Well, folk’s you have been had again by the Fishers Town Council – The new Stormwater Management Advisory Board has had its first members appointed. For those of you that guessed it has been rigged – well your right. Here are the names David George – Member of Council, Dan Henke – Member of Council and Gary Huff – City Manager. Now for those of you that believe that Gary Huff would vote against the Town Council that fully controls and pays his salary you do not live in Fishers. For those of you that believe this will be an independent board you don’t live in Fishers. For those of you that believe they will be fair in setting the new TAX rate for storm water management, you don’t live in Fishers. For those of you that believe everything is above board and fair you must live in Fishers because you keep these people in office.
So here is why that Fishers claims its property taxes are lower, they just find another way to tax your property. Funny how that works use storm water to increase the property tax without calling it a property tax. Folks that is exactly what it is, you see you have to own property to be taxed for the storm water, so without property you don’t get taxed, with property you get taxed. But then don’t call it a tax; call it a fee for use of the storm water ditch, which the road department keeps clear. So now you have a new form of property tax, which is not even a tax but a fee based on the fact that you own property. Well to me it’s a property tax.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Why Fishers doesn’t care
Fishers Switch,IN
then
Mudsock, IN
then
Fishers, IN
Year Population
1963 350
2000 37,835
2004 52,390
2008 66,000?
I should say why the people who live in Fishers don’t care. You see Fishers has grown so fast it not yet a community, it’s just a place to live. I have to wonder how many people can say I have lived in the Town of Fishers 50 years, 40, 30, 20 or even 10 years. Even if they lived in the area that is now Fishers, it wasn’t Fishers a few years ago.
Maybe this is the root of the problems of the politics of Fishers, too many new people with no sense of community, too many young families with more of an allegiance to the HSE School System than to the community. The young families more concerned with the upkeep of a new family and a new home. More allegiance to the SPORTS program as it affects their children a lot more than the town government. They don’t have the time to worry about the town government, they are more worried about getting home and the traffic battles and they hope someone will solve the problem. There is a lack of older citizens that have grown up with the community to provide that sense of direction that many other towns and cities have. It’s these older folks in most towns that solve the problems, provide direction, which helps the government to solve their problems. But not in this community.
You can see it in the spending profile of the Town government, someone at the Geist public hearing said they were spending like “drunken Sailors” how true. The town folks have no idea how much they are spending and how it will affect them in years to come. The town government believes they can bail themselves out by building a bigger tax base. Turn the airport into a industrial park with lots of commercial concerns to bring in tax dollars, who cares about all the extra trucks on 96th street, turn the area around town hall into a major 100 million dollar tax base with no regard for the citizens or business already in the area, after all they don’t bring in a lot of money to the town, 100 million dollars will do nicely for the tax base. Then there is the Geist War of 2007 and the goose that can lay one golden egg year after year. Actually 2-3 millions dollars in income above spending every year to help bail them out. Forget Geist for a minute and look at all the other annexations, Fishers skips areas and creates a swiss cheese community by only annexing areas that would provide a positive income to the tax base, while very smart for the government, not smart for the people.
Citizens of Fishers, while you are very busy building your families, your government is actually failing you. Just like a person living beyond their means one day it will come crashing down on all of you. The Town Council won’t admit to you they are in trouble, instead they slowly raise taxes every year by the legal limit. When will you find out, it depends, it depends on all of you, and if you want to find out. Or you will all find out in 10-20 years when you send the kids off to college and have some time to start to view the Town Council and the government of Fisher. Please don’t wait.
then
Mudsock, IN
then
Fishers, IN
Year Population
1963 350
2000 37,835
2004 52,390
2008 66,000?
I should say why the people who live in Fishers don’t care. You see Fishers has grown so fast it not yet a community, it’s just a place to live. I have to wonder how many people can say I have lived in the Town of Fishers 50 years, 40, 30, 20 or even 10 years. Even if they lived in the area that is now Fishers, it wasn’t Fishers a few years ago.
