Good. I'm looking forward to paying $650 less in property tax this year. Thanks for UNDER-assessing my house, LoCo.

Posted by dingus3 (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 6:46 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Good GOD, have they lost their ever stealing minds?

Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 9:35 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Good GOD Funnyguyva why don't we just shut down the schools, libraries and police and be done with it? Lets all take a deep breath and backward step and become the third world country some of our citizens want us to be.

Posted by boomerbaby54 (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)

There is so much waste in this budget its sad that we don't have supervisors who step up and call out this waste. This county like most of America has gotten so use to the spending and entitlements that they can't stop the drug. What a waste.

Posted by bzpower (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 11:20 a.m. (Suggest removal)

bzpower is right on! Too much waste! Why are we paying building inspectors to sit around in their white trucks in the parking lots off-site trying to stay 'busy' instead of cutting this dept! Yes, in this time some jobs need to be cut. If permits are down why are not the # of employees in this dept?

Posted by DriversFriend (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 12:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

That is there answer for everything just raise taxes instead actually doing some work and cut the wasting of money they have been so used to getting when house were assessed so much higher. Houses are assessing now for around what they were in 2002, they were able to make budget then with a much lower tax rate.

Posted by fuwpv (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 1:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Good for you dingus3 because my real estate taxes are going up by $650!

Posted by tmckinleyva (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 1:51 p.m. (Suggest removal)

babyboomer, you don't know what you are talking about. The waste and bloat in the school budget alone could make up for a majority of the 10.5 cent increase. BTW, the BOS was headed towards shutting the whole stinkin county down with budget cuts EXCEPT for the school budget about 6-8 weeks ago. This increase is bad enough, but their original rate was 1.29$, and that was asking virtually no cuts from the schools. Maybe a coconut hit a couple Supervisors in the head, as a matter of fact I wish they would be hit again so that we could see some more cuts.

BTW, those of you in SFH's are more likely to see an increase than a decrease over a townhome owner. There are estimates that 30-40% of SFH owners will see an increase.

Posted by cheekymonkey (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 2:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)

tmckinleyva: I'm glad someone's picking up the slack. You know, for the children.

Posted by dingus3 (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 2:35 p.m. (Suggest removal)

cheekymonkey: Please publish a link to an article stating the "30-40% increase for SFH owners"...I seriously doubt you can do it.
Everyone's assessments went DOWN last year (mine included). Don't make a blanket blind statement that is totally false just to do the conservative whine "don't raise my taxes!"
You will not be paying more $$$ next year - the % rate is up but the $ amount will be down, period.

Posted by vanzal1 (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 2:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)

So Obama failed me on my middle income tax cut and the county is sticking it to me after my house has dropped by 31%. We does someone start to stand up for me! Oh where is McCain when you need him?

Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 2:55 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Not everyone's assessment has been lowered. Assessments have been lowered selectively. Unbelievably, mine went up this year. And my taxes will go up this year. Good for all the supervisors, and many in eastern Loudoun (where most of the school children are)-- your assessments went down. Not everyone has been so lucky.

Posted by MANN12 (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 3:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)

If your assessment went up, appeal it. No one's house is worth more today than a year ago, unless you performed some kind of remodel or addition.

Posted by vanzal1 (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 4:03 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Like MANN12, my assessment didn't go down a dime. And this while gangbangers are tagging every wooden fence in sight and while illegals are parking their vans on lawns.

Oh yeah - - my little rambler is worth SOOOOOOOOOO much more than those of you whose property taxes have gone down.

Posted by segeny (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 4:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)

segany: Appeal it. If it went up and you have evidence of comps in the area, they will lower the assessment. I've seen it happen.

Posted by vanzal1 (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 4:16 p.m. (Suggest removal)

vanzal1, easy for you to say. I have appealed it, and have appealed in the past. But they have their numbers they need to meet, and they manipulate the numbers to get there. The money is spent, so they are not going to drop it without a fight. Maybe you want to pay the costs of my appeal?

