McAbee and the lot

Apparently you missed where Mr. McAbee voted for a 4.5mil tax CUT last night. In fact, every council member voted for a 4.5mil tax cut, save one person.

Care to guess who?

(/que Final Jeopardy - answer in the form of a question)

Who is M. Cindy Wilson? [abstained]

Correct!

The vote was 6-0-1 . . . once again preserving her status of never voting for a budget. A-flippin-mazing.


- SSHM

Apparently you missed where Mr. McAbee voted for a 4.5mil tax CUT last night. In fact, every council member voted for a 4.5mil tax cut, save one person.

Care to guess who?

(/que Final Jeopardy - answer in the form of a question)

Who is M. Cindy Wilson? [abstained]

Correct!

The vote was 6-0-1 . . . once again preserving her status of never voting for a budget. A-flippin-mazing.


- SSHM

- SSHM

Isn't there a property revaluation due this year?

If so:

Does the millage rate include what the estimated new property values will be?

If so, then potentially even a lower millage rate could mean a larger tax bill in September, right?

---

If no revaluation:

Was this year's budget larger than last year's?

If so, where's the extra money coming from? Have we had that much low-tax-value property converted to high-tax-value property to make up the difference?


I don't know, I'm just asking.

Alot of crap has went back and forth about various council candidates. One thing stands clear. Some candidates, such asd Bill McAbee two years ago, ran on a platform of "promises kept." Among those promises was standing against tax increases. Now that McAbee is running for another term in office after eschewing his promises and voting for a tax increase, what says you, the cocklebur forum members? Did McAbee break his solemn word or did, he, as Buster pointed out in another string, just do what he had to do?

I for one think promises ought to be kept, and when they can not be, they should be frankly explained. McAbee is lucky to be running in the GOP primary against a weak candidate.

in all frankness, McAbee has not done one thing to fully and frankly explain why he voted to raise taxes after he promised he would never do such a thing.

Forget your animosity towards me as a person, just answer the question at hand. What justifies the tax increase after promising not to do so?

- coke_stevenson

Willie Horton McAbee voted for another tax increase last night. Willie Horton McAbee grew government by 17%.

He did this while going to Chicago, New York and DC. He spent our tax dollars (over $150.00) in a 4 hour period while flying back from NYC with Amy Plummer. All this money was spent in bars. Over $150.00 in 4 hours!

Our tax dollars are spent to drink. Here's the funny part. Bill or Amy must have had a headache while living large in NYC. They spent $8.00 on Advil ! Your tax dollars were spent on Advil ! How can this be justified. You are going to get a headache regardless of where you are, but the taxpayers should not have to pay to get rid of it.

This trip and the expenditures associated with it is nothing more than CORRUPTION ! I said it. I hope this trip is investigated by SLED and Mrs. McAbee ! Something seems fishy to me.

Apparently you missed where Mr. McAbee voted for a 4.5mil tax CUT last night. In fact, every council member voted for a 4.5mil tax cut, save one person.

Care to guess who?

(/que Final Jeopardy - answer in the form of a question)

Who is M. Cindy Wilson? [abstained]

Correct!

The vote was 6-0-1 . . . once again preserving her status of never voting for a budget. A-flippin-mazing.


- SSHM

- SSHM

Isn't there a property revaluation due this year?

If so:

Does the millage rate include what the estimated new property values will be?

If so, then potentially even a lower millage rate could mean a larger tax bill in September, right?

---

If no revaluation:

Was this year's budget larger than last year's?

If so, where's the extra money coming from? Have we had that much low-tax-value property converted to high-tax-value property to make up the difference?


I don't know, I'm just asking.

- StringCheese

Yes. This is a reassement year. They rolled back the taxes from the Sheriffs one time tax increase, but left the milage from the previous year. They estimated that the mil would increase to approx. $565k from about $511K. That's a huge increase.

You will see a tax increase in November. Bill McAbee voted for another tax increase this year. Bill McAbee voted to grow government by 17%.

I wish my paycheck would grow by 17%.

Apparently you missed where Mr. McAbee voted for a 4.5mil tax CUT last night. In fact, every council member voted for a 4.5mil tax cut, save one person.

Care to guess who?

(/que Final Jeopardy - answer in the form of a question)

Who is M. Cindy Wilson? [abstained]

Correct!

The vote was 6-0-1 . . . once again preserving her status of never voting for a budget. A-flippin-mazing.


- SSHM

- SSHM

Are you sure that there will be a tax DECREASE this year if the budget passes as presented last night?Without the spins and smoke can you assure me that I will pay less taxes with this budget than I paid this year?

I was not at the meeting and I have not studied the proposed budget but I would seriously doubt that Mr Preston presented a budget that was less than last year.

