"Commissioners to Discuss 2010 Bond Issue Thursday"

I heard on the radio this morning, that because of the general obligation bonds are due, that the mill levy for JC will be going up 6.1 to 6.5 for 2010.

Then the school district wants to update the "OLD" middle school for a freshman acadamy for over 4 million dollars. Didn't we just split the schools from grade school, junior high and high school to grade school, middle school and high school, now they want a freshman acadamy.

Come on people, this is getting ridiculous.

I guess I am getting too old and my memory is failing me. When the issue of the new high school came up and the money was finally approved there was supposed to be enough money out of this bond or however it was financed to also take care of the old Junior High. That is what was promised when we voted on the new High School. What happened to the money school board??????

Everyone has been telling anyone who will listen that the 2010 general obligations bonds were going to come due in 2010. Barnes and all decided not to discuss this at the last budget meeting as they decided that answering questions would not be in their best interest. Guess what raising the mil levy for the city and the school is not in our best interest. The school needs to find the money they spent and take care of the old school without raising the mil levy.

The city need s to pass a separtae 2 cent sales tax dedicated to paying of the debt and quit raising the mil levy on the back of those of us who live here.

It is time to stop this nonsense. Now I am angry as the school board and the school system do as they damn well please and do not answer to anyone.

For the longest time certain people have been trying to bring it to the citizen/taxpayers attention the 2010 GO Bond issue was coming up. Not wanting to talk about it or accept the facts is not going to make it go away.

$33 Million in new 2010 GO Bonds plus $22 Million in 5.5% Interest, a total of $55 Million ADDITIONAL Statutory Debt to be paid for by the taxpayer.

Debt Service is skyrocketing to $11 Million annually for EXISTING AND NEW GO Bonds. Year 2030 is a long way off for all this to be paid, provided there will be NO NEW DEBT in the meantime.

All disbelievers out there, how long will it take to realize the effects of this, like mill levy increases? Assessed valuation will remain the same until Nov 2010, after that what happens? One thing is for sure, either mill levy or valuation goes up resulting in higher property taxes.

Anybody's guess, if debt service goes up 25% most likely property taxes will not be far behind that figure.

Then they better factor a nonpayment rate higher than thirty percent.

Mill levy will go up because valuations will continue to fall steadily till who knows when because builders are still building creating more homes,apartments at a lower selling,renting price than they would have sold for a couple years ago and also current properties on the market will also drive valuations down due to sellers having to net negative in many cases to get out from under the house which affects comps for the RE Appraisers not to mention all the forclosures I feel are coming unless Fort Riley keeps people rotating at a decent rate.

I just can not take it any more I really wanted to retire here in JC I thought it would be a great place. I could volunteer and continue serving others, However by nezxt budget my proerty taxes will exceed my mortgage payment. Incredible My property taxes have increased 115% since I purchased this home. Wow I should have asked for free money like everyone else. two points
1. We have got to stop giving away our city. These companies come in are given carte blanche and then they leave. We are then stuck with buildings we can not use because everyone wants new buildings

Things have changed so much since i was on the EDC In those days if you wanted to come to Junction City you needed to show that you could and would show ownership and not slid out of commitment in the middle of the night STOP THIS NRP we give it to business we want to attrach and to established businesses WHY?

2. Sales tax is the closest thing that we have to flat tax and can be used to retire debt. increase it If you don't want an item then you are not taxed. REQUIRE IN DEVELEPMENT AGRREMENTS any new companies moving to Junction City to life in Geary County Get all the public employees moved to Geary county or find some in the county to replace them

I am tired now and getting upset so I will stop for now

Common Sense wrote:

......However by nezxt budget my proerty taxes will exceed my mortgage payment. Incredible.....

If your property taxes exceed your mortgage payment you must have about 75% equity in your house. I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people on here that wish they were in your situtation.

On another blog someone asked " Is JC really that broke.........."

Yes! Wait and see, it will get worse.

I have a question. If the mill levy goes up these 6 points, how much money is that going to mean in terms of my property taxes? I have never understood how the mills equates into an actual percentage of my property value.

Que wrote:

On another blog someone asked " Is JC really that broke.........."
Yes! Wait and see, it will get worse.

I agree. It will get much worse, barring an extremely unlikely event, like thousands of troops moving into JC, or something along those lines. Bankruptcy for our town is now really looming as a possibility.
For myself, I am going to try to leave Geary County. I don't have much equity in my home. In the near future, I believe it will be very difficult to sell a home here at appraised value. I am not riding this ship to the bottom voluntarily.
I know this is a hypothetical, but it is hard to avoid considering how much better off we could be if Barnes and the yes boys and the Daily Union had listened to Ben Kitchens, Sonny Ehm, Edward Smith, the Jasinski's, the JC Taxpayer's Association, and yes, Scott Johnson, and the many others who tried to tell us it was unsustainable. Too much debt, with payments on the debt severely restricting options for too long.

How many homes in geary co have sold with a greatly increased I call "phantom value" that was created by the arrival of troops to the fort I am guessing since announcment to date is aroud 2000 now what happens if the owners cant sell or rent, house will likely go back to the bank Its already happening read the public notices lately in DU? Some better statistical data should be done on this, so other military towns dont screw up as bad as JC did.

