Think twice about moving to Columbus (Indianapolis, Fort Wayne: rental, how much, lawyers)

[Lessthanrich]

We moved to Columbus less than 90 days ago. In that short time:

1. The city raised our income tax $102.00/yr.

2. Our sewer only charges (not including water) have gone up $150.00/yr.

3. Our property taxes increased $164.00/yr.

4. They are getting ready to begin charging for trash pickup @ $192.00/yr.

Over $50.00/month $600.00/yr in increases in less than 90 days.

Columbus is run by and for the upper income residents and the mayor, city council and local newspaper are in their pockets. If you're not financially well-off, you may want to think twice about moving here.

[Lessthanrich]

Originally Posted by Lessthanrich

Columbus is run by and for the upper income residents and the mayor, city council and local newspaper are in their pockets.

My personal opinion.

[mkat321]

Um, those charges are on the rise everywhere, not just in Columbus. And something tells me those rates were increased across the board, on everyone, not just you. Considering the amount of time required to read the proposal in open meetings, take comments, sick the city/county lawyers on the law books to find out how much they can legally increase these things, get regulatory commission permissions to increase the rates, and all the other steps needed to make the increases, they were likely in the works up to a year or more before you even planned to move to Columbus. MJ or one of the other Realtors will have to chime in on this one for the Indy metro area but I do believe any changes to tax rates etc. already known to be in the books are usually included in the disclosures or otherwise conveyed in the early stages of purchasing a home.

A quick use of the Google-fu shows that Columbus is far from the only city in Indiana increasing property & water/sewer rates.

Indianapolis/Marion County of course, which everyone knows b/c it's been all over the news all year:
Utility panel OKs water rate hike | IndyStar.com | The Indianapolis Star

Auburn Indiana rate hike from this summer: Stimulus will cushion Auburn sewer rate hike | The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Ind.

And here's the intel on Columbus' rate hikes, which are apparently the first utility rate increase in Columbus since 1992. Even here in po-dunk we've had eight or more raises in rates across the board in that time just for city services let alone non city controlled utility services: Columbus Utilities | Columbus, Indiana

[mkat321]

and I just found a report on one of the meetings regarding the rate increases for property and other taxes: NEWS/TALK 1010 WCSI Radio - WCSI Weather - Columbus Indiana (http://wcsi.whiterivernews.com/templates/localnewstemp.asp?id=1314&storyno=1 - broken link)

[domergurl]

Originally Posted by Lessthanrich

My personal opinion.

Thank you for qualifying that. Everything is going up everywhere. I've never lived in a community where trash pickup was free ... I thought we were paying for it all along!!! Our property taxes went down exponentially because when we purchased our home, it was a rental and didn't have exemptions ... even so, compared to Taxinois (Illinois), property taxes are very reasonable. But I understand your frustration, especially if you are a longtime resident.

I still wouldn't discourage anyone from moving to Columbus, we like it here ... as many of my defensively obnoxious posts will prove.

[Lessthanrich]

I hereby retract the comment about the the mayor and city council since it tends to imply misconduct that I'm certain does not exist. It's simply my opinion that that they have shown little concern for the effects of their spending on lower middle income residents. The present economic situation calls for broad cuts in spending, not cumulative increases of $600.00/yr as in the example I cited. For many elderly retired and otherwise lower income residents, taking an additional $600.00/yr from them is an extreme burden and unconscionable to the extent that it represents discretionary spending.

[mkat321]

Yeah, it does leave alot of lower-middle class and poverty level singles and families in the lurch when taxes and other neccessary items increase in cost without an equal cost of living inrease. The bottom 5% or whatever of working age people and probably well over half the senior citizen age group suffer from these things more than the rest of us. But it's part of the society we live in. I wish there were ways to change it that would work but there seems to be nothing on the horizon to solve it.

[domergurl]

Lessthanrich ... seriously, it's ok. I understand how you can feel frustrated. The Commons remonstrance didn't help anything as it not only cost money, but material prices went up while everything was in limbo ... and the economy was tanking.

It would be worse, we could be in Elkhart County ...