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Aside from all the legal jargon going back and forth, I think the basic issue about the gay marriage ban is that we supposedly live in a free country and there should be no laws that prevent people from doing anything as long as it is not hurting anyone else. It does not hurt anyone when two men or two women decide to be "married." So, why does this issue bring up so much animosity? Aren't we ready as a culture to just accept the fact that every relationship is unique, and we should be doing everything possible to encourage the flowering of love on this planet? Hurray for Californians!!
The problem quite simply is that far too many people in this nation blur the fine lawn drawn between personal religious beliefs, which is little more than organized philosophy, and the legal sytem. I wonder how many people voting to institute a ban on same-sex civil unions do so based upon their personal religious beliefs? In a non-denominational nation why should religion even come into play in these decisions?
Here's a preview of the new zoo:
http://jamesrford.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/james-feeding-a-sheep.jpg (broken link)
Judging from the other photos I've seen here recently, you seem to have an awful lot of sheep down there. I just want to point out that the old Scranton Zoo building is FAR TOO SMALL for all of those sheep. The above photo is not representative of the crowding that would result. Please do **not** attempt to squeeze all of the sheep into the old zoo, the proposed new zoo, or any zoo that would fit in Nay Aug Park!
I have a few comments and questions. First is there anyone here from Luzerne County? My grandmother is up all night long worrying about these taxes. We live towards shickshinny and she owns 23 acres of land on on parcel with an old house ( no one lives in and a old barn).. than down the road about a 1/2 mile is her home and about 2 acres of land. My aunt is a realtor ( broker) she owns her own agency and my uncle is an attorney. They keep calling her and telling her how badly she will be hit. The appealing process will cost her alot of money and she only gets social security. MY mother is also very upset becuase they are just trying to make ends meet. I believe my whole family will sell and move out of this area where my family has lived for generations.
I feel so bad for all these people who will stuggle with this, I under stand that they must put them up, but going up 5,000 dollars for a home that is not new but old and crappy is not worth it... My aunt says this is going to be so bad she is already seeing it..
any advice? Is anyone out there facing this situation? I am no longer going to be in this area i am moving to va beach to live with my husband and attend an evangelical grad school. So i hope she would move with me, but what do you think is the best option.. she also has oil heat and cannot afford to even buy that.
I have a few comments and questions. First is there anyone here from Luzerne County? My grandmother is up all night long worrying about these taxes. We live towards shickshinny and she owns 23 acres of land on on parcel with an old house ( no one lives in and a old barn).. than down the road about a 1/2 mile is her home and about 2 acres of land. My aunt is a realtor ( broker) she owns her own agency and my uncle is an attorney. They keep calling her and telling her how badly she will be hit. The appealing process will cost her alot of money and she only gets social security. MY mother is also very upset becuase they are just trying to make ends meet. I believe my whole family will sell and move out of this area where my family has lived for generations.
I feel so bad for all these people who will stuggle with this, I under stand that they must put them up, but going up 5,000 dollars for a home that is not new but old and crappy is not worth it... My aunt says this is going to be so bad she is already seeing it..
any advice? Is anyone out there facing this situation? I am no longer going to be in this area i am moving to va beach to live with my husband and attend an evangelical grad school. So i hope she would move with me, but what do you think is the best option.. she also has oil heat and cannot afford to even buy that.
I'm not an attorney or tax expert and I'm more familiar with how this sort of thing works in NY state (as opposed to PA). However...does your grandmother think that the property might be over-assessed? If so, it might be worth her while to have her own assessment done. Even though there would be a charge, paying that one-time fee would be a lot less expensive than a huge tax increase that will have to be paid year after year. If the assessment comes in significantly lower than the figure that the taxes are based on, then going through the appeals process would probably make sense.
We live in Pittston Township, Luzerne County, and we are probably going to be amongst the last batches to receive our new assessments. Our home was reassessed recently as having a market value of $170,000 after buying it for $115,000 in 1996. Our home's tax value, which was apparently determined in 1965, was $8,500, which means that we were paying 8.5 x whatever the millage rate was for the county and school district (we have no township taxes due to the affluent businesses here). I think the assessors were saying that on average property values have risen 20 times since 1965, so that would mean that we SHOULD have a market value of $170,000 ($8,500 x 20). It would stand to reason then that our taxes should stay roughly the same, but they might go up a bit since from my experience I think the addition of a pool and a major kitchen overhaul in recent years have pushed our property value closer to $200,000. We'll see how accurate my prediction is when the new values come in the mail in the next few weeks.
