It looks like this will go on the ballot this May and pass - senior vote. This charge is apparently headed up by James Keblinger. I sure do feel sorry for poor Ji having to pay ever increasing tax on his nic home in Pebble Creek. Here's his tax appraisel data: http://www.brazoscad.org/Appraisal/PublicAccess/PropertyDetail.aspx?PropertyID=172980&dbKeyAuth=Appraisal&TaxYear=2008&NodeID=11&PropertyOwnerID=309791 This will pass off the tax burdon on younger tax payers - people with growing families - people who have not had a chance to build their "nest eggs." This measure will pass, because not enough younger voters whol will have to pay higher taxes will vote, sad but true.

slow-g .... I think wou could be doing the CS community, and particularly the over-65 crowd, a great service if you would more widely circulate details of poor Mr. Keblinger's homestead situation ... the Eagle, KBTX, Texags, etc.

Keblinger is obviously trying to use a well founded and servious situation facing a number of less fortunate older citizens as an instrument to further his own enrichment and personal gain.

I think most older folks would resent being used in this manner and would oppose the tax freeze if they were aware that the system was being abused.

If the proposal is a blanket freeze of property taxes for all owners over 65, I would oppose it. If there were limits placed on the property values to be eligible for this relief, I would support.

As the proposal stands right now, I am not in favor of it.

I'm 30 with two kids, and I couldn't be more pleased to help Keblinger and all other citizens eligible for a tax break under this proposal. I look forward to subsidizing his lifestyle.

From what I understand only four of the five seniors passing out the petition live in Pebble Creek, with their homes valued between 267k to 389k.

The other petitioner doesn't reside in Pebble Creek and brings the average of the five petitioners down to about 288k.

This is great news.

I wish I could enlarge the thumb on this icon by 10 times to show my approval.

kraut, would you mind posting the other four petitioners names here? I'm ready to draft my letter of support to The Eagle and I want to make sure I recognize everyone.

99 - sent you a PM.

Post their names, if they want to become active in local politics and petition the city government to have me and every onther non-senior tax payer in College Station FURTHER supliment their taxes, they become public figures.

Ok, after much thought and deliberation I’ve decided to post the names of the five petitioners for the senior tax freeze ballot item. The petition is public record, as are the names of the five responsible for passing around the petition.

J. Richard Birdwell
Ray L. Burns
James F. Keblinger
Philip D. Matthews
Joe L. Rogers

Please note that they are also passing around a second petition to change the cap of the number of people allowed to pass around a petition for a ballot initiative. The current requirement allows a maximum of five people to pass around a petition. I believe they want to change it to an unlimited number.

It'd be interesting to see what the average home value is of all the signed petitioners. My guess is that's it higher than the average home value of CS.

For the facts of the petitioners, you can visit www.brazoscad.org and search by name.

Information as follows:
Rogers Pebble Creek $267,140
Burns Pebble Creek $273,570
Keblinger Pebble Creek $321,210
Matthews Pebble Creek $389,780
Birdwell not Pebble Creek $191,710

Oddly, all of these men live in homes valued at a 'bit' more than mine - so, in 30+ years when I retire, does that mean my home will have risen to a $600,000 mark to offset their tax break? (governemt subsidy)

Just something to think about.

And OT, always bear in mind that the vast majority of the tax base for College Station is sales tax, not ad valorem - therefore, the more retail we chase to Bryan, the higher our ad valorem tax rates may rise to allow for our current 'quality of life'

quote:

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It'd be interesting to see what the average home value is of all the signed petitioners.

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This is EXACTLY what I'm attempting to calculate.

I've got to get a complete list -- if someone has it, let me know. I should be able to get it from the city or newspaper, correct?

If I can't get through all of the names I'm going to do as many as possible for the best representative random sample. I'd REALLY like to know what we're talking about.

I bet you can get a copy from the city. Send the results to The Eagle.

If you do get a copy, I'd help out with a page or two of names. I'm sure others wouldn't mind doing a little BCAD searching.

99, the petition should be certified Friday per my understanding and I believe it is public record at that time (I'm sure someone will correct me if necessary on that) - I would be happy to take a section and look up values as well if you want help.

