March 23, 2009

Telegram Story

Well I read the story about how 3 councilors have already pledged for the lowest residential tax rate----click here. I am myself am for a single tax rate for residential and commercial properties. Some may say, I am for it because I will save money, Truth be told I would actually save money since I pay more in residential then commercial taxes.

Putting that aside the comments need to be read. My favorite is from Gary Vecchio, a guy I only hear on the radio an read in the Telegram but have never met. He seems like a very nice guy and seems to have his heart in the right place, but I can not disagree more with his comment.

The City Manager reported that 75 new businesses opened in Worcester last year. Also, a few weeks ago the Manager's office reported that a business in West Boylston was moving to Plantation Street in Worcester and bringing 28 jobs here. This same business has plans to expand once they move to Worcester.Let's deal with facts, not fiction.


Before I disagree with his comment, let me commend Gary for stating clearly what he thinks and not being anonymous.. Again I do not agree with him, but at least I have someone to address my questions to.

  1. I would love to see the list of he 75 new businesses.
  2. Do we have to redo my list of businesses that have gone out of business in Worcester the past couple of years?
  3. One only has to look to look at the empirical evidence from the Assessor's Office that clearly depicts the dwindling commercial tax base to realize that businesses are leaving the City of Worcester.

Those are the facts and although I wish I was wrong and that surely is not fiction. If you have not looked at it yet, you should check out the Worcester Citizens for Business Website. In particular check out this link..

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bill

75 businesses could be anything.
As simple as an office space.

Anonymous said...

The proper use of classification is to provide smoothing between residential and commercial / industrial use, and relief (open space / farming). Period. If residential vs commercial rates fluctuate, that should reflect immediately in the classification. If there is no relative change in the values, then the gap should be closed 10% per year so that after 10 years the rates are the same.

I live in the city near boston where your election commisioner went to. My city also uses the maximum classification. Anecdotal evidence points to this being a drag on commercial (and especially industrial) use. For example, if a company owns it's own property long-term, the value of the property doesn't matter until they sell, but the property tax matters every year.

PS - Strong mayor government can be just as bad or worse than weak-mayor/city manager that you have in Worcester. Go back in time and find when your city was well run and try to figure out what was different then.

I generally like Worcester. I'd like to see more jobs there & faster highways through it.

-R