Loading ...News from the trenches
Pleasanton, California is an upscale city in my neck of the woods.
This is a post from the local “Nextdoor” forum. It gets revenue from letting local businesses advertise, and residents benefit from it.
Nextdoor is listed under the stock symbol KIND.
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Today I was at Safeway and I was behind a lady who was probably in her 80s. She was counting out her change to pay for the six items that she was purchasing. I offered to help her out with a $5.00 but she wouldn’t hear of it. She said if she didn’t have the money she would put something back. She ended putting back a can of beans. I purchased my two items and followed her out the store. I asked her if she needed help and she said no, she could manage but then she went on and said that she had received her social security notice for next year and she was actually losing money next year. It was only $15.00 a month but she says every penny counts. She went on to say that she was fortunate that her mortgage was less than $400.00 a month. She had hoped to have her mortgage paid off but with medical bills before her husband passed away made her refinance. She said she has lived in Pleasanton 40 years. She believes that our city is trying to move out anyone on a fixed income. The school bond was the beginning and now the water increase and soon utilities, etc. This is what many of our seniors are dealing with.
I am fortunate to have a pension and will be able to handle the increases for now. But many seniors are struggling and the costs just keep going up. Water rates going up 30%, soon PG&E rates will be going up also. The school bond increased our property taxes this year. And yes the school needed help, but the bond should have been cut back. They hadn’t even finished all the projects from the last bond. Oh and the next senior that says but our property values will drop – ask yourself this – are you planning on selling. If not, don’t worry about it. There has to be a way to look at all the costs when proposing rate increases, bond measures etc. and what these increases will do to the citizens of Pleasanton.
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GL
Think of what her prop taxes would be without 13 being there.
She’s paying squat compared to most of her neighbors (like 10c on the dollar?)
Most everywhere else, it seems to me that folks on fixed income will get nailed by escalating property taxes if they tend to be wherever its higher already: NJ, IL, TX, upstate NY.
Unless there is a waiver for seniors on escalation.
Here in FL, the talk for middle income owners is that they are paying 1000/mo just for insurance and prop taxes on a basic home. Before the mortgage. I’ve seen the paperwork.
Oddly enough, we put the politicians and school boards in office that find it necessary – absolutely mandatory!!!! – to increase taxes, increase insurance. After all, we don’t spend enough per student on education, right? We spend more per student than any other country in the world and we got government indoctrination centers instead of schools. We allow it, we put up with it, and it won’t change until a) it collapses under its own weight, or b) we have a revolution and do a restart. Meanwhile, fuck the school system and fuck the teachers. Home school or go private. Everything else puts your kids at risk to becoming woke idiots or perhaps even a different “sex.” You choice, your risk. Perhaps it is time to teach your kids that government is the enemy
Exactly.
Why pay the enemy to turn kids into woke idiots?