This could be very valuable information - we have the population to say no to this, the problem is getting them interested enough to vote!

If this does pass and the petition rule is increased from five people, what's to stopy someone from passing a petition to freeze everyone's taxes?

Yep. Slippery slope there.

I propose a freeze on frivolous city spending. That'd get the city's attention.

As I understand it, there was a state law passed that allows a governing body to freeze senior's property taxes.

So, someone needs to talk to Fred Brown and/or Steve Ogden first in order to pass legislation allowing a property tax freeze for everyone, not just seniors.

kraut,

I will probably be corrected, but I think it was a Constitutional amendment that allowed for local entities to freeze taxes for seniors. Not 100% certain, but I think that is how it happened; because I think I remember voting against it.

Edit: O.K. I looked it up. It was an amendment and was passed in 2003. And it looks like Brown was a co-sponsor.

Prop. 13 HJR 16 - Brown, Fred | Brown, Betty | Gattis | Chavez | Baxter | Nelson

HJR 16 would authorize a county, city, town, and junior college district to freeze property taxes on a residential homestead of a person who is disabled or aged 65 or older.

The proposition will appear on the ballot as follows: "The constitutional amendment to permit counties, cities and towns, and junior college districts to establish an ad valorem tax freeze on residence homesteads of the disabled and of the elderly and their spouses."
Link: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/2003sepconsamend.shtml



[This message has been edited by jjh88 (edited 1/9/2008 11:48a).]

Thank you for correcting me. I did remember Fred's name associated with it, but I thought I remembered it proposed as legislation.

Sounds good, folks.

I'll inquire Monday about the full list.

The list of the people who signed the petition is not necessarily a list of seniors who would benefit from it, so does the average home value of the person who did sign it have significant meaning? The income of the people who signed it would have more meaning, but that isn't public record.

That said, I am against the proposal. Why should over 65 people get a tax freeze that I don't get? Fixed income of senior citizens? Most of society is on a fixed income too, it's called a salary.

True. We can only assume those that sign the petition would benefit from it. That's the path of least resistance when garnering momentum on something like this.

The numbers be interesting to see in any case.

Please make sure that this disagreement translates into voting come May. I have a strong feeling that most people in the non affected age group agree that this proposal does not make sense and is not good policiy. Hopefully that will translate into getting bodies to the polls.

No better place to start support against this prop than on TA!

One thing you can note is the over 65 exemption while looking at the property records. You know those households will benefit.

I'm sure we'll find some under-65 folks that signed the petition because they just like paying more taxes.

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I propose a freeze on frivolous city spending

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All I ask is that when you write your proposal is that you specifically define frivolous. You know that there would be 1,000 different ideas regarding that topic.

I know that is an open-ended statement. I'm a fan of paying for core services first, ie. police , roads, utilities, etc. It's all that other stuff that I think needs to be reigned in a bit.

Does anyone know the numbers on the impact of the tax freeze in Bryan?

If you want older people to stay in Texas its a necessity IMO. As the system stands now older folks are subsidizing your taxes, in that almost all states pay a state income tax. In Texas this tax is mostly made up via sky high property taxes.

So you dont pay a state income tax and older folks get a small break on their property taxes. It all comes out in the wash.

BaronVonAggie,

How are seniors subsidizing my taxes by paying the taxes on property they own, to pay for City Services they benefit from?

I can agree to a tax freeze for these citizens if they will agree to sell their property to the city at the frozen appraised value.

I would like to see the average property value of the over 65 age group as a whole. Surely the city is able to provide this information to the public before such a proposal is brought to vote?? I certainly don't believe the city should be subsidizing home owners in Pebble Creek, et al.

[This message has been edited by mallen (edited 1/10/2008 7:52p).]

I'm a 18-24 homeowner and will be voting against
this terrible terrible shift of the tax burden.

P.S. My wife wanted it known that I'm on the cutting edge of the college age bracket. Sigh.

Actually, TX makes up for the lack of an income tax with a very high sales tax. Unlike TX, many of the states also have substantial property taxes on vehicles, boats, RV's, etc. in addition to the house.