George,

In reference to reducing the Real Estate tax, I would rather see the city do away with the trash stickers rather than lower the R/E tax. The trash stickers were supposed to allow the city to reduce the R/E tax at their
inception, which the city was unable to do.

Also, the city is looking at a rather large renovation of the school
facilities over the next few years and this would be a perfect time to use excess funds for just such a project.

A question I haven't seen raised lately is how the elimination/reduction of the personal property tax will affect the city budget. Before we decide to reduce the R/E tax, let's make sure we look at the whole picture so that we don't put the city in a deficit situation in the near future.

Bob Roach (electronic mail, April 27, 2000)