AND IT’S NOT EVEN WINTER!!
On Tuesday, my spouse and I AGAIN moseyed on over to Town Hall to make sure the Council set a public hearing date for the extension to the elderly tax freeze ordinance.
Now this is a little confusing because this public hearing, which I believe is scheduled for Tuesday, January 6th, 2009, is to extend the freeze for the tax bills from January 2009 to 2010.
The freeze is already in place for the 2009 fiscal year.
Thankfully, the Council in its infinite wisdom, unanimously voted to set the public hearing date. WISE MOVE!!
When I entered the Council Chambers, I noticed there were quite a few people in attendance for a regular Tuesday night meeting. These people were there for “public comments.”
I am glad to see some of our residents coming out of their coma and realizing the way to the Cheshire Town Governments stomach is to SPEAK OUT IN PUBLIC.
Cheshire does not like this-they are very IMAGE CONSCIENCE. QUIET QUIET QUIET should be or I should say IS the motto of this town. You want to get attention-do what these people who are questioning their home assessments did last night–GO OUT AND SPEAK OUT!! Especially when it is televised-it is even more effective.
Even though housing prices have dropped an average of nine percent over the past year, I think people are getting a little confused about re-evaluation, especially in the state of Connecticut.
I have property in several states, one of them being New Hampshire which I will use as an example. New Hampshire re-evaluates EVERY YEAR at 100 percent. Connecticut re-evaluates every five years at 70 percent.
I did speak to a representative at the Assessors Office in Cheshire Town Hall who told me that indeed a lot of people are calling to ask why their homes are increasing in value when all we hear from the media is that housing prices are dropping like its (not) hot!!
Well, you have to understand, this re-evaluation is from the year 2003-to 2008!! That is why.
I don’t get involved in any of this tax crap, I don’t. I don’t care about it-I let my significant other handle it. If the heat gets turned up too high–we will downsize. I might be inclined to buy those little tiny homes I just showcased a few posts ago. The biggest house is something like 890 square feet. BIG ENOUGH for empty nesters or single people. Why spend money on a house when you could be pimping it out with your car like me.
A house is so ordinary, but a nice Rolls, Bentley or Maybach-HEY THESE CARS TURN HEADS.
I don’t see too many houses that turn heads unless it is like a Donald Trump mansion. But those are few and far between. Besides, with a car, you can TRAVEL AND SHOW OFF to everyone. I like that better.
Anyway, because the reval is based on the 2003-to 2008 years, this is probably why most residents are not seeing a drop in their property tax bills.
I know my house in Cheshire has gone “down” a bit maybe several thousand dollars. But believe it or not, the Cheshire house is assessed higher at Zillow.com, which you might want to check out to see how far on or off base the Assessor’s office is.
My house in New Hampshire really took a hit and I am in a resort area. It went down from $260,000 to $210,000 in ONE YEAR. Remember, this is at 100 percent value, assessed every year!!
So, based on that, I believe people here have a right to be concerned. But, I believe residents will see a big downturn in home values over the next five year cycle.
Zillow assesses our value at about $430,000. I believe the town of Cheshire is saying $400,000 and Peoples Bank which is VERY CONSERVATIVE says $380,000. So whom do you believe. I don’t know.
Click below for Zillow.com. Follow the prompts and get their estimate of what your house is worth. If you are going to fight town hall, you need as much info as possible. At least start here:
Estimating your house value on Zillow
Speaking of homes, before I went to the Council meeting, I did catch the presentation by a representative of “HomeConnecticut” to the Town Council. Basically, this gentleman stated oddly enough, that RISING home prices in Connecticut over the past several years, up 70 percent from 2000 to 2007 (see what I mean about confusing figures?) is preventing young people between the ages of 25 to 34 from purchasing homes in our state.
In fact, the HomeConnecticut representative said that our state has lost 30 percent of its 25 to 34 year olds over the past few years.
So this HomeConnecticut program provides grants and incentives to towns who wish to provide “affordable” housing in order to keep our young people and people on limited incomes in our state.
No, this program is not Section 8 which I think was a concern among some Council members.
This program allows towns to apply for grants for planning and technical assistance.
You know, the minute you say anything like “affordable” this conjurs up ideas in some peoples heads.
The stuff shirts in this town think they are gonna git a Bon Qui Qui action in their hood!!
