So many (PATHETIC) people living in Columbia who don't want to see any PROGRESS for the Town but all they want to do is COMPLAIN and not want to HELP in any way to make it look GOOD. You know the OLD ADAGE IF YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING NICE, THEN DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL. Some People want to see the TOWN looking the way it did back when all was GOOD, CHIP IN AND LEND A HAND, STOP COMPLAINING.
I think we give enough, in the form of the highest taxes in the county. Some people give their homes because they can't afford the taxes. How about you start spending our money more wisely and lower our taxes.
Chip in….. we the people aka tax payers, have chipped in with tax money.. we the tax payers have seen our money thrown away, we the tax payer, are tired of taxes going up for people with personal agendas, and wasteful spending, … fix the problem, and we the tax payer wont be so negative!!!
The brewery's and, as you call them, Junk Shops, seem to bring a lot of people into other small towns like ours. Maybe Sears will open a store in the building. Please get with the times!
Someone has to put the brakes on this train wreck. Wants or needs? Boosting egos or helping residents?Why not a real rec center for the community instead of a pedestrian bridge across the river? Which one would help residents more? Please define what you mean by “When all was good?” It's not 1918 anymore. How do you suggest the pathetic people chip in? Maybe they should have chipped in and bought Hotel Locust.Residents are paying for services and therefore they must pay attention and ask questions about the spending of their money. If they disagree with those decisions, then yes, they should complain. It time for the elected officials to remember who they are serving. It's past time for them to stop berating residents.
Guess this is why we now have a 3% tax increase for next year. Let alone we just had our assessment value go up for this year. How much more can a citizen take?
your assessment value does not increase your taxes. as a property owner, you should want your the value of your property to increase, no? Doesn't that mean you are getting more for your investment?
This is great news. Check out CRIZ in Lancaster city. Maybe a program like this can be employed for Columbia's revitalization. Also, what is the mission of the CDEC? In other words what is their purpose? They purchased this property and just hung onto it? Seems like a waste of time and money.
So when a vacant property is rehabilitated and a new business occupies the property, isn't it good for the taxpayers? I mean, surely a restored property is worth more than a dilapidated, vacant, blighted structure. Occupy that building with a business and employees, and it is worth more, right? That’s why land banks were created. I read the posts on this site and sometimes I think people can’t see the forest for the trees. I get it, it would be great if the borough, county, state, or federal government didn’t have to make investments in these ventures, but sometimes there are few other options. And frankly, we should be vigilant and demand the best use of our tax dollars. Other times properties may not need cost-prohibitively excessive repairs and the private sector can and does develop properties on its own. We’ve seen examples of both all over town. Bottom line is that a vibrant community is better for the taxpayers than a blighted one.
Assessment value increases your taxes. “Tax authorities can increase your bill by increasing the assessed value of your property and/or by increasing the tax rate. Likewise, they can lower your bill by decreasing the assessed value of your property and/or by decreasing the tax rate. “
A higher tax assessment causes increased taxes. It is a percentage based off of your assessment value. Therefore it does increase your taxes not your property value. Property value is based off the real estate value in your area along with the mortgage company's assessment of your property.
you say “it would be great if the borough, county, state, or federal government didn’t have to make investments in these ventures ” , well guess what ? – They don't have to !!
TAX TRAPPED! Many of us are actually trapped in Columbia. We cannot sell our homes due to the taxes. The alternative is to take a huge loss in order to leave. Stop telling homeowners to leave town if they don't accept council's decisions with regard to spending. Stop telling them that they cannot complain unless they run for office. That's not how it works. The checks we write for municipal and school taxes give us the right to complain about how that money is being used.