Generally speaking 1/3 of property owners should see their taxes increase (some very significantly), 1/3 should see a decrease, and the other 1/3, like what I'm guessing with my own family's homestead, should stay roughly the same. By law a countywide reassessment can NOT permit taxing bodies to reap more revenues after the reassessment than before, so all of the hysteria we've heard with everyone thinking there's some sort of a conspiracy theory with "everyone's" taxes spiking is nonsense. It's just going to reallocate the burdens more equitably so that someone like us who owns a $200,000 home in Pittston pays the sam $4,000 or so that the owner of a $200,000 home in, per se, Nescopeck pays. The way the system is now there are many flaws. I can rattle off many beautiful historic homes in my "Garden Village Photo Tour" of West Pittston that are worth more than our home yet have lower tax burdens. Why? If this reassessment is making things fairer for everyone, then I really hope those with taxes going up stop bellyaching. After all, the people who were OVERPAYING for years were picking up YOUR slack, yet they don't get a refund for all that they overpaid, now do they? It's time to pay the piper if you're underassesed. It's just sheer bad luck that most with rising taxes will be older homes mostly owned by senior citizens on "fixed incomes," but that's just tough. Are those overpaying supposed to keep on doing so just because the elderly can't afford their fair share?
MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHERE IS THIS "RELIEF" THAT WAS PROMISED WITH THE CASINOS??!!
Thanks for pointing out, ScranBarre, that the reassessment is a revenue-neutral process as a whole, in which some individual property owner's taxes will fall, some will rise, and some will remain the same, but the total amount of revenue collected will remain the same. It's important to keep that in mind, and not just assume that "everyone's" taxes will go up.
I have a few comments and questions. First is there anyone here from Luzerne County? My grandmother is up all night long worrying about these taxes. We live towards shickshinny and she owns 23 acres of land on on parcel with an old house ( no one lives in and a old barn).. than down the road about a 1/2 mile is her home and about 2 acres of land. My aunt is a realtor ( broker) she owns her own agency and my uncle is an attorney. They keep calling her and telling her how badly she will be hit. The appealing process will cost her alot of money and she only gets social security. MY mother is also very upset becuase they are just trying to make ends meet. I believe my whole family will sell and move out of this area where my family has lived for generations.
I feel so bad for all these people who will stuggle with this, I under stand that they must put them up, but going up 5,000 dollars for a home that is not new but old and crappy is not worth it... My aunt says this is going to be so bad she is already seeing it..
any advice? Is anyone out there facing this situation? I am no longer going to be in this area i am moving to va beach to live with my husband and attend an evangelical grad school. So i hope she would move with me, but what do you think is the best option.. she also has oil heat and cannot afford to even buy that.
I had a few additional thoughts on your grandmother's situation. First and foremost, she should try **not** to panic. If she does panic, she may do something that she will later regret. It sounds, from your post, as if your grandmother does not even know yet exactly what her new assessment will be. Maybe it won't be as bad as she (or your aunt and uncle) fear.
But let's assume for a minute that the new assessment is high and the resulting tax increase is more than your grandmother can afford. Even then, I think she has a lot of options. After all, she owns a 23-acre parcel of land as well as another 2-acre parcel and a home. That puts her well ahead of a lot of other older folks who are trying to get by on a fixed income and who don't own any real estate at all. This does not strike me as an "all or nothing" situation. Your grandmother may be unable to hold onto all of her property, but I think if she plays her cards right she will be able to keep at least a portion of her property, even in a "worst case" scenario.
If the new tax bill is prohibitively high, perhaps your grandmother could sell some or all of the 23 acres, thereby reducing her tax bill and giving herself some extra cash to work with. The extra cash could be invested in a manner which would give her some additional annual income (an annuity might be a possibility) to supplement her Social Security income. The additional income might be enough to allow her to remain in her home, on her two acres, living in a manner which is more secure and comfortable than what she is accustomed to now. Another possibility might be a reverse mortgage, which would allow her to stay in her home while receiving monthly payments from the lender. Your post doesn't mention your grandmother's age and health--if her home is becoming a bit much for her to manage, she could sell it and get herself a smaller house or a condo or find a nice apartment to rent. You didn't say what the 23 acres are used for--if the property has sentimental value or is used by the family for recreational or other purposes, then getting a reverse mortgage on the house or moving to a smaller place might allow your grandmother to hang onto the 23 acres if that is what matters most to her.
I know the whole situation may seem confusing and frightening, but as I said earlier, the important thing to remember is that your grandmother does have options. There are probably a lot of people who would happily trade places with her! Though I do, of course, understand why she is upset, as I said earlier, I don't think she should panic or sit up all night worrying. I do think that she should do some research (or get someone to help her do some research) so she can figure out exactly what her options are.
By the way, what shape is the old barn in? There is quite a market these days for reclaimed wood. Some of these old barns were constructed using wood species, like American Chestnut, that can no longer be grown and are available only as antique wood. Do not assume that just because the barn is old, no one would be interested in it. There are companies that specialize in disassembling old timber frame structures, reconditioning the timbers, and reassembling them in new locations where they form the "bones" of new, luxury houses. Of course, the price the old barn might bring would depend a lot on the details of its condition and on whether or not it happens to contain any interesting wood species, usable timbers, etc. Maybe it's worth absolutely nothing. Still, this is something that might be worth investigating....
Thank you for your reply. Its a hard situation that many many people are going to loose their homes. But i will print you and tell her what you said.
thanks
rachael
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thanks