Maybe this is the root of the problems of the politics of Fishers, too many new people with no sense of community, too many young families with more of an allegiance to the HSE School System than to the community. The young families more concerned with the upkeep of a new family and a new home. More allegiance to the SPORTS program as it affects their children a lot more than the town government. They don’t have the time to worry about the town government, they are more worried about getting home and the traffic battles and they hope someone will solve the problem. There is a lack of older citizens that have grown up with the community to provide that sense of direction that many other towns and cities have. It’s these older folks in most towns that solve the problems, provide direction, which helps the government to solve their problems. But not in this community.
You can see it in the spending profile of the Town government, someone at the Geist public hearing said they were spending like “drunken Sailors” how true. The town folks have no idea how much they are spending and how it will affect them in years to come. The town government believes they can bail themselves out by building a bigger tax base. Turn the airport into a industrial park with lots of commercial concerns to bring in tax dollars, who cares about all the extra trucks on 96th street, turn the area around town hall into a major 100 million dollar tax base with no regard for the citizens or business already in the area, after all they don’t bring in a lot of money to the town, 100 million dollars will do nicely for the tax base. Then there is the Geist War of 2007 and the goose that can lay one golden egg year after year. Actually 2-3 millions dollars in income above spending every year to help bail them out. Forget Geist for a minute and look at all the other annexations, Fishers skips areas and creates a swiss cheese community by only annexing areas that would provide a positive income to the tax base, while very smart for the government, not smart for the people.
Citizens of Fishers, while you are very busy building your families, your government is actually failing you. Just like a person living beyond their means one day it will come crashing down on all of you. The Town Council won’t admit to you they are in trouble, instead they slowly raise taxes every year by the legal limit. When will you find out, it depends, it depends on all of you, and if you want to find out. Or you will all find out in 10-20 years when you send the kids off to college and have some time to start to view the Town Council and the government of Fisher. Please don’t wait.
Stu the Sewer Man
Council Member Stu should be called the Sewer Man
You all know about the Cable Guy made famous by Hollywood, well we are making Stu famous as the Sewer Man.
Another report to inform the Citizens of Fishers about one of your government leaders and how they work effectively to blackmail new property owners and try to convert some neighborhoods to allow annexation by Fishers.
As part of the effort to take over Geist Stu the SewerMan told some homeowners if they didn’t get annexed the sewer would be shut off. This needless to say has started a major debate between homeowners on the sewer system. They even hired a national expert in Aerospace Engineering to dig into the facts. Why an aerospace engineer, well he lives here and did it for nothing, since that is all this study was worth. The first view was r see if Fishers had installed TV or some other electronic monitoring devices next to each home with an automatic shut off valve that from the hidden confines of Town Hall could be shut of at each home – no hidden devices at the homes. The next step was to see if there were any in the street at the hook up – none. So here is where it got tricky, he study to determine if any other type of tracing was being done such as nuclear tracing such as a radiopharmaceutical agent that is administered into a vein, but in case into a sewer. No radioactive material was found. Hence the conclusion was no way can Stu figure out whose poop came from whom. Of course they was one loophole found and this that Stu could collect samples and do a DNA comparison for every person living in the area. Now considering he works for Lilly there may be more to this than we realize.
Well one of Stu’s hobbies is to visit neighborhoods to try and sell sewers in trade for signing off your civil rights to protest annexation. It almost like saying you want water, you will have to vote for me. And on top of that you will have to pay for the sewers and if 51% of your neighbors agree you have to pay for this even if you don’t need or want it. Now for you people who have not been in the sewer business for a while this is not cheap. We are talking about big bucks. In most cases about the size of a car sticker and it can go anywhere from mid size to a big SUV. In some cases it would be cheaper to buy that SUV put a big tank on it wait until it fills up and drive over to the sewer plant and dump it. At least that way you would also get an SUV and if you fill up with gas at the Flying J truck stop you can dump your waste free. What a deal.
