We read with great interest the following News-Herald article dealing with the dilemma facing Lake County schools.  Declining enrollment, declining property tax in Perry, but the desire to replace old school buildings.

News Herald page 1 Lake County Schools

News-Herald page 2 Lake County Schools

All are lamenting their declining enrollment; Perry is wonder how they will cope with the loss of revenue from the Perry Plant, and Riverside has visions of a new junior and senior high school to replace the existing “outdated” buildings.

Riverside’s new junior and senior high schools have a price tag of $77 million.  To pay for this, no doubt, magnificent structure, taxpayers are expected to pay for a LONG TERM bond levy to the tune of 4 mills, or “slightly above that”.

For those taxpayers that have been following this blog, you will know how to calculate the annual cost, but let’s review it again for those new to our site.

Annual Cost = for every 1 mill it cost $35.00 for every $100,000 of home valuation.
[$100,000 x 35% assessed value= $35,000 x .001 = $35.00]

(Sorry, but we cannot compute a nebulous “slightly above that” number.)

Therefore, 4 mills x $35.00 = $140.00 per $100,000 of home valuation.  If your home is valued by the Auditor’s office at $300,000, then you will pay $420.00 per year ($140.00 x 3).

A home valued at $500,000 would pay an additional $700.00 per year in property taxes ($140.00 x 5)

Here is where the reality of the Housing Affordability Threshold % really knocks the seniors and those living on fixed income for a loop.  Remember the HAT % is 30% of your annual income.  If you pay more than 30% of your annual income for your mortgage, utilities, and property taxes, then your home is deemed un-affordable.  Renters would add their utilities and monthly rent amount for the calculation.

When your annual income cannot increase by at least 30% to cover your increased property taxes, you are being priced out of your home.  There is NO debate!

If you live in a $100,000 house then your annual income must increase by $466.67 ($140.00 / .30) to comfortably pay for the increased taxes.

If you live in a $300,000 then you must earn an additional $1,400.00 per year ($420.00 / .3), and a $500,000 house requires an extra $2,333.33 ($700.00 /.3) per year.

There is no definite date on when the Riverside Plan II phase is going to be on the ballot.
The current Phase 1 of the new Riverside schools is ~$2 million over budget………When you spread it over the 4,044 children in the district it is ONLY $494.56 per child….relax it is OPM (other people’s money)…no problem, right?

However, we have only one comment on the likelihood of Phase II passing in our lifetime.

Categories: Concord, Education, Lake County Cities & Townships, Uncategorized

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