<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Re: [RP TownTalk] Should apartments pay their fair share in taxes?</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
All,<BR>
<BR>
What Rob proposes is a tax with no benefit to the entity being taxed. When Mike Herman, as Mayor, wanted to significantly raise the license fee defined in Chapter 42, the Washington Metropolitan Area Apartment Owners Association threatened to sue the Town because there was no service associated with the business license fee that they were paying. Thus, Mike had the Council vote to take over multi-unit apartment inspections from the County in exchange for the higher license fee.. We had previously taken over single family rental property inspection.<BR>
<BR>
Most Councilmembers worked very hard, in writing legislation, to make sure that different sections of the Code do not conflict with each other.<BR>
<BR>
I don't understand the motivation behind the proposal. As presented, it is somewhat anti-apartment dweller. I am a life-long apartment dweller. I have no desire to maintain a lawn and garden, worry about roof leaks, or crawling under the kitchen sink to fix a leak, or shovel snow and ice in the middle of the night. If those things constitute your " pursuit of happiness" as described in the Declaration of Independence, so be it. It is not my vision of happiness. I prefer to pay someone to provide those services for me. I prefer different forms of investments than paying for land (i.e., a 30 year mortgage).<BR>
<BR>
Just because I have a different vision of happiness does not make me a second class citizen, or to be looked down on as probably being mentally defective.<BR>
<BR>
To the single family homeowners of Riverdale Park, just be happy that you don't have to pay the full ride for all of the services that you consume.<BR>
<BR>
Gerry Kiernan <BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<B>From: </B>Rob Oppenheim <rob.oppenheim@comcast.net><BR>
<B>Reply-To: </B>rob.oppenheim@comcast.net<BR>
<B>Date: </B>Tue, 5 Jun 2007 19:18:14 -0400<BR>
<B>To: </B>TownTalk <towntalk@riverdale-park.org><BR>
<B>Subject: </B>Re: [RP TownTalk] Should apartments pay their fair share in taxes?<BR>
<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE> On Tue, 5 Jun 2007 16:20:05 -0400, Roland Walker wrote:<BR>
<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#000080"> <BR>
>We do have such a fee. It is $75/unit.<BR>
</FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#000080"> <BR>
My understanding is that fee is for inspecting the units.<BR>
And while it is similar to what I am proposing, it is different than a <BR>
true rental license fee. (And even if it is the same thing, it is too small.)<BR>
</FONT> <BR>
<FONT COLOR="#000080"> <BR>
Section 55-5 establishes a rental license fee of $100, but 55-4(c) exempts<BR>
apt buildings. "Any owner of record of a multi-family apartment house, as <BR>
defined in § H-210.0 of the Housing Code, shall be exempt from this section ..."<BR>
</FONT> <BR>
<BR>
_______________________________________________<BR>
TownTalk mailing list<BR>
To post to the list, send mail to TownTalk@riverdale-park.org<BR>
TownTalk-request@riverdale-park.org is for automated subscription processing only<BR>
http://riverdale-park.org/mailman/listinfo/towntalk<BR>
<BR>
For more information about Riverdale Park, visit http://www.ci.riverdale-park.md.us<BR>
</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
</BODY>
</HTML>