Back to sewers: I have seen proposals that range from $13,000 to $45,000 and of course a lot has to do with how far they have to run the lines. So I will grant that one to them. Now for the smoke and mirrors. They are willing to give the homeowner a tax-free loan for 30 years to pay for the sewer. OK, Fishers homeowners any of you get tax free loans from the Town? Well someone has to pay for loaning the money and why would Fishers be so nice. The taxpayers of Fishers will have to pay for the loan, nice of you to loan money to your neighbors. Did you know that? Guess what, nothing is for nothing. Stu the Sewer Man is pulling a fast one on the taxpayers of Fishers. What a great guy.
Or could it be that the price quote for the sewer is a few thousand too high to make the money back and really is not tax-free. Sort of like that car loan the dealers always push.
Next is that loan a real 30-year loan or what is it. Is the amount they quote the real amount or is it?
All the Fishers proposals are incomplete, so before you sign away your rights and accept the Fishers used car deal do your self a real favor and investigate the entire deal. Don’t let a few neighbors tell you what to do. Be informed. Can everyone in your neighborhood afford this deal or will you force people to sell their homes? Can you afford the additional costs that Fishers has not told you about? Additional costs yes folks Stu the SewerMan has failed to tell you everything. So here is some more information:
1. You may or will have to remove or crush your old septic system, approx $5,000.00, it may be ok for now and might collapse later and have to repaired. Better check this out with a septic contactor.
2. Your sewer hook up does not include the actual hook up to your home $1,000 to $5,000. Maybe higher. Ask a plumber.
3. The lien will be due when you sell your home, no fits and buts. I have check with two mortgage companies and both said the exact same thing. A lien of this type is a loan and as such can’t be moved to the new owner unless part of the home loan, for it to be part of the home loan it has to be in the selling price, therefore it has to be paid off. So if someone has a $25,000 lien they will have to pay it off.
4. Your property tax will go up relative to the amount you pay for the sewer/water. This will be considered a value improvement to the property by the taxing district and your tax will increase.
5. Don’t forget you will be paying a sewer fee monthly.
6. If you have a grinder pit you are looking at $3,000 to $5,000 every 5-10 years. This is required on forced systems.
Hey Stu – Did I leave out anything.
Oh yes – If the Towns of Geist are formed as the people of Geist want the odds are they can do the same deal and knowing they seem to have lower taxes and a more efficient government maybe for a lot less.
You all know about the Cable Guy made famous by Hollywood, well we are making Stu famous as the Sewer Man.
Another report to inform the Citizens of Fishers about one of your government leaders and how they work effectively to blackmail new property owners and try to convert some neighborhoods to allow annexation by Fishers.
As part of the effort to take over Geist Stu the SewerMan told some homeowners if they didn’t get annexed the sewer would be shut off. This needless to say has started a major debate between homeowners on the sewer system. They even hired a national expert in Aerospace Engineering to dig into the facts. Why an aerospace engineer, well he lives here and did it for nothing, since that is all this study was worth. The first view was r see if Fishers had installed TV or some other electronic monitoring devices next to each home with an automatic shut off valve that from the hidden confines of Town Hall could be shut of at each home – no hidden devices at the homes. The next step was to see if there were any in the street at the hook up – none. So here is where it got tricky, he study to determine if any other type of tracing was being done such as nuclear tracing such as a radiopharmaceutical agent that is administered into a vein, but in case into a sewer. No radioactive material was found. Hence the conclusion was no way can Stu figure out whose poop came from whom. Of course they was one loophole found and this that Stu could collect samples and do a DNA comparison for every person living in the area. Now considering he works for Lilly there may be more to this than we realize.
Well one of Stu’s hobbies is to visit neighborhoods to try and sell sewers in trade for signing off your civil rights to protest annexation. It almost like saying you want water, you will have to vote for me. And on top of that you will have to pay for the sewers and if 51% of your neighbors agree you have to pay for this even if you don’t need or want it. Now for you people who have not been in the sewer business for a while this is not cheap. We are talking about big bucks. In most cases about the size of a car sticker and it can go anywhere from mid size to a big SUV. In some cases it would be cheaper to buy that SUV put a big tank on it wait until it fills up and drive over to the sewer plant and dump it. At least that way you would also get an SUV and if you fill up with gas at the Flying J truck stop you can dump your waste free. What a deal.
