“Manassas appears headed for an increase in its tax rate from $1.25
to $1.34 and an increase in the sewer rate of 50 percent; in the
basic light rate of 5 percent and the basic water rate of 6 percent.
This is to meet the needs of the town budget which must be adopted
by next Monday night.”
Manassas Journal (April 20, 1950)
“Sad Story of Manassas Financing Told – Those Who Have Tears,
Prepare to Shed Them Now” – Front page headine.
Missed having media at last night’s meeting to help explain
various data and “facts in the field” to the general public.
This is especially true with the Utility Department Operating
Budget FY 2010 presentation.
For example: Manassas must sent all its sewage to the
the Upper Occoquan Sewage Authority (UOSA), the “Rolls Royce”
of area sewage plants. The cost is going to rise for area
jurisdictions (Manassas, Manassas Park and parts of PWC
Fairfax) due to capacity expansion plus the need to comply
with increased enviromental regulations. Part of the latter,
is apparently part of a scientific debate ( Dr. Schornick of
our Utility Commision, for example, thinks some expensive
new procedures are not needed and may even be counterproductive,
but, surprise, the Feds won’t even listen. The Manassas Council
is drafting a letter to Congressman Wolf and Senators Webb and
Warner requesting help).
The tax on the average house in 1950 would have been $88 (average house value in Va $6581 from the U.S. census site) at $1.34. The average wage was $2800, The tax burden accounted for just over 3% of the avg. wage.
The tax on the average house in 2009 is $2900 at $1.53 based on the average house value of $19000(source realtor.com search of manassas area) The average wage is about $40400. The tax burden is now over 7% of the avg wage.
Serious cuts need to be made, One suggestion would be to cut 12.5% from every dept no matter what,wages,benefits,downsize the fleet to name a few, the other cuts would come from the school side to equal 25% again ,no matter what.
My personal view is less goverment,roll back the expanding beltline of the budget of the recent years and get back to basics, reduce the burden of the homeowner.
Thank you for allowing me to comment. Bud
FYI — In 1950 Manassas was still a town (became a city in 1975) with
homeowners paying taxes to both the town AND Prince William
County (such as Haymaket and Dumfries do today).
PWC was responsible for some big ticket items such as
public education.
We would need some more research to reach a
reasonable “apples to apples” comparison between what the average
homeowner was taxed in 1950 and now. Can be fairly sure of
one thing — then or now, nobody likes taxes.
FYI: Front page of today’s WaPo real estate section – “A Trying Year,
By The Numbers”.
“In Manassas zip code 20110, the median price of a home fell
48 percent, to $175,000 from 335,000, but the number of homes
sold surged to 1,007 from 405.”
Hopefully, prices will bottom out by the middle of the year and
return to a normal rational growth pattern without huge peaks
and valleys.
March 26, 2009 at 9:02 am
“Manassas appears headed for an increase in its tax rate from $1.25
to $1.34 and an increase in the sewer rate of 50 percent; in the
basic light rate of 5 percent and the basic water rate of 6 percent.
This is to meet the needs of the town budget which must be adopted
by next Monday night.”
Manassas Journal (April 20, 1950)
“Sad Story of Manassas Financing Told – Those Who Have Tears,
Prepare to Shed Them Now” – Front page headine.
Manassas Journal (April 27, 1950)
March 26, 2009 at 9:43 am
Missed having media at last night’s meeting to help explain
various data and “facts in the field” to the general public.
This is especially true with the Utility Department Operating
Budget FY 2010 presentation.
For example: Manassas must sent all its sewage to the
the Upper Occoquan Sewage Authority (UOSA), the “Rolls Royce”
of area sewage plants. The cost is going to rise for area
jurisdictions (Manassas, Manassas Park and parts of PWC
Fairfax) due to capacity expansion plus the need to comply
with increased enviromental regulations. Part of the latter,
is apparently part of a scientific debate ( Dr. Schornick of
our Utility Commision, for example, thinks some expensive
new procedures are not needed and may even be counterproductive,
but, surprise, the Feds won’t even listen. The Manassas Council
is drafting a letter to Congressman Wolf and Senators Webb and
Warner requesting help).
March 27, 2009 at 3:54 pm
The tax on the average house in 1950 would have been $88 (average house value in Va $6581 from the U.S. census site) at $1.34. The average wage was $2800, The tax burden accounted for just over 3% of the avg. wage.
The tax on the average house in 2009 is $2900 at $1.53 based on the average house value of $19000(source realtor.com search of manassas area) The average wage is about $40400. The tax burden is now over 7% of the avg wage.
Serious cuts need to be made, One suggestion would be to cut 12.5% from every dept no matter what,wages,benefits,downsize the fleet to name a few, the other cuts would come from the school side to equal 25% again ,no matter what.
My personal view is less goverment,roll back the expanding beltline of the budget of the recent years and get back to basics, reduce the burden of the homeowner.
Thank you for allowing me to comment. Bud
March 28, 2009 at 8:20 am
FYI — In 1950 Manassas was still a town (became a city in 1975) with
homeowners paying taxes to both the town AND Prince William
County (such as Haymaket and Dumfries do today).
PWC was responsible for some big ticket items such as
public education.
We would need some more research to reach a
reasonable “apples to apples” comparison between what the average
homeowner was taxed in 1950 and now. Can be fairly sure of
one thing — then or now, nobody likes taxes.
March 28, 2009 at 11:58 am
FYI: Front page of today’s WaPo real estate section – “A Trying Year,
By The Numbers”.
“In Manassas zip code 20110, the median price of a home fell
48 percent, to $175,000 from 335,000, but the number of homes
sold surged to 1,007 from 405.”
Hopefully, prices will bottom out by the middle of the year and
return to a normal rational growth pattern without huge peaks
and valleys.