I was thinking about this point the other day. I ran the numbers, and as best as I can tell, the math does work. I used the millage rates on the Lanc. Co website. If you take a property assessed at $50,000, it generates $330 for the borough and $1,290 for the school district. A property assessed at $1,000,000 would generate $6,600 for the borough and $25,800 for the school. So you can imagine that a property worth $10 million, like a hotel, would generate $66,000 for the borough and $258,000 for the school, annually. Add in a few more bucks for employee taxes, maybe a few more from residual economic activity and you are seeing real dollars. Very real dollars. If nothing else, I think we can expect that projects happening across town should help our taxes.I'm not sure I always agree with these kinds of projects, but if we have a vacant building that isn't generating any revenue for the borough or schools, we have to find some way to turn things around–we have to. Can we really afford 300 bucks from vacant properties, if we even get that, when we could realize so much more? Look at the school side, that were the tax burden in Columbia really is–with these numbers, you are looking at just over a thousand v. a quarter million. Again, before anyone yells at me here, I'm not always comfortable with the idea of government-assisted projects, but i'm not sure the numbers lie either. We have a tax problem- our tax base is not growing, that means the average homeowner has to keep on footing the bill. We need to figure out a way around that. We can't lower the taxes to try to encourage investment here and just sitting back and doing nothing hasn't seemed to work in the past 50 years. It does seem that some of the activity with the antiques, trail, breweries, and so on is encouraging other private investment, but maybe some things need a nudge, I don't know…
Have you been asleep at the wheel? Do you NOT know that this hotel business is asking for a tax exemption on ALL of the improvements for 10 years. So while your math looks great, the school or borough would not see that for at least 12 years. And by then, surely the request would be made to extend the exemption for another decade.
Gee wiz! I don't think you need to insult the guy (or gal)! He was just pointing out the numbers. Heck, he even said he's not sure he agrees with the idea of supporting these projects. So much for discourse…The numbers are pretty incredible though. He's right, we need to find a way to make these vacant properties worth those kinds of dollars. That would be HUGE benefit for the taxpayers!
Columbia Spy 
Maybe you should enroll first. Learn the rules of capitalization.
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Columbia schools are failing , WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, maybe not spelled right but youall know the idea….gezzzzzz
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Columbia Schools can be saved
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WHY? THEY HAVE BEEN FAILING NO MORE MONEY
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Don't give our teaching jobs to outsides
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If there is hope – there is Money
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Money is a measurement of commitment
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It takes them years and all we have is one bad CAD photo and a scrap of a document?
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how much will they want for this one , last was 75,000 to fix it from tax payers
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So many (PATHETIC) people living in Columbia who don't want to see any PROGRESS for the Town but all they want to do is COMPLAIN and not want to HELP in any way to make it look GOOD. You know the OLD ADAGE IF YOU CAN'T SAY ANYTHING NICE, THEN DON'T SAY ANYTHING AT ALL. Some People want to see the TOWN looking the way it did back when all was GOOD, CHIP IN AND LEND A HAND, STOP COMPLAINING.
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so it look like tax payers footed 153,000 for hotel locust already what back door stuff next, the borough shore don't want citizens to know.
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lets see another brewery ? or junk shop.
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What happend to the money 5 years ago??
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Amen!
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I think we give enough, in the form of the highest taxes in the county. Some people give their homes because they can't afford the taxes. How about you start spending our money more wisely and lower our taxes.
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Chip in….. we the people aka tax payers, have chipped in with tax money.. we the tax payers have seen our money thrown away, we the tax payer, are tired of taxes going up for people with personal agendas, and wasteful spending, … fix the problem, and we the tax payer wont be so negative!!!
LikeLike
The brewery's and, as you call them, Junk Shops, seem to bring a lot of people into other small towns like ours. Maybe Sears will open a store in the building. Please get with the times!
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seems like the guy doing the fire company is using his own money.
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Someone has to put the brakes on this train wreck. Wants or needs? Boosting egos or helping residents?Why not a real rec center for the community instead of a pedestrian bridge across the river? Which one would help residents more? Please define what you mean by “When all was good?” It's not 1918 anymore. How do you suggest the pathetic people chip in? Maybe they should have chipped in and bought Hotel Locust.Residents are paying for services and therefore they must pay attention and ask questions about the spending of their money. If they disagree with those decisions, then yes, they should complain. It time for the elected officials to remember who they are serving. It's past time for them to stop berating residents.
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Start paying your bills councilman and stop spending ours on your pet projects. Who's pathetic.
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Guess this is why we now have a 3% tax increase for next year. Let alone we just had our assessment value go up for this year. How much more can a citizen take?
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what does the town get from sales at junk shops , river park , trail , little to nothing, what does it cost tax payers $$$$$$$$ a lot!
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A FAILING school system!
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your assessment value does not increase your taxes. as a property owner, you should want your the value of your property to increase, no? Doesn't that mean you are getting more for your investment?
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This is great news. Check out CRIZ in Lancaster city. Maybe a program like this can be employed for Columbia's revitalization. Also, what is the mission of the CDEC? In other words what is their purpose? They purchased this property and just hung onto it? Seems like a waste of time and money.