Back to sewers: I have seen proposals that range from $13,000 to $45,000 and of course a lot has to do with how far they have to run the lines. So I will grant that one to them. Now for the smoke and mirrors. They are willing to give the homeowner a tax-free loan for 30 years to pay for the sewer. OK, Fishers homeowners any of you get tax free loans from the Town? Well someone has to pay for loaning the money and why would Fishers be so nice. The taxpayers of Fishers will have to pay for the loan, nice of you to loan money to your neighbors. Did you know that? Guess what, nothing is for nothing. Stu the Sewer Man is pulling a fast one on the taxpayers of Fishers. What a great guy.
Or could it be that the price quote for the sewer is a few thousand too high to make the money back and really is not tax-free. Sort of like that car loan the dealers always push.
Next is that loan a real 30-year loan or what is it. Is the amount they quote the real amount or is it?
All the Fishers proposals are incomplete, so before you sign away your rights and accept the Fishers used car deal do your self a real favor and investigate the entire deal. Don’t let a few neighbors tell you what to do. Be informed. Can everyone in your neighborhood afford this deal or will you force people to sell their homes? Can you afford the additional costs that Fishers has not told you about? Additional costs yes folks Stu the SewerMan has failed to tell you everything. So here is some more information:
1. You may or will have to remove or crush your old septic system, approx $5,000.00, it may be ok for now and might collapse later and have to repaired. Better check this out with a septic contactor.
2. Your sewer hook up does not include the actual hook up to your home $1,000 to $5,000. Maybe higher. Ask a plumber.
3. The lien will be due when you sell your home, no fits and buts. I have check with two mortgage companies and both said the exact same thing. A lien of this type is a loan and as such can’t be moved to the new owner unless part of the home loan, for it to be part of the home loan it has to be in the selling price, therefore it has to be paid off. So if someone has a $25,000 lien they will have to pay it off.
4. Your property tax will go up relative to the amount you pay for the sewer/water. This will be considered a value improvement to the property by the taxing district and your tax will increase.
5. Don’t forget you will be paying a sewer fee monthly.
6. If you have a grinder pit you are looking at $3,000 to $5,000 every 5-10 years. This is required on forced systems.
Hey Stu – Did I leave out anything.
Oh yes – If the Towns of Geist are formed as the people of Geist want the odds are they can do the same deal and knowing they seem to have lower taxes and a more efficient government maybe for a lot less.
Fishers to double in size by 2025
Folks Fishers is planning to double in size by 2025, and I want to know can you handle it? Can you handle the traffic, the pollution, crime, and schools that can’t be built fast enough, kids are already in trailers.
I know you don’t believe me, but it’s in their own documents.
In their development documents they plan on all the population including all areas not yet annexed “unincorporated areas” that will provide a population as follows:Town of Fishers Incorporated and Unincorporated Areas:Total Population as of July 1, 2007: 79,8412010 Estimated Population: 90,8522015 Estimated Population: 104,3352020 Estimated Population: 114,0982025 Estimated Population: 120,255
Does this mean Fishers is going to fill up all the land south of Noblesville until they stop at the county line. Looks like it. They are planning to do just that.
So if you double the population, you have to double the school system, you have to double the traffic problems, you have to double the sewer plant, etc and based on Fishers Town government, you have to at least triple its size. Get ready for more taxes. Want to see how much your area is going to grow go to http://www.fishers.in.us/egov/docs/1194383590_581390.pdf
Now I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want to see the area double in population and everything that, that brings.
