Letters to the editor: 05/03/01

Locals need help with taxes

To the Editor:

The story is very basic and has happened hundreds of times before in other communities. It begins with a quiet, beautiful, peaceful place being discovered by thousands of other people looking for that perfect place to have a second home or a home for retirement. Soon after that, real estate investors begin buying up raw land for the purpose of resale or development, the net effect begin to make money. Property values begin to skyrocket, and a rapid escalation in property taxes follows.

The real tragedy then begins to take place, and it involves people whose families have been living on the same home place for generations. The taxes are so high, that many families can't afford to pay them, and in desperation the property is sold.

I'm not writing about those families who make an economic decision to sell their property to take advantage of high property values. I'm writing about those families who could care less what property values are, they just want to continue living in the same home place they inherited from their ancestors, but can't afford to do so because of the taxes.

It is apparent to me that this problem already exists. There are already stories of people whose families have living her for generations receiving tax bills last fall that cannot be paid. Some are fortunate enough to have relatives who can chip in and help pay the taxes, others have had to sell when they did not want to do so.

If something is not done to stop this terrible problem from getting worse, we'll wake up one morning to realize that the wonderful culture to which we are all attracted is no where to be found.

I propose the following:

1. Insist that the Jackson County Board of Commissioners take steps to "grandfather" in the real estate tax structure of all people living on land that has been in their own family for 50 years or more (or perhaps 25). This would mean that as the real estate taxes for the rest of us increase, theirs would not.

2. Once the tax on a piece of land is frozen, if the property is sold in the future, the difference in taxes paid and the taxes that would have been paid (had the property not been "grandfathered") would be due from the proceeds of the sale.

Let's demand that the county commissioners do something before it's too late. I call on our commissioners to face up to this problem and do what's right. They must stand up and be counted. It they're not willing to do so, let's vote them out of office and vote in those who will.

J. Richard Williams

Glenville

First place was an excellent choice

To the Editor:

Anne Jones's picture titled "Spring on Our Porch" really does deserve the blue ribbon. It evokes in me all that is pleasant about spring in the mountains.

On Anne's porch her very old white wicker chair beckons me to come "sit a spell" in the comfort of its cozy curved arms. I hear wicker creaking as it stretches to enfold my shape.

Next to the chair is a table covered with a quilt lovingly sewn in springtime pastels - the perfect spot for a vase of bright yellow daffodils.

The warmth of the day radiates through me, but the breeze across the shady porch cools me, while it softly carries the scent of spring from the daffodils to my awakening senses. I know that any minute now my grandmother (though she has long ago past on) is going to holler out the screen door (you don't see it? It's there... just outside the borders of the picture) holler out the screen door and say, "You want some iced tea, sweetie?"

As I enjoy the view of the green imperceptively climbing up yonder mountains (you must use your imagination again), I drink down my sweetened iced tea. Then there is just the place to rest my glass. Right beside the daffodils on the quilt-covered table.

Karen Lindsay

Sylva

Back to Archive: 05/03/01.