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<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Unfortunately, I believe that Vernon's tax change formula has an </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> error in it. The higher tax rate applies to the entire assessment </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> (and not just to the change in assessment).</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> If you have lived in your own home for at least a year, then</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> you can multiply the answer you got from Vern's instructions </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> by 1.67 to get your actual change in Riverdale Park (RP) taxes </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> So in Vern's own home example, multiply his $144 by 1.67 to </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> get a $240 per year increase.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Correcting the amounts in Vern's survey yields:</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> "almost no owner occupied property saw more than a </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> $25 per month [$300 per year] personal increase. The </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> vast majority were below $22 per month [$264 per year]."</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Most owner occupied homes will see an 18% increase in RP taxes </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> next year (also state and county taxes will increase by various amounts).</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Taxes will likely continue to go up roughly 10% each year until the </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> phased-in assessment reaches the full value.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> If you have </FONT><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> not </FONT></b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> lived in your home for a year, then you will </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> have to recalculate the change as described below. Unfortunately,</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> you will come up with a much bigger final number. </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> The average increase across </FONT><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> all </FONT></b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> properties is 27%.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Newly purchased homes (and non-owner occupied homes)</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> will be much higher than that.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> ----</FONT></div>
<div> </div>
<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#0000FF"> </FONT><div> </div>
<FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#0000FF"> </FONT><div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#0000FF"> (You can stop reading here, unless you want to recompute your expected increase.)</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Below are corrected instructions for figuring out how your taxes will change.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><b><i><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> How Will Your Taxes Change?</FONT></i></b></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> To see the change in your Riverdale Park real estate taxes (assuming </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> the Council accepts Vern's proposed tax rates) proceed as follows:</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> 1. go to</FONT></div>
<div> <A HREF="http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/searchtype.asp?form%24=SelectCounty&county=17&SearchMethod=Street"><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> http://sdatcert3.resiusa.org/rp_rewrite/searchtype.asp?form%24=SelectCounty&county=17&SearchMethod=Street</FONT></A><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> and enter your street address. [ Leave off the AVE or RD etc. ]</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> 2. In the results, scroll down to the yellow line that reads "Value Information". </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> 3. If you have been in your own home for one year or more then </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> look in the column "Phase-in Assessments As Of 07/01/2006" </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> and get the "Total:" value (or use box 4 from the Assessment </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> Notice that was mailed to you earlier this year), then</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> To see how much your RP taxes will </FONT><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> increase</FONT></b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> ,</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> multiply the above assessment value by 0.001147 </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> Or, to see your </FONT><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> total </FONT></b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> RP Taxes for next year, </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> multiply the above assessment value by 0.007557 </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> 4. If you have </FONT><b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> not </FONT></b><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> lived in your house for a year, or for property that is not </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> your principal residence, or any property that is not owner occupied, then...</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> 4.1 Multiply the 2006 total assessment value by 0.00641. Save the answer (call it OldTax)</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> 4.2 Multiply the 2007 total assessment value by 0.00687 (call this NewTax)</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> 4.3 Subtract the above two numbers to get the change in Riverdale Park taxes. (That is, compute NewTax - OldTax).</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> (I believe you use the "phase-in as of 7/1/2006" and the "phase-in as of 7/1/2007" </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> total assessment values in the above steps, but I am not sure).</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> Please note that I am not an accountant, and the above may be wrong. Possibly very wrong.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> ------------</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> Footnote: You can ignore this footnote unless you want to see the math </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> behind the formulas.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> For homes that were owner occupied for at least one year, assessments are </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> restricted to rise no more than 10% per year.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> The formula for computing the tax change in such homes is AssessedValueFor2006 * 0.001147</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> This is a simplified version of (AssessedValueFor2006 * 1.1 / 100 * 0.687) - (AssessedValueFor2006 / 100 * 0.641)</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> Where 0.641 is the RP tax rate for 2006 and 0.687 is the proposed tax rate for 2007 expressed in dollars per 100 dollars of assessed value.</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> The formula for computing the total RP Tax for such owner occupied homes is AssessedValueFor2006 * 0.007557 </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> which is a simplified version of AssessedValueFor2006 * 1.1 / 100 * 0.687</FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3> </FONT></div>
<div><FONT FACE="Arial" SIZE=3 COLOR="#400040"> [end]</FONT></div>
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