LikeLike
So when a vacant property is rehabilitated and a new business occupies the property, isn't it good for the taxpayers? I mean, surely a restored property is worth more than a dilapidated, vacant, blighted structure. Occupy that building with a business and employees, and it is worth more, right? That’s why land banks were created. I read the posts on this site and sometimes I think people can’t see the forest for the trees. I get it, it would be great if the borough, county, state, or federal government didn’t have to make investments in these ventures, but sometimes there are few other options. And frankly, we should be vigilant and demand the best use of our tax dollars. Other times properties may not need cost-prohibitively excessive repairs and the private sector can and does develop properties on its own. We’ve seen examples of both all over town. Bottom line is that a vibrant community is better for the taxpayers than a blighted one.
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The 3% increase is the school tax and has nothing to do with this
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Assessment value increases your taxes. “Tax authorities can increase your bill by increasing the assessed value of your property and/or by increasing the tax rate. Likewise, they can lower your bill by decreasing the assessed value of your property and/or by decreasing the tax rate. “
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like the money pit , other than the boat ramp what does it do for the tax payers , but we all pay for it.
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and they will sell it to the land bank for a dollar.
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smoke and mirrors
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kutos
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NOT AT TAX PAYERS EXPENCE!
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Not when you get or years no tax! Come on and think about it!!!
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Would need them if our taxes where lowered!!!! People are run right out of their homes!!
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A higher tax assessment causes increased taxes. It is a percentage based off of your assessment value. Therefore it does increase your taxes not your property value. Property value is based off the real estate value in your area along with the mortgage company's assessment of your property.
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Perhaps the “Pathetics” are the “Realistics” , and you are one of the “Delusionals” ?
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and “we the taxpayers” don't get involved with running for Politics
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CEDC is worthless
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you say “it would be great if the borough, county, state, or federal government didn’t have to make investments in these ventures ” , well guess what ? – They don't have to !!
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Best use of our tax dollars is to let the Government protect the people – and let the people run businesses without so much Government !
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And let the Churches take care of Welfare !
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TAX TRAPPED! Many of us are actually trapped in Columbia. We cannot sell our homes due to the taxes. The alternative is to take a huge loss in order to leave. Stop telling homeowners to leave town if they don't accept council's decisions with regard to spending. Stop telling them that they cannot complain unless they run for office. That's not how it works. The checks we write for municipal and school taxes give us the right to complain about how that money is being used.
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Our boro manager started all this land bank buying too.
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I was thinking about this point the other day. I ran the numbers, and as best as I can tell, the math does work. I used the millage rates on the Lanc. Co website. If you take a property assessed at $50,000, it generates $330 for the borough and $1,290 for the school district. A property assessed at $1,000,000 would generate $6,600 for the borough and $25,800 for the school. So you can imagine that a property worth $10 million, like a hotel, would generate $66,000 for the borough and $258,000 for the school, annually. Add in a few more bucks for employee taxes, maybe a few more from residual economic activity and you are seeing real dollars. Very real dollars. If nothing else, I think we can expect that projects happening across town should help our taxes.I'm not sure I always agree with these kinds of projects, but if we have a vacant building that isn't generating any revenue for the borough or schools, we have to find some way to turn things around–we have to. Can we really afford 300 bucks from vacant properties, if we even get that, when we could realize so much more? Look at the school side, that were the tax burden in Columbia really is–with these numbers, you are looking at just over a thousand v. a quarter million. Again, before anyone yells at me here, I'm not always comfortable with the idea of government-assisted projects, but i'm not sure the numbers lie either. We have a tax problem- our tax base is not growing, that means the average homeowner has to keep on footing the bill. We need to figure out a way around that. We can't lower the taxes to try to encourage investment here and just sitting back and doing nothing hasn't seemed to work in the past 50 years. It does seem that some of the activity with the antiques, trail, breweries, and so on is encouraging other private investment, but maybe some things need a nudge, I don't know…
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Have you been asleep at the wheel? Do you NOT know that this hotel business is asking for a tax exemption on ALL of the improvements for 10 years. So while your math looks great, the school or borough would not see that for at least 12 years. And by then, surely the request would be made to extend the exemption for another decade.
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So what?
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Gee wiz! I don't think you need to insult the guy (or gal)! He was just pointing out the numbers. Heck, he even said he's not sure he agrees with the idea of supporting these projects. So much for discourse…The numbers are pretty incredible though. He's right, we need to find a way to make these vacant properties worth those kinds of dollars. That would be HUGE benefit for the taxpayers!
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