From:
marijke
Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2007 10:49 AM
To: ScottSlifka@yahoo.com
Cc: president@whta.org
Subject: new assessment and budget
Dear Mr. Slifka
Attached is a letter I wrote to the West Hartford Town Council.
I hope you will read it and share it with your fellow Council members for
consideration before or at this Thursday's public hearing on the budget.
I will not be able to attend that meeting, but would greatly appreciate a
response.
Yours truly, Marijke van Huystee
Dear
Members of the
Before
you make your final decisions on this year’s Town budget and mill rate, I feel
I have to speak up and urge you to consider the situation my husband and I, and
maybe many other residents, find themselves in :
We
have lived in
Without
any home improvements or additions to the house, our new assessment ( since 1999) went from $371,900 to $964,100 market value.
I
have no idea who determined this and why, but it seems outrageous and unfair. I
must question your assessment methods. Did somebody behind a desk come up with
the new value? No assessor came to our door.
My
husband is now near retirement age and I fear our taxes may top $20,000; even
without an increased budget.
Your
so-called new “Market value” doesn’t mean a thing to us, as we want to remain
in our home. We feel we are being chased out of it, however, with this new
assessment and a possible 8% increase in your budget.
The
$12,000 in local taxes we pay presently is a hefty amount already
!
I
know a big part of the budget is education. Have all the increases in that
department led to higher test scores of our students? I think not. Maybe more
money into that pot isn’t always the solution.
Our
services have decreased as well. We now have to deal with special fees for
large trash, only one leaf pick-up each fall, and longer waits for streets to be
plowed.
Despite
sizeable tax increases every year, we seem to be sliding backwards.
I
hope you have a suggestion for us to stay in our home and in
Looking
forward to hearing from you,
Sincerely,
Marijke van Huystee