Its time to slow down the Fishers Town Council and make them responsible for their actions instead of letting them just ignore everyone to allow for unchecked growth. To allow them to do as they please and ignore the citizens of the area. It also says by 2027 no more land will be left. Watch them then grow upwards with more multi-story buildings after all they already approved two 25-story monsters.
Funny they still want you to believe this is a small town, just so they can keep their power. I wonder in 2025 will they still want to be called a small town of 120,000 people? Would that make them the largest town in the USA? Or would they be a town of only 100,000 which is reduced by the 20,000 they project for the Geist area? When Geist wins it ‘s battle to be free it would bring them down a bit in size. Which bring me to another point; they claim that the Geist area does not have enough area to grow, so how did they figure it would go from 5,000 to 20,000? Fisher’s magic at work once more.
I know you don’t believe me, but it’s in their own documents.
In their development documents they plan on all the population including all areas not yet annexed “unincorporated areas” that will provide a population as follows:Town of Fishers Incorporated and Unincorporated Areas:Total Population as of July 1, 2007: 79,8412010 Estimated Population: 90,8522015 Estimated Population: 104,3352020 Estimated Population: 114,0982025 Estimated Population: 120,255
Does this mean Fishers is going to fill up all the land south of Noblesville until they stop at the county line. Looks like it. They are planning to do just that.
So if you double the population, you have to double the school system, you have to double the traffic problems, you have to double the sewer plant, etc and based on Fishers Town government, you have to at least triple its size. Get ready for more taxes. Want to see how much your area is going to grow go to http://www.fishers.in.us/egov/docs/1194383590_581390.pdf
Now I don’t know about you, but I sure don’t want to see the area double in population and everything that, that brings.
Its time to slow down the Fishers Town Council and make them responsible for their actions instead of letting them just ignore everyone to allow for unchecked growth. To allow them to do as they please and ignore the citizens of the area. It also says by 2027 no more land will be left. Watch them then grow upwards with more multi-story buildings after all they already approved two 25-story monsters.
Funny they still want you to believe this is a small town, just so they can keep their power. I wonder in 2025 will they still want to be called a small town of 120,000 people? Would that make them the largest town in the USA? Or would they be a town of only 100,000 which is reduced by the 20,000 they project for the Geist area? When Geist wins it ‘s battle to be free it would bring them down a bit in size. Which bring me to another point; they claim that the Geist area does not have enough area to grow, so how did they figure it would go from 5,000 to 20,000? Fisher’s magic at work once more.
Home Values Drop - Will property taxes?
According to the National Association of Realtors prices dropped 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter and that is on top of a 1 percent drop in the past year. That’s a 3.7 percent drop in the past year nationwide. With the number of houses for sale and coming onto the market as a result on continuing foreclosures the prices will drop some more. The Indianapolis market is ranked number 4 in the nation in foreclosures. Most recent MIBOR statistics show Hamilton County home sales down 23.1% in September 2006 compared to September 2005. According to the Washington Post in an article on Dec 29,2007 the current decline over the last 12 months in a 10 city index is 6.7%. They also state “Compounding this adverse trend is the fact that the rate of price deterioration has been getting worse.”
This brings up a very interesting question. Our property taxes are based on the assessed value of our homes. If the market shows a decline, will the assessment go down? OK this government, unless we the citizens force the issue I doubt in fact by some strange sense of reasoning they will go up instead. In Maricopa County, Arizona the county assessor has stated some owners will actually see their vales go down this year. In California you can file out a form and claim the reduction based on assessed value reductions.
Let us assume for a minute, no just a second, our assessor lowers our values by 6.7%, what will happen to our schools and governments. They are going to be hurt quite a bit. Fishers is already spending beyond its means and this will put them in a lot of trouble, our school district may have to stop before building its new administration building. I have a novel idea, put the admin people in trailers instead of students. FEMA has a lot of them for sale cheap.
If you and I have to slow down spending we do, if governments get less money they raise taxes. Anyone want to take a bet – if assessed values go down, they will file for a tax rate increase?
