Here we go again.
The Woodford County Journal this week proclaimed on it's front page banner, "Woodford tax to go down". Evidently the editor forgot one word. "rate" should have been inserted between "tax" and "to"; an understandable oversight.
The headline should have read, "Woodford Spending Up 7.5 Percent!", because that is the increase in the County's budget.
How can this be? Well, you already know the answer to this. The tax rate is only one factor in total property tax extensions. The other big factor is the total property base's valuation to which the rate is applied. Of course there are other "revenue streams" besides property taxes as well - call 'em whatever you wish - they're still taxes. No one seems to understand that, unlike the taxing authorities, the average taxpayer has no other revenue sources from which to draw upon.
To be fair, "the Journal" does include a "primer on taxation" on page 4A - the editorial section. Unfortunately it perpetuates the myth that the property tax/spending equation is hopelessly complicated and you might as well leave talk of rates, abatements, levies, caps, and EAV to the experts.
Don't get us wrong, we're glad the rate went down and we're happy, we guess, to see some burden shifted to "user fees" from property taxes. Just don't be fooled that this county's taxes went down, because they sure didn't. Nor should you be convinced that all of this is way too complicated for the average voter. It isn't. It's really simple:
How much did you spend last year, the year before that, and the year before that? What do you want this year? Unfortunately for the taxpayer, this question needs to be asked of every taxing authority - schools, fire, water, municipal, library, township, county, community college, etc.
And no, "appraisal creep" doesn't refer to the guy setting the values.
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