LETTER City cannot sustain its taxes
After the county destroyed us with the reassessment, the City of Washington is raising its real-estate taxes again. The city has a land and building tax unlike the rest of the county, so I will use 25 percent land and 75 percent building, which is generous to the city. Let’s do the taxes on a $100,000 property assessment. This is all three taxes. city, school and county:
— City of Washington, $2,733
— South Strabane Township, $1,677
— Chartiers Township, $1,527
Today’s interest rates run around 4 percent on a mortgage, which is very close to about $48 per $10,000 of a mortgage. At $100,000, that means for the same payment I can buy a house in South Strabane for $22,000 more than in the city, and have the same payment. Over $25,000 in Chartiers. It goes on countywide.
The value of real estate has plummeted in the city to make up the difference. Rents are skyrocketing. Any commercial property is raising its prices. The city has the highest real-estate taxes in the county by a long shot. Many people have had their taxes double, or even triple, in one fatal shot.
We need a new government and school board. The city cannot sustain these taxes.
Tanya Rhody
Washington