If the home values continue to drop maybe we should start to put pressure on the assessors to lower our values. Maybe we need to put pressure on the local government to slow down. Fishers could stop spending money on lawyers and experts to fight Geist. The odds are they are going to spend a million dollars in this fight.
Hopefully our assessor reads this and takes action without us having to picket their offices and file suit against them. Wouldn’t that be fun a class action suit against the assessors?
Now if our state government can get its act together and accomplish property tax reform, the ups and downs of value of the housing market will not have such a major effect. We can always hope.
This brings up a very interesting question. Our property taxes are based on the assessed value of our homes. If the market shows a decline, will the assessment go down? OK this government, unless we the citizens force the issue I doubt in fact by some strange sense of reasoning they will go up instead. In Maricopa County, Arizona the county assessor has stated some owners will actually see their vales go down this year. In California you can file out a form and claim the reduction based on assessed value reductions.
Let us assume for a minute, no just a second, our assessor lowers our values by 6.7%, what will happen to our schools and governments. They are going to be hurt quite a bit. Fishers is already spending beyond its means and this will put them in a lot of trouble, our school district may have to stop before building its new administration building. I have a novel idea, put the admin people in trailers instead of students. FEMA has a lot of them for sale cheap.
If you and I have to slow down spending we do, if governments get less money they raise taxes. Anyone want to take a bet – if assessed values go down, they will file for a tax rate increase?
If the home values continue to drop maybe we should start to put pressure on the assessors to lower our values. Maybe we need to put pressure on the local government to slow down. Fishers could stop spending money on lawyers and experts to fight Geist. The odds are they are going to spend a million dollars in this fight.
Hopefully our assessor reads this and takes action without us having to picket their offices and file suit against them. Wouldn’t that be fun a class action suit against the assessors?
Now if our state government can get its act together and accomplish property tax reform, the ups and downs of value of the housing market will not have such a major effect. We can always hope.
Letter to elected officials
I keep reading about Special Interest Groups and the effect on our elected officials. So this is an open letter to all our Senators, Representatives, Mayors, Council Members and the Governor. The next time one of the lobbyists, lawyers etc from a special interest group approaches you for a favor, or to give you a gift, or take you to lunch, etc. Please inform them that you already represent another special interest group – the Citizens of the State of Indiana.
Elected officials you were elected by the people, isn’t it time you represented the people.
Elected officials you were elected by the people, isn’t it time you represented the people.
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Mary don't burn down the house.
It’s 9 am and here comes the fire engine, lights flashing, sirens and they stop around the corner at Mary’s house, then I hear the distinctive beep, beep of an alarm system. My neighbor and I walk over to Mary’s house, no flames – good, no ambulance – good, smoke – bad. Well, not too bad it appears Mary tried to boil chicken and forgot and now has pan burned smoked chicken.
Now Mary is a very good cook, so how did this happen. Mary is also a real estate agent. So we jokingly asked her if she is trying to burn down the house and then she can buy a new one and stimulate the housing market. She looks at us and say’s damm that is a great idea with all the expensive foreclosed homes I could move up. No not worth the trouble, but I guess I am going out for dinner tonight. So maybe it was one of the restaurants in the area that drained the water from the pot while she wasn’t looking.
Well I just I might as well go take a nap that was too much excitement.
Oh, by the way, don’t forget buy a smoke detector and if you have them put new batteries in them, I am sure Mary is happy hers worked this morning.
Now Mary is a very good cook, so how did this happen. Mary is also a real estate agent. So we jokingly asked her if she is trying to burn down the house and then she can buy a new one and stimulate the housing market. She looks at us and say’s damm that is a great idea with all the expensive foreclosed homes I could move up. No not worth the trouble, but I guess I am going out for dinner tonight. So maybe it was one of the restaurants in the area that drained the water from the pot while she wasn’t looking.
Well I just I might as well go take a nap that was too much excitement.
Oh, by the way, don’t forget buy a smoke detector and if you have them put new batteries in them, I am sure Mary is happy hers worked this morning.
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