|
Believes N. Highlands Fire Company Projections Substantially Understate Tax Increase
Dear Editor:
Last week's newspaper reported on a public information meeting regarding the North Highlands Volunteer Fire Company's (the Company) resurrection of its defeated proposal to build a new firehouse. The gist of the article was that the Company had scaled down the project from $5.7 million to $4.6 million, mainly by reducing the amount of space dedicated to housing fire fighting equipment by about 2,500 square feet. The "social" spaces proposed remain unchanged. The article also reported a representation made at the meeting that the tax increase for the average taxpayer would be about $125/year instead of the $150/year projected last year. I believe now, as I did regarding the first proposal, that these projections substantially understate the actual tax increase that will be required to pay for the project.
Last fall I wrote a letter to this newspaper reviewing information provided at last year's public meeting on the firehouse proposal, where it was represented that a $.68/$1,000 tax increase or about $150/year for the average taxpayer would provide for the debt service arising from the bonds issued to pay for the building project. The substance of my letter was that the assumptions behind that projection were overly optimistic and that the likely increase would be in the area of $1.50/ $1,000, or more than 200% greater than the Company's projection. The optimistic assumptions included diversion of building maintenance funds to pay debt service, no increase in basic expenses due to the new building, and incremental growth of the ratable base in the District to over $1 billion by the time the bonds mature in thirty years. I never received any communication from the Company challenging the points raised in my letter.
It seems clear that the Company has "downsized" the project by about 15%. This would be consistent with a reduction in the Company's projected tax increase declining from $150/year to $125/year. It appears from your article that the Company has not made more realistic economic assumptions regarding the tax increase this time around. I would welcome being proved wrong.
The community should vote up or down on the proposal based on their views of the fire district's needs weighed against spending on other worthy town projects, a realistic appraisal of the costs of this project, and the escalating total property tax burden. In my opinion, it is wrong to have scheduled a vote on the bond issue in August, when many people are likely to be on vacation. I cannot understand why the vote was not scheduled to take place in September when people will back in town. This is the second time the vote has been scheduled on what might be perceived as an unusual date. Perhaps this is a sign of the Company's lack of faith in the public's judgment?
Joel Cooper
North Highlands
| 