I was under the impression that Ms Wilson and Mr Waldrup (according to the George Duckworth show this AM) wanted to cut out some of the "fluff" from the budget but were shot down.
So let me ask you again as plain as I can...Will I pay less county taxes this year under the proposed budget than I did last year?

You have complained about Mr Allen not giving honest and forthright answers,so let me hear your answer.

Apparently you missed where Mr. McAbee voted for a 4.5mil tax CUT last night. In fact, every council member voted for a 4.5mil tax cut, save one person.

Care to guess who?

(/que Final Jeopardy - answer in the form of a question)

Who is M. Cindy Wilson? [abstained]

Correct!

The vote was 6-0-1 . . . once again preserving her status of never voting for a budget. A-flippin-mazing.


- SSHM

- SSHM

Are you sure that there will be a tax DECREASE this year if the budget passes as presented last night?Without the spins and smoke can you assure me that I will pay less taxes with this budget than I paid this year?

I was not at the meeting and I have not studied the proposed budget but I would seriously doubt that Mr Preston presented a budget that was less than last year.

I was under the impression that Ms Wilson and Mr Waldrup (according to the George Duckworth show this AM) wanted to cut out some of the "fluff" from the budget but were shot down.
So let me ask you again as plain as I can...Will I pay less county taxes this year under the proposed budget than I did last year?

You have complained about Mr Allen not giving honest and forthright answers,so let me hear your answer.

- JohnB

This what the candidates/incumbents will say. We lowered milage by 4.5 mils. What they will not say is that the value of a mil will increase to $565,000 from $511,000.

So, look at it like this they will lower your taxes if you look at only the amount of mils charged, but since the value of a mil increased you will pay higher taxes.

It is a back door tax increase. McAbee and Co. grew government by 17% last night.

Did your pay increase by 17% this year? I doubt it. Inflation is estimated to be between 3 and 4 % this year. At this rate, Bill McAbee and company is growing government 4 times faster than inflation.

If you get a Cost of living increase of 3%, then it will take you 5.5 years to make up for last nights government growth.

We need to remove all 6 that voted to grow government and raise your taxes last night.

Bill McAbee should be ashamed.

Are you sure that there will be a tax DECREASE this year if the budget passes as presented last night?Without the spins and smoke can you assure me that I will pay less taxes with this budget than I paid this year?

I was not at the meeting and I have not studied the proposed budget but I would seriously doubt that Mr Preston presented a budget that was less than last year.

I was under the impression that Ms Wilson and Mr Waldrup (according to the George Duckworth show this AM) wanted to cut out some of the "fluff" from the budget but were shot down.
So let me ask you again as plain as I can...Will I pay less county taxes this year under the proposed budget than I did last year?

You have complained about Mr Allen not giving honest and forthright answers,so let me hear your answer.

- JohnB

JohnB,

Based on the current value of a mil, County Council did indeed vote for a 4.5mil TAX CUT last night. Well, at least SIX members of Council did anyway.

Now, since we have such a substantial number of "what-if(ers)" on the blog this morning, let me put forth my own what-if . . .

What if . . . County Council put a CAP on reassessment, thus providing a guarantee that even in the event of an increase, the increase would not exceed "x."

The problem with this:
SC Supreme Court Rules Reassessment Cap Unconstitutional

Based on the verbage at the Charleston County Website, and having not looked in detail at the SC Supreme Court ruling, I *believe* there is wiggle room available to provide, in the form of an ordinance, protection to citizens of this county from excessive reassessment.

- SSHM

Flush all 7 in '08!!!!!

They spent $8.00 on Advil ! Your tax dollars were spent on Advil ! How can this be justified. You are going to get a headache regardless of where you are, but the taxpayers should not have to pay to get rid of it.

- willieh

I'd have a headache too if I had to Amend the Amendment to the origional Amendment to the initial proposal brought forth for a vote ( to which I'd abstain....)

Are you sure that there will be a tax DECREASE this year if the budget passes as presented last night?Without the spins and smoke can you assure me that I will pay less taxes with this budget than I paid this year?

I was not at the meeting and I have not studied the proposed budget but I would seriously doubt that Mr Preston presented a budget that was less than last year.

I was under the impression that Ms Wilson and Mr Waldrup (according to the George Duckworth show this AM) wanted to cut out some of the "fluff" from the budget but were shot down.
So let me ask you again as plain as I can...Will I pay less county taxes this year under the proposed budget than I did last year?

You have complained about Mr Allen not giving honest and forthright answers,so let me hear your answer.

- JohnB

JohnB,

Based on the current value of a mil, County Council did indeed vote for a 4.5mil TAX CUT last night. Well, at least SIX members of Council did anyway.

Now, since we have such a substantial number of "what-if(ers)" on the blog this morning, let me put forth my own what-if . . .