Why should some of us have to put up with this? Why is our tax rate more than 30 cents higher than the tax rate of Arlington, and one of the few counties to have a tax rate over $1 per $100?

Posted by MANN12 (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 6:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)

Congratulations to our supervisors for keeping the tax rate the highest in the region and most likely the state! vanzal1: You should visit www.loudountaxpayer.com to see how the assessments varied so widely this year. Their analysis shows one third of county homeowners would have paid higher taxes at the $1.29 rate. The table indicates probably 20% will pay more at the $1.245 rate. Businesses will pay an average of 9% more because commercial property values were flat. How is that going to attract more businesses to LoCo?

Posted by Loudountag (anonymous) on March 31, 2009 at 9:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)

MANN12, I agree with you. I have tried to appeal in the past and was denied. They used similar houses in my neighborhood that they also grossly overvalued as justification. They probably used my assessment as justification to not lower their properties in return. I seriously doubt anybody who's not well-connected has ever been successful at getting their assessment lowered.

Posted by OhTheHumanity (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 7:58 a.m. (Suggest removal)

vanzal1

You really do not have a clue how hard it is to fight the County. Especially now, when the employees have nothing better to do than create and sustain ridiculous fights. I appealed my assessment on a variety of grounds (one identical home to mine is assessed at more than $100,000 less in the County.)

Posted by MANN12 (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 9:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)

I want this put to a popular vote!

Posted by Funnyguyva (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 11 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Vanzal, stop talking out your ass and go to www.loudountaxpayer.com if you want some solid numbers. I'd like to know where you get your ASSumptions that merely appealing an assessment is going to reduce it. Many people I know, and those on this board can attest that their assessments have not gone down at all and that their taxes will increase, so please stop spewing your "conservative whining" crap. If you don't care about your fellow citizens of Loudoun so be it. Personally my taxes will probably go down, but it is not all about ME.

MANN is right Vanzal has no clue what they are talking about. Fighting City Hall - HA!

Posted by cheekymonkey (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 11:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

Let's not start the name calling, please. I looked at your "unchallenged" website that is totally devoted to the mantra "no-new-taxes".
If we did not live in the absolute fastest growing county in the entire nation, we would not have had to be so proactive on building out infrastructure BEFORE its needed rather than after. Look only to PW or Fairfax (and the school trailers!) to see what could have happened without the fast building out.
I moved here 20 years ago from California and I am quite adverse to the "absolutes" on property taxes. Typically, you get what you pay for (or don't pay for in this case).
Ask anyone from there about what happened to CA schools in the past 30 years after Prop 13 and property taxes were frozen. Schools funded by them went from top ten to 48th in national polls.
Go ahead and get yourself off subject and attack me again now for being from CA half may life ago. Sorry, but I give a damn about my kids and want absolutely the best for them as I'm sure you do. Yes, hold the board accountable, but you act like the people in Loudoun Co Gov't are getting rich off this. They are only trying to do the best they can. Remember, what they do is considered really only a part time job.
Please give them a break once and while.

Posted by vanzal1 (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 3:10 p.m. (Suggest removal)

To back up vanzal - I moved here in 2005. Every year I get my new assessment. Every year I appeal it. Every year, I win. Sometimes by as much as $40k; sometimes as little as $16k. But I have ALWAYS won. Granted, I live in a t/h. But still, if you present your comps and your case in an organized and cogent fashion, you can win. It's not difficult and only takes about 2 hrs to put it all together. Totally worth the effort. All the info you need is online.

Posted by ms1234 (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 5:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)

VAnzal, I don't feel sorry for any member of the BOS, they ran for office and they either do their job or get voted out. The members of the BOS that vote to raise taxes in a recession will have a lot of explaining to do in 3 years, because this recession is not going away anytime soon.

