussions but the failing of this tax was crazy. I have a home valued at over 200K and the small increase in taxes over 30 years was not a big deal to my budget at all EVEN over 30 years. I throw away more than that going to the movies and buy popcorn on the weekends. I'm sure this is the case for most people that own houses in the city or else wouldn't have been able to afford or maintain these homes in the first place.

This refusal to accept paying a small fee to improve services is crazy. Baton Rouge is around 30 years behind most capital cities infrastructure wise and will continue to stay behind as long as the attitude of "I don't want to pay for it" exists.

Folks are always complaining about crime or the lack of development in certain areas of the city yet when the opportunity comes along to help on both fronts they turn their backs.

Also, how many mayors go to places like China and recruit business to come to their city? Not many, even the company said they chose Baton Rouge because Mayor Holden was the only one to come meet them in person.

Where all of this disdain comes from towards a mayor that is really pulling out all stops to help his city is beyond me. I think some folks needs to be transplanted to a place like Detroit (Kilpatrick) or D. C. (Barry) and live under the type of mayors they had for awhile so they can come back to reality and appreciate what they have.

I think the EBRP citizens have no one to blame but themselves as they watch their capital city continue to decline and stay behind others in future years.

[mhounit]

Wrong . The citizens of EBR would have probably passed the bond issue , if that selfish , egotitical clown would have listened to them THE FIRST TIME , and seperated the projects into WANT'S and NEEDS . The Alive project would not have delivered the kind of jobs and revenue that your Mayor promised . The numbers were so inflated as to be laughable . A lot of people stood to gain from such a project , but it wasn't the average citizen of EBR . The people have spoken . Kip needs to learn to listen .

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by BetaBeta

I don't usually engage in political discussions but the failing of this tax was crazy. I have a home valued at over 200K and the small increase in taxes over 30 years was not a big deal to my budget at all EVEN over 30 years. I throw away more than that going to the movies and buy popcorn on the weekends. I'm sure this is the case for most people that own houses in the city or else wouldn't have been able to afford or maintain these homes in the first place.

This refusal to accept paying a small fee to improve services is crazy. Baton Rouge is around 30 years behind most capital cities infrastructure wise and will continue to stay behind as long as the attitude of "I don't want to pay for it" exists.

Folks are always complaining about crime or the lack of development in certain areas of the city yet when the opportunity comes along to help on both fronts they turn their backs.

Also, how many mayors go to places like China and recruit business to come to their city? Not many, even the company said they chose Baton Rouge because Mayor Holden was the only one to come meet them in person.

Where all of this disdain comes from towards a mayor that is really pulling out all stops to help his city is beyond me. I think some folks needs to be transplanted to a place like Detroit (Kilpatrick) or D. C. (Barry) and live under the type of mayors they had for awhile so they can come back to reality and appreciate what they have.

I think the EBRP citizens have no one to blame but themselves as they watch their capital city continue to decline and stay behind others in future years.

Let's just say this - Kip in general has been a good mayor - his Green Light program was something that was LONG overdue. But he and his downtown cronies refused to listen to the people who were willing to vote for infrastructure/drainage improvements but NOT the amusement park. Left out of the debate are those uncomfortable facts: (1) the title on that land was not certain - a fact that was not revealed until the Advocate bravely brought this up, (2) the state wasn't necessarily going to pony up its share of matching funds, (3) the stronger river current is on the BR side of the river, (4) adequate parking on that part of town is iffy, unless you want to park at the casino, (5) where was the private money to fund Alive, if it were such a good deal ? (6) Why couldn't the VOTERS decide which improvements they supported ? (7) Why is it that three days after the landslide defeat of the tax has the Mayor not spoken to the paper ? (8) Why is it the echo chamber has concluded that the tax defeat means that we're ignorant rednecks who are against progress ?

[mhounit]

Also left out of the discussion , was the over 60 million dollars in No-Bid contracts for " professional services " . Underwritting fees , Attorney fees , design fees , etc . 60 million dollars that can be awarded to God knows who , and not put out for public bid .

[darylwi]

I do agree with this. Most of the issues with the bond I was in favor of, but the whole Alive project has left me scratching my head. Why is this such a huge deal? Does Baton Rouge have to have this to attract future visitors/residents/business?
I voted for the bond the first time because it sounded like a good proposition, but in light of what came out in between the two elections, I chose not to vote at all in this one. I like Kip, and he's done some great things for this city and it's perception to the outside, but I hope he doesn't let this Alive thing tarnish his reputation because he's getting close to it. I'm now in the opinion that we don't need Alive and can't imagine voting for any bond that includes it in the future. It's a malicious act to hide an agenda inside of a needed proposition just to get what you want. I'd prefer a line-item vote.

[Rosinante]

Originally Posted by BetaBeta

I don't usually engage in political discussions but the failing of this tax was crazy. I have a home valued at over 200K and the small increase in taxes over 30 years was not a big deal to my budget at all EVEN over 30 years. I throw away more than that going to the movies and buy popcorn on the weekends. I'm sure this is the case for most people that own houses in the city or else wouldn't have been able to afford or maintain these homes in the first place.

Speak for yourself. Retired and essentially living on an income diminishing in value rapidly, the prospect of a 0.5% increase in sales tax would be devastating to my wife and I. President Zero won't be giving us an increase in our SS payments this coming year — and probably not in 2011 either — and with the new assessments that were added to my annual property taxes, I'm not sure where we'll be getting the money to pay for them next month.

[Shino306]

When you all mention a "mil" or 9.9 mil...what are you talking about?

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by Shino306

When you all mention a "mil" or 9.9 mil...what are you talking about?

A mill is one tenth of a percent. It is the unit used to calculate property taxes. The first few paragraphs of this Wikipedis entry should shine some light here:

Property tax - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also, too, the EBR Assessor has a blurb about milage:

http://www.ebrpa.org/Assessments-Millages

[BRMan]

Originally Posted by darylwi

I do agree with this. Most of the issues with the bond I was in favor of, but the whole Alive project has left me scratching my head. Why is this such a huge deal? Does Baton Rouge have to have this to attract future visitors/residents/business?
I voted for the bond the first time because it sounded like a good proposition, but in light of what came out in between the two elections, I chose not to vote at all in this one. I like Kip, and he's done some great things for this city and it's perception to the outside, but I hope he doesn't let this Alive thing tarnish his reputation because he's getting close to it. I'm now in the opinion that we don't need Alive and can't imagine voting for any bond that includes it in the future. It's a malicious act to hide an agenda inside of a needed proposition just to get what you want. I'd prefer a line-item vote.

As much as I'd like to pick and choose which items to vote for, I think Kip's personal pride has become entangled in Alive. And as such, I'd be surprised if he'd want to submit the tax without Alive in it. And that's a shame - Kip has been WAY more active of a mayor than his predecessors.

[bpollen]

This is YEARS after this thread, but in researching property taxes I ran across this old thread that I know a bit about, so thought I'd add the info I know, for any who are researching info like I am.

Louisiana has the lowest property taxes in the nation. Whatever the rate for BR is (9%, 10%, whatever), that is not based on the actual appraised value or market value of the home. The owner pays the tax rate on about 10% of the appraised value.

So if you own a home appraised @ $300,000, you would pay property tax on $30,000.