What if . . . County Council put a CAP on reassessment, thus providing a guarantee that even in the event of an increase, the increase would not exceed "x."

The problem with this:
SC Supreme Court Rules Reassessment Cap Unconstitutional

Based on the verbage at the Charleston County Website, and having not looked in detail at the SC Supreme Court ruling, I *believe* there is wiggle room available to provide, in the form of an ordinance, protection to citizens of this county from excessive reassessment.

- SSHM

- SSHM

You didn't answer my question. Will I pay less taxes this year if the budget that Mr McAbee voted for passes?

You complain that Tom Allen will not give you a straight answer. How about you? Can you give a straight answer?
Are you all about truth or political talk?

JohnB, that's an unanswerable question based on information available, and you know that.

Whether you will pay MORE in property taxes in the next fiscal year or LESS has more to do with what reassessment did to the value of your home than it does with the millage rate.

The bottom line is if reassessment left your property values exactly the same, and all other parameters remain as they were (i.e., no increase in school taxes, no increase in municipal taxes, the state's illusory sales-tax-for-property-tax swaps work the same as last year), you taxes should go down by a few bucks.

I would suspect, but have no way of knowing, that you'll see an increase in the assessment value of your home and property - which means you will pay MORE in taxes next year than this year.

But that's purely a function of mathmatics, not any attempt to trick you. Both sides of the debate are playing word games with budget details, but that happens almost every year.

I will say I think Anderson County Council's clever trickery in covering the Sheriff's Office's $2.5 million debt is absolutely AMAZING. Bravo! You think nobody will notice, don't you?

Are you sure that there will be a tax DECREASE this year if the budget passes as presented last night?Without the spins and smoke can you assure me that I will pay less taxes with this budget than I paid this year?

I was not at the meeting and I have not studied the proposed budget but I would seriously doubt that Mr Preston presented a budget that was less than last year.

I was under the impression that Ms Wilson and Mr Waldrup (according to the George Duckworth show this AM) wanted to cut out some of the "fluff" from the budget but were shot down.
So let me ask you again as plain as I can...Will I pay less county taxes this year under the proposed budget than I did last year?

You have complained about Mr Allen not giving honest and forthright answers,so let me hear your answer.

- JohnB

JohnB,

Based on the current value of a mil, County Council did indeed vote for a 4.5mil TAX CUT last night. Well, at least SIX members of Council did anyway.

Now, since we have such a substantial number of "what-if(ers)" on the blog this morning, let me put forth my own what-if . . .

What if . . . County Council put a CAP on reassessment, thus providing a guarantee that even in the event of an increase, the increase would not exceed "x."

The problem with this:
SC Supreme Court Rules Reassessment Cap Unconstitutional

Based on the verbage at the Charleston County Website, and having not looked in detail at the SC Supreme Court ruling, I *believe* there is wiggle room available to provide, in the form of an ordinance, protection to citizens of this county from excessive reassessment.

- SSHM

- SSHM

You didn't answer my question. Will I pay less taxes this year if the budget that Mr McAbee voted for passes?

You complain that Tom Allen will not give you a straight answer. How about you? Can you give a straight answer?
Are you all about truth or political talk?

- JohnB

I have given you the truth! You will pay higher taxes based on the budget that Bill McAbee voted for last night. As a matter of fact, you are paying higher taxes now, because of the tax increase that Bill McAbee voted for last year.

Bill McAbee campaigned on smaller government and lower taxes. Since he has taken office (4 years ago) government has grown by over 30% and he has voted 5 times for tax increases. He also voted for a 50% increase in your solid waste tax.

Thank you Bill McAbee for our tax increases!

You didn't answer my question. Will I pay less taxes this year if the budget that Mr McAbee voted for passes?

You complain that Tom Allen will not give you a straight answer. How about you? Can you give a straight answer?
Are you all about truth or political talk?

- JohnB

JohnB,

Nice try, but I did answer the question to the best of my ability with the information present. Now, if you are prepaired to surrender more personal information about your current tax situation (cashing in/re-investing dividens, interest, possible penalties, etc), then I will pretend to be H&R; Block and answer your tax questions for you.

That's about as straight of an answer I can provide in the context of the question.


- SSHM

JohnB, that's an unanswerable question based on information available, and you know that.

Whether you will pay MORE in property taxes in the next fiscal year or LESS has more to do with what reassessment to the value of your home than it does with the millage rate.

The bottom line is if reassessment left your property values exactly the same, and all other parameters remain as they were (i.e., no increase in school taxes, no increase in municipal taxes, the state's illusory sales-tax-for-property-tax swaps work the same as last year), you taxes should go down by a few bucks.

I would suspect, but have no way of knowing, that you'll see an increase in the assessment value of your home and property - which means you will pay MORE in taxes next year than this year.