Sorry, but I don't buy your comparison of LC to CA in the 90's - it was already on the way down the toilet. No one is saying freeze property taxes, but to have the school budget constitute almost 75% of an entire counties budget is insane. I'm glad you care about your kid's schooling like everyone else on this board. Our children will not suffer if priorities are shifted during a recession to those in need and law enforcement. I have a prediction, don't fund the zoning and enforcement and LCSO and you will have more to worry about than no whiteboards in the classroom. You will have crime and continued property value decline and if this board is still in, perhap higher taxes again.

As for MS, you are the exception not the rule.

Posted by cheekymonkey (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 7:31 p.m. (Suggest removal)

"I moved here 20 years ago from California"
And there-in is the problem. What you are ready to accept, and what we are ready to accept are two completely different things.
Everybody had better be writing letters to the editor, calling and e-mailing Supervisors to give an equal balance to the 100 or so people that LCPS and the LEA paraded in front of them.
If we don't fight this in a year and economy that exists right now and win, it's going to be twice as bad next year, and three times as bad in the year after that.
We have the wind at our back here, folks. But you have to act right now.
For comparison of the rates in local counties and cities, go here:
http://thebulletproofmonk.blogspot.com/2...

Posted by Bulletproof (anonymous) on April 1, 2009 at 8:44 p.m. (Suggest removal)

I write to my "supervisor" on a regular basis about a variety of "issues". I NEVER hear from him. You see, the same 2,500 people vote for him every election and he wins. Why ? Fearmongering mostly but also because almost everyone else stays at home and whines on blogs.

Posted by mitlen (anonymous) on April 2, 2009 at 8:08 a.m. (Suggest removal)

MS: "Every year I get my new assessment. Every year I appeal it. Every year, I win." Bravo for you but they have you trained. What's wrong with this picture? Why does this continue to be your burden? It's YOUR time and consequently MONEY that you expend each year to challenge the flawed assessment and taxation process. Why can't the county get it right? It's a rhetorical question.

Vansel1: Give me a break. If California had been fiscally responsible and had treated revenue surges from unsustainable tax revenue increases during prosperous times as TEMPORARY and parked some of that revenue in a rainy day fund they wouldn't be in the financial mess they are today. Instead they treated this revenue as permanent and locked in higher spending with no sunset provisions. I see myopic Loudoun heading down that same Interstate 5. And the education argument is somewhat hollow. Based on the substantial "investment" that Loudouners have already committed to education over the past 20 years, Loudoun County Schools should be consistently at the top of the list. Based on the math/English scores, relative to other schools in Virginia, they appear to be just average.

Posted by JSolGen47 (anonymous) on April 2, 2009 at 10:07 a.m. (Suggest removal)

My SFH tax will go up almost $500. My wife has been a teacher for LOCO for 11 years and due to the budget cuts she will not be receiving any pay increase, but we will see an increase in our health care costs, so a net decrease in income--I know many other people in are seeing the same situation with their employers. What makes the situation hard to accept for us is the school budget cuts are superficial and misdirected. It would be nice if we could make some real cuts to the excess in the school budget and add charges for the extra services that can and should be paid for by the parents. We could also try cutting the bottom performing 10% of the workforce-I'm dreaming, I know, the government never makes a bad hire. Students can learn just fine w/o promethean boards and all the other gadgets that we use for teaching now a days. Amazingly, even w/this huge budget, every year my wife ends up spending money on books and supplies for the students--the stuff that they actually need to learn and convey a lesson--but this year they will make do w/o that extra spending.

Posted by rh (anonymous) on April 2, 2009 at 3:01 p.m. (Suggest removal)

rh, So be it, the loss of the extras from teachers should be absorbed by PTA funds or parents, as a lot of 'extras" should and could be absorbed by the parents and PTA's. Why all AP exam fees, uniforms, travel and sports are paid for by all tax payers is crazy. I know there are low income students and I think there would be huge community support to help those that can't pay fees, etc, but we must reverse these costs. An all inclusive education is simply unsustainable.
Good Luck to your wife in the classroom. If she holds the same views that you do she is quite an exception to the rule at LCPS.

Posted by cheekymonkey (anonymous) on April 3, 2009 at 2:40 p.m. (Suggest removal)