Loudoun County Adopts FY 2009 Budget, with a 1.14% real estate tax rate

After long discussions and many public hearings, yesterday, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors agreed on a 1.14% real property tax rate, which basically is $1.14 per every $100 of the real property’s assessment value.

This rate represents a 19% increase in the real estate tax rate, but the overall average tax bill for homeowners could be about 6.5% ($308) higher than last year. This is because of the drop in assessment values (which leads to lower taxes, but the increase in rate more than makes up for it). Last year’s tax rate (for Fiscal year 2008) was $0.96 per $100.

The reasons given for such an increase in the tax rate is the drop in assessment values of real property (because of the slower market) as well as the continued growth of the county school system, which is expected to add around 3000 more students this coming Fall. During the public hearings about the county budget and tax rate, there were a lot of residents concerned about higher tax bills but there was also another set of county residents who supported the increased budget of the school system.

Click here to view the County Press Release.

April is ‘National Fair Housing’ month

I participated in a conference on ‘Fair Housing’ yesterday, conducted in commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the ‘Fair Housing Act’ and it is amazing that we get to learn something new everytime we attend an event like this (even though I’ve been to several Fair Housing classes and seminars before). The Keynote address was delivered by Kim Kendrick, Assistant Secretary for the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity, US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), who said that Fair Housing is not an option, but the law and the Fair Housing Act is only as strong as we make it. More than the law, I think it has to be the Spirit. This spirit of Fair Housing needs to be fostered among one and all.

Another speaker, James Karantonis, founder and Director of Human Relations and Communications Inc., used humor and entertainment to present and help people understand biases, perceptions, stereotypes, diversity, prejudice, and more. I really loved his presentation as well as the style and format. The first thing he started with was a question to a participant on how many kids she has and the reply was ‘two’. He then asked her if both are the same (looks and behavior). When she replied in the negative, he asked her ‘Why? What went wrong? Why are they not the same? What did you do wrong or different?”. I think this sums up the whole issue of no two being alike. They are what they are and that’s it. We just have to work around the differences.

I think I should stop here before getting deep into any kind of discussion. I felt like writing this post to highlight the Fair Housing month as well as to appreciate the speakers and the conference conducted by Fairfax County Human Rights Commission. Click here to go to the “Fair Housing Act“.