Mohammed wrote:

When Junction City goes into Bankruptcy my Islamic Brothers will purchase Junction City where we can have an Islamic city in the heart of america. Junction City will be ruled by Islamic Law after we own the city and all of its property. The most difficult part of Islamic Law for Junction City to grasp is that there is no separation of church and state. The religion of Islam and the government are one. Islamic Law is controlled, ruled and regulated by the Islamic religion. The theocracy controls all public and private matters. Government, law and religion are one. There are varying degrees of this concept, but all law, government and civil authority rests upon it and it is a part of Islamic religion. There will be civil laws for Muslim and non-Muslim in Junction City. Shar'iah is only applicable to Muslims. You may have great difficulty with that concept. The U.S. Constitution (Bill of Rights) prohibits the government from "establishing a religion." The U.S. Supreme Court has concluded in numerous cases that the U.S. Government can't favour one religion over another. Islamic Law has many ideas, concepts, and information that can solve contemporary crime problems in Junction City.

Troll.

Between the increase in taxes our town is facing and the increase in taxes we as a nation will be facing after Obama and his crew get done with us...how will anyone be able to afford anything?

And for you folks moving away, where are you going?

Shawn wrote:

I have a question. If the mill levy goes up these 6 points, how much money is that going to mean in terms of my property taxes? I have never understood how the mills equates into an actual percentage of my property value.

According to the DU article, a 6.2 mill increase on a house valued at $100,000 will be $72.12 annually, that is what is projected for 2011 (we already had a mill levy increase of 5.5 for 2010).

Obviously, since the debt service increases drastically in 2011 through 2030 we will see further mill levy increases in those years, as well as cuts in essential services. There just isn't any more money to cover everything.

I wonder how far the taxpayer will be pushed before there is a revolt?

Travelingman1985 wrote:

I guess I am getting too old and my memory is failing me. When the issue of the new high school came up and the money was finally approved there was supposed to be enough money out of this bond or however it was financed to also take care of the old Junior High. That is what was promised when we voted on the new High School. What happened to the money school board??????
Everyone has been telling anyone who will listen that the 2010 general obligations bonds were going to come due in 2010. Barnes and all decided not to discuss this at the last budget meeting as they decided that answering questions would not be in their best interest. Guess what raising the mil levy for the city and the school is not in our best interest. The school needs to find the money they spent and take care of the old school without raising the mil levy.
The city need s to pass a separtae 2 cent sales tax dedicated to paying of the debt and quit raising the mil levy on the back of those of us who live here.
It is time to stop this nonsense. Now I am angry as the school board and the school system do as they damn well please and do not answer to anyone.

Welcome back, Travelingman....you have been missed. You are one of the "level headed" posters on Topix and your information is always so informative.

What can be done to stop the nonsense of the spending by the school system? They are just as bad as the city commission...look at your mills and see who increased the most. If anything is put to a vote, just think how many school employees there are who will vote "yes" for every spending issue there is. The Supt. and School Board seem to answer to no one.
You are so correct. This out-of-control spending must come to a stop....and NOW!..but how?

Que wrote:

<quoted text>...Obviously, since the debt service increases drastically in 2011 through 2030 we will see further mill levy increases in those years...

Debt service INCREASES in 2011 through 2030? That's not my understanding. I thought we took our hits in 2010 and 2011 and that was it. Where did you get this information about increasing payments?

Jaycee Dugard wrote:

<quoted text>
Debt service INCREASES in 2011 through 2030? That's not my understanding. I thought we took our hits in 2010 and 2011 and that was it. Where did you get this information about increasing payments?

Debt service increase to about $11 Million in 2011, it will stay at that level until 2030 (minor fluctuations). You are correct in that sense.

Yet, please also consider that additional funds will be needed for essential services and infrastructure upkeep in the city. After the projected mill levy increase of 14 mills in 2012 (as per the DU report), I am doubtful that that will cover debt service in the interim from 2013 to 2030 when the debt is expected to be paid off.

All of this of course is predicated on NO NEW DEBT being incurred for ANY reason. I doubt that the city will be able to sustain itself until 2030 without incurring additional debt.

Well I may be way out of line but, if it is less then $100 dollars a year of an increase on a $100,000 home, then what is the big deal? With all the dooms day thoughts of how are we going to be able to manage, it is essentially going to be about 5-10 dollars more per month for most taxpayers. If that small amount of money is going to break you, then I would think you probably were not financially solvent to begin with.

Shawn wrote:

Well I may be way out of line but, if it is less then $100 dollars a year of an increase on a $100,000 home, then what is the big deal? With all the dooms day thoughts of how are we going to be able to manage, it is essentially going to be about 5-10 dollars more per month for most taxpayers. If that small amount of money is going to break you, then I would think you probably were not financially solvent to begin with.

If that train of thought prevails, I suppose JC will not have an issue with getting new mill levies and property taxes passed and paid.

Solvency are not the issue here, what is an issue: Paying your fair share is fine, however getting gouged by the local administrations for the sake of realizing their agendas is an issue that needs to be resolved by the taxpayers and voters.

Don't know how long you have lived in the area, however, most folks have experienced a huge property tax increase over the years. From an initial $700 per year, the taxes for the same property is now just under $2500. Add to that the $72 in 2010, plus %143 in 2012 and add more each year following.

People, especially those on Social Security, cannot afford the increases. Perhaps you are independently wealthy and it doesn't really matter. That is great.

I always hear "people on fixed income" can't keep up with the cost of living here. Well, I would say 99% of local residents are on some type of fixed income, i.e. Social Security, Military Retirement, private retirement, some sort of annuity, even income from your job, etc.;

Our taxes have increased several 100% in the past 20 or so years and the essential service have declined, although the fee's for such have also increased. I realize it is called inflation, I do believe JC and GC have exponentially surpassed many other areas in the country.

Sorry for the typo, that should have read:
.....$143 in 2012....