The Red Brick Times

According to the Lorain County Auditor my house has increased 10% in value in the last 3 years. Pure fantasy. The only thing increasing are my property taxes. When I bought this house 9 years ago the property taxes were about $1000/year. Now it's $2000/year. (Think you own your house? Try not paying your property taxes. You just rent honey.) It's so crazy. I knew a tax increase was coming and decided to go ahead and get the bad news today but first, a pupwalk. My shedding machine (aka Niki) and I walked the neighborhood. On every block, on each side of every block, were at least two "for sale" signs and one "for rent". And all the "for sale" signs had great big "price reduced" notices hanging under them. Now what are all the "price reduced" signs doing there? Our auditor (and correct me if I'm wrong) says this is a hot market baby! Folks are lining up to purchase! Not hardly. The "for sale" signs have been there for months. No takers. No wonder either. Ain't no jobs here. Don't need a crystal ball to see what's coming. The city of Lorain, just to our north, has been looking very third-worldish for a while now. It's ugly, I kid thee not. A foreshadowing. The "number" streets in Elyria, what used to be a great location, are now the scene of daily crack and prostitution busts. This is how it started for Lorain neighborhoods too. The steel mill closed, the "for sale" and "for rent" signs went up, vultures moved in. It hasn't happened in my neighborhood yet, maybe because people like me, who won't stand for that, still live here. Not for much longer though. Hey! Wanna buy a house? 10% under appraised value!
Posted 11:01 AM by whatley (7) comments

       Comments:

Appraised value is only what past sales reflect. No foundation in reality. The actual sales values in my town dropped 10 to 15% after the Ford plant closed last December. But the auditor's valuation goes up, and the taxes continue to increase. The last tax levy passed with a scant 7 votes margin.

The number streets in Elyria have had increasing transient populations since the 1970's when many of the owners built houses elsewhere and the houses converted to rentals and absentee landlords. Remember Tim's house on 9th St? The landlord, Ron, lived way down Rt 301 and was holding the property against land value appreciation. He certainly was not realizing monthly cash flow! He installed a new furnace motor once, after the old one overheated, filled the house with smoke, and the fire department visited. All the houses on the S side of Earl Court, where I used to rent in 1976, degenerated in condition and value until they were bought and razed for the Methodist Village parking garage. My landlord lived in Amherst, invested nothing in maintenance, and never came around. Downtown has been slowly gutted of retail, pedestrians and attractions. Without the County Government, it would now be as dead as downtown Lorain.

# posted by  Andy : October 18, 2006 2:33 PM
 
"Without the County Government, it would now be as dead as downtown Lorain."

Umm... been to downtown (downtown, what a joke) Elyria lately? And isn't the "County Government" supposed to represent the umm.. (wait for it)... whole county?!? So what are you saying, that their efforts in Lorain were (stay with me here, ... and a one, and a two..) just practice? I fail to see your point.

"The actual sales values in my town dropped 10 to 15% after the Ford plant closed last December. But the auditor's valuation goes up, and the taxes continue to increase." Why do you think that is? Go on. Take a wild guess.

# posted by  whatley : October 18, 2006 6:49 PM
 
Tha income tax base for downtown Elyria is based on the myriad of County employees that work in downtown Elyria. The County just buit a huge new ugly-scraper to house more of them. How many taxpaying government employees work in downtown Lorain? If you want visible and social undead (not just income-producing undead employment) go to West River and Midway Blvd. You can find the living undead there amidst the cookie-cutter variety of fast food, fast shopping, expensive discount electronics, ATM money fountains, and, of course, Wal-Mart, king of the netherworld and champion of starving employees everywhere. Shop downtown when possible. Go to Elyria Hardware, Apples' grocery store, Donna's Diner, the barber shop, Moelk sales, Vandemark Jewelers. It will help.

Also - what do you mean, "take a guess?" Simple greed, compadre, and the need to pay for the big new ugly-scraper, and County Commissioner salaries, and the tax-producing income that comes from so many gummint employees. Wanna move to Erie County? Cheaper there, plus no County surcharge when renewing vehicle registrations.

# posted by  Andy : October 18, 2006 8:19 PM
 
Weren't we the generation that was supposed to change all this bullshit? Unfortunately we failed to create a new financial/economic model while continuing to chafe at the existing one even as the inhertitors of the old system merrily raked in the cash to produce the hideous commercial homunculous that feeds the Midway Monster and saps the vitality of in-town neighborhoods. Time to run for office. Throw the bums out! Be the bums!

# posted by  A. O. : October 19, 2006 12:02 PM
 
Fifty years ago I couldn't spell "bum". Now I are one. Are we just jealous that we didn't get a seat on the gravy train? I think that our choices have led us astray. The dreamy financial/economic model is still based on unlimited energy/unlimited resources. We still play with ideas of perpetual motion, cars that run on water, and the chicks for free.

# posted by  Andy : October 19, 2006 12:57 PM
 
Gravy train? There's a gravy train? Fuck. Now you tell me.

# posted by  whatley : October 19, 2006 4:03 PM
 
Staying with the "wild guess" motif who would you say is the #1 employer in the city of Elyria?

A drum roll please....

The City of Elyria!

I'll feed the rats to the cats then the cats to the rats....

# posted by  whatley : October 19, 2006 4:13 PM
 
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