FYI: when I first started working at the Bridgeport Post in 1979, I QUALIFIED FOR SECTION 8 HOUSING. It is INCOME NOT RACE PEOPLE!!
Here is an excerpt from the HOMECONNECTICUT website to explain the program further:
There are already people working for Gov. Rell and our legislative leaders who know how to marry new housing with transit-oriented development, brownfield remediation and investment in old mills. The result: Housing workers can afford in responsible growth locations, cars off the highways and emissions out of the air, less sprawl and new business attracted to the state.
The good news: We don’t need to force towns to create housing. They need it, want it and are preparing to build it now.
Twenty-five towns have applied for grants under the new HOMEConnecticut statute to plan housing options, and at least 20 more will do so this year. They need housing for teachers, firefighters and other municipal workers; commercial workers that local businesses now can’t find; elderly residents who need to downsize; and their adult children who want to live in the towns they grew up in.
Meanwhile, the business community is suffering skilled labor shortages and demographers are warning that, unless we grow our young workforce, our state’s economy will wither.
The better news: The market can absorb more homes. Unlike the rest of the nation, we’ve built so little since 2000 — we’re 46th among the states in units built per capita — housing prices in Connecticut have come down only slightly in 2008 after continuing to rise in 2006 and 2007, when prices in other states were already sliding into their deep, double-digit declines.
The towns want the new housing in the right places — near rail lines, town centers and other responsible growth locations — and builders are ready to build it.
To leaven this loaf, it wouldn’t hurt if Gov. Rell marketed Connecticut nationwide as a state open for business and now building green, affordable, cool homes.
Click here for HomeConnecticut link
This idea of providing affordable homes for young professionals and empty nesters was brought up several months ago at public hearings for this proposed lifestyle center in Cheshire. What some people think is affordable is ridiculous. Condos starting at nearly $400,000 is NOT AFFORDABLE FOR A YOUNG PERSON JUST OUT OF COLLEGE, well, not affordable to MOST YOUNG PEOPLE OUT OF COLLEGE!! Maybe some, but not the majority.
And as I stated above, affordable does not mean “housing project.” There are some affordable homes in back of the Watch Factory. They are very nice. Affordable means what the average wage earner can AFFORD!!
Of course, I watched the reaction of some of the Town Council members-I can tell you in my opinion, I think these folks from HomeConnecticut wasted their time presenting this idea to Cheshire. I could see it on some of the Town Government representatives faces–like, “oh thanks for coming” (but umm get lost).
I got the impression this idea went over like a porkchop over Palestine!! NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!
I hope I am wrong.
Lastly, I did want to comment on this Lilac Drive pump station.
I know my boy TW did his “not the droids or hemorrhoids” you are looking for thing. But this is downright sad!!
HOW MUCH MONEY DOES IT TAKE TO DIG A SIX OR SEVEN FOOT HOLE?? My husband reminded me that he and his sister dug a seven foot trench BY HAND if you will in his mothers back yard in order to replace the pipe to her septic tank. It seems when it is private sector, versus public sector–costs double and triple for the same measly job!!
Then people want to know why the state and our government is in financial distress. I can answer a phone at a private sector job for let’s say $10 an hour. BUT NO–A MUNICIPALITY has to pay this SAME PERSON $60,000 a year to pick up a phone receiver and speak into it!! AMAZING.
The private contractor who did not update the map should BE SUED!! Apparently the pipe is 13 feet deep and the drawing only shows it at six or seven feet. Now it will cost several hundred thousand dollars to fix and might not be legal to ask for additional funds?
SOUNDS LIKE THE NORTON BOILER ISSUE. WHO IS WATCHING THE SHIP?? Well, whomever you are-you must have been related to the captain of the Titanic!! More taxpayer money down the drain!!
Cheshire, STOP WORRYING ABOUT WHAT SOMEONE WILL THINK-START CRACKING DOWN ON INEFFICIENCY-FIRE THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE AND PUT IT OUT TO THE PRESS!!
No one in the private sector that goofed up like this would still have a job–PERIOD!!
Finally-Finally-there is a meeting of the Public Safety Commission tonight at 7:20 p.m. in Town Hall, Room 210.
They always talk about interesting subjects. Some of you MIGHT WANT TO ATTEND–but you won’t. I just thought I would mention it.
Here is the agenda just in case:
