Comments on: What Recession? Loudoun Property Tax Rate Set at $1.24.5

By: tuhin

tuhin — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:59:04 +0000

This is completely stupid to increase tax when economy is very bad people having hard time to save thier home from foreclouser. They use this tax money for school system. Why should my tax money go to public school system when i don’t have any kids. The people who has 6 or even more kids shouldn’t pay more tax for thier kids school. Why should i pay those people kids ???

By: Loudoun Insider

Loudoun Insider — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 14:34:13 +0000

Good point, HFTB. And don’t forget those huge increases teachers got during the boom years.

By: HFTB

HFTB — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:38:05 +0000

The tax rate will never be reasonable until the county gets benefits costs under control and in line with the private sector and federal government. There is a great analysis on the TAG website of that expense. For starters, all county employees get a defined benefit pension plan. Very few companies offer that anymore, nor does the federal government. Employees are suppose to contribute 5% of their salary, but the county (actually, the taxpayers) pays it, in addition to the 10% it is required to pay. That is a huge cost – probably $35 million a year just for the employee share! If employees are lucky enough to even have a retirement plan these days, it is probably a 401k that might offer a matching contribution from the company. The county health insurance plan is much more expensive than what the average private sector company offers, if it is offered at all. They did raise deductibles this year in the tier 1 cuts, but there’s probably $20 million more they need to cut.

By: Loudoun Insider

Loudoun Insider — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 12:18:54 +0000

Ann Coulter is nasty!

By: NoVA Scout

NoVA Scout — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 03:53:16 +0000

I’m not opposed to Palin pics, as described by AEN. Coulter is a little too gaunt for my aesthetic taste.

AEN, more seriously, you kind of have to strain out the nonsense and hope for substance about every fifth comment. There’s also a lot of road rage around here (not just this blog, but generally. Some are all rage all the time. This one is fairly cozy by comparison). A lot of us appreciate your inputs. Don’t get discouraged. Stay engaged.

By: Loudoun Insider

Loudoun Insider — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:57:09 +0000

AEN, it is what it is. Things got off track due to people from both sides taking potshots at each other. It isn’t fair to only call out the conservative types in this instance.

By: Alfred E. Newman

Alfred E. Newman — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 02:18:32 +0000

I am really disgusted by the direction this thread has taken. What does any of this have to do with critiquing government policy?

Maybe I’ve misunderstood the purpose of this site. I had thought we were here to discuss policy, politics, etc. In the past I enjoyed the spirited discussions and observing the debates from differing perspectives. But this thread has taken a really inappropriate personal turn.

Frankly, if no one has an interest in engaging in a real substatintive debate, then this site might as well change its name to “Conservatives Gone Wild,” put up bikini pictures of Sarah Palin and Ann Coulter and call it a day. This is really getting ridiculous.

By: Lee J

Lee J — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 01:04:25 +0000

I will finish that most of our homes were called the castle homes even to this day and usually command higher resale then the surrounding homes.

And yes blackout will pay about 200 dollars less in taxes this year. Now I am finished with this ridiculous BS that blackout was getting high off of. I was just answering Sally’s question. Hopefully we can get off of peoples personal business and on to more important discussions.

By: Lee J

Lee J — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 00:58:54 +0000

Blackout lives on the corner on the street Butterfield ct where the first Ashburn Farms northern Virginia home builders show was held but his home was not part of it as it was built later. The home he talks about at the end of his street is a stucco home which I designed and we built for the show and was the first one sold and recently assessed at 1,263,000 and this year assessed at 792,500 that is a incredible drop in one year and shows how over assessed and ridiculous the county assessments have been over the last several years. That home would of never sold for over a million dollars ever. That is why the county owes us for the last years for over charging us in taxes.
We were the first to sell our home during that builders show. It must make blackout sick he lives so close to my designs and homes. We also designed and built most of the homes just down from blackout on brownstone ct and preston ct where we built the homes on top of the rock the floor of the basements many times were at street level or higher so we did not have to blast the rock. We then terraced up with low stone walls and the streets turned out to be two of the nicest in ashburn farms. We also built all the homes at the beginning of ashburn farms on Starflower and nightshade where many of the redskins bought way back then from us. Known as the castle homes.

And smaller homes across the street on stonecrop

By: HFTB

HFTB — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:12:34 +0000

see latest article on

http://www.loudountaxpayer.com

Spending is still outpacing growth and inflation; taxes are still too high.