Taxes are already too high

The Herald editorial of July 23 stated that under the proposal (Proposition 1) (a metropolitan parks) district would have taxing power “the proposal is to tax about 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed value.” Three of the five candidates for the board said in their voters’ pamphlet statements that they would “deliver a budget that costs the average family no more than $50 per year.” At 15 cents per $1,000 of assessed value, it seems that a home with an assessed value of $330,000 would generate about $50 per year in taxes. However, Proposition 1 states that the park district would have the ability to “levy annually a general tax not to exceed $0.75 per $1,000.” If the real need is at the 15 cent level, why ask for five times that level? The voters deserve an explanation of this difference.

Further, the statement for the measure in the voters’ pamphlet stated that “about $200,000 would be needed each year for building maintenance and community programs.” This seems like a lot of money for maintenance on a new building. What portion of this figure is for maintenance and what portion is for proposed programs and what are the proposed programs? Would any of these tax-generated funds be earmarked for paying down a mortgage if sufficient donor money is not found for the initial construction? How about providing more information for voters who have not been part of the planning process? Our property taxes already are extremely high.

John Holdeman

Kingston

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