But that's purely a function of mathmatics, not any attempt to trick you. Both sides of the debate are playing word games with budget details, but that happens almost every year.

I will say I think Anderson County Council's clever trickery in covering the Sheriff's Office's $2.5 million debt is absolutely AMAZING. Bravo! You think nobody will notice, don't you?

- JDTippett

I think you may be wrong on this issue JD. It is assumed that the milage rate will increase to $565,000 per mil from $511,000 per mil.

The milage rate is dropping 5.7%, because it was a one time increase for the Sheriff's screw-up. But the milage rate is increasing 9.6%. It doesn't matter how you do the math, you will receive a tax increase over last years tax bill. Well, maybe you won't, but those who live in Anderson will.

So, we can thank Bill McAbee for our tax increase. He lied, and I hope the voters will realize that he cannot be trusted.

So, we can thank Bill McAbee for our tax increase. He lied, and I hope the voters will realize that he cannot be trusted.

- willieh

. . . talk about a scorned woman . . .

Can you maybe mix it up a little more, you know, so it does not sound like a broken record?

EDIT: So at least it does not sound like you are reciting from a prepared, rather unoriginal, hit piece as crafted from one disgruntled, former campaign manager . . . hmmm . . .

EDIT 2: If it were any more obvious to what was happening today, you'd swear someone hired Homer Jay Simpson as someone's campaign manager . . . D'OH!


- SSHM

I think you may be wrong on this issue JD. It is assumed that the milage rate will increase to $565,000 per mil from $511,000 per mil.

The milage rate is dropping 5.7%, because it was a one time increase for the Sheriff's screw-up. But the milage rate is increasing 9.6%. It doesn't matter how you do the math, you will receive a tax increase over last years tax bill. Well, maybe you won't, but those who live in Anderson will.

- willieh

Willieh, you're mixing up the "value of a mill" with the "millage rate." I'm not sure it's possible to have a rational discussion with someone who truly doesn't understand the difference.

But I've read most of your posts, and I suspect you know the difference. I think you're deliberately clouding the issue for purely political purposes. Am I right?

If I am, that's just as dishonest as that little postcard somebody sent out blaming the person asking for information from the county for the legal costs incurred by the county for fighting those requests.

Are you fighting them, or joining them?

I think you may be wrong on this issue JD. It is assumed that the milage rate will increase to $565,000 per mil from $511,000 per mil.

The milage rate is dropping 5.7%, because it was a one time increase for the Sheriff's screw-up. But the milage rate is increasing 9.6%. It doesn't matter how you do the math, you will receive a tax increase over last years tax bill. Well, maybe you won't, but those who live in Anderson will.

- willieh

Willieh, you're mixing up the "value of a mill" with the "millage rate." I'm not sure it's possible to have a rational discussion with someone who truly doesn't understand the difference.

But I've read most of your posts, and I suspect you know the difference. I think you're deliberately clouding the issue for purely political purposes. Am I right?

If I am, that's just as dishonest as that little postcard somebody sent out blaming the person asking for information from the county for the legal costs incurred by the county for fighting those requests.

Are you fighting them, or joining them?

- JDTippett

So, if the mils stay the same, but the value of the mil goes up, we may not have a tax increase?

That's like saying if Arnold at Arnold's Famous Hamburgers orders 100 lbs of hamburger each day, and the price of hamburger goes up, he won't have a cost increase for the hamburger. Even if he still orders 100 lbs., per day?

Come on, I ain't the brightest bulb in the box, but I know if my mils are the same as they were in '06, but the value of the mil goes up, I am getting a tax increase.

It's all a shell game, JD. We really won't know what the tax increase will be until after the June 10th primary.

But rest assured, there will be one as the budget stands now.

Even if we don't have a marked increase this year, we still are getting hit with an increase because last years was supposed to be temporary.

They just happened to make it temporary in the year before reassessment.

I'll bet you a dozen Krispy Kremes, that if the budget stays the same as last night we will have a tax increase.

Once again...(Im typing r-e-a-l-l-y slowly here )

did the assessed value of YOUR house increase?..
Did it increase more than the decrease in millage?

Bill Mcabee (or cindi or Joey, for that matter) has NO ability to change the assessed value of your house..the market does...

and THAT is what really determines how much YOU will pay in taxes...

also...you do realize that some parts of the county saw assessed values of their homes DROP..which means...a tax cut for them...

you guys deliberately mislead folk with wrong information, when you know it to be so...

I'll bet you a dozen Krispy Kremes . . .

- willieh

Funny you mention Krispy Kreme Donuts. Anyone ever wonder why this southern delicacy isn't found here in Anderson, hmmm?

I have an idea as to why . . . heheh


- SSHM