Fiscal malfeasance

As one of the 1,564 property owners who have more than two acres, I’m very upset that my property taxes went up this current year 300% on the excess acreage on our Homestead. My husband and I are both retired and on fixed incomes. I cannot help it that the previous and current administrations were misfeasant in their duties to collect property taxes incrementally over the last 25 years that I have lived here.

Appreciation of land should be at the most 3% annually, meaning it should have increased in fair market value 75%! Why should I make up for the mayors’, city councilors’, and tax assessors’ mistake? They were not only delinquent in collecting for themselves, but for the other taxing authorities. I promise if people fail to contest and appeal their assessments, the city will increase their property taxes 3% annually!

I cannot believe they spent $4.5 million to purchase this software and did not know what they were buying. They supposedly grilled the deputy tax commissioner, but it is hard for me to believe their sincerity since a real leader would have asked those hard questions when they spent that much! I believe that we in Urban District #2 in the Midland/Upatoi area should file a class-action lawsuit because most of us are on septic tanks, but we pay .2 mills in property taxes for sewage and .82 mills for Metra service that we are not provided!

If they are concerned about their constituents, Mayor Tomlinson and City Councilors who created this monster either need to break the contract or have a workshop on CCGTV that provides instructions on how to appeal your property taxes!

Out of our hands

In recent days, the Ledger has posted numerous letters, a couple in response to a letter I had written about climate change.

In "Climate of the Past," an interactive open-access journal of the European Geosciences Union published on March 15, 2017, numerous scientists representing many different scientific organizations reported that "the Southern Ocean encompasses 14% of the Earth’s surface. And according to regional temperature measurements that have apparently not been subjected to warming ‘corrections’ by data adjusters, the Southern Ocean has been cooling in recent decades. The Northern Hemisphere embodies the top half (50%) of the world’s surface. And according to many scientists’ temperature reconstructions using proxy evidence (ice cores, tree rings, etc.) from numerous locations North of the equator, there has been no net warming in the Northern Hemisphere since the 1940s."

I suppose we can continue to wring our hands and make outlandish statements like the oceans are rising and that people are going to literally "fry from the resulting high temperatures" or we can realize the truth which is really quite simple: God is in control and as He promised that, "While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease," as recorded in Genesis 8:22.

Best buys

It pays to shop around at various pharmacies when you have to pay out of pocket for a prescription. A patient of mine, with no insurance, had to buy 21 tablets of 1 gram Valtrex, for shingles. The cash price varied tremendously… at Publix, the cost was the highest at $254. At Walgreens $233, at CVS $232. But at the independent pharmacies, Medical Park, Glenn's and U-Saveit, it was $27.

I hate it that Publix was the highest since they are so generous to many self-pay customers by way of dispensing so many medicines free of cost. But the independents beat all of them hands down.

Deserve better

Forget all about postal rage from me. But if I had to work in the Phenix City post office I might be feeling a little of that at this time. Their air conditioning is out and nothing seems to be done about it as has been the problem in the past.

These postal workers are the best and I've learned to look on them as family. They are helpful and courteous. But ... did I leave out fun? We are on a first name basis and I couldn't ask for a nicer or sweeter group of people to handle my mail.

I know our government is in a bind for money, but for goodness sake, these people need some cool air in that place and I can't think of a better way to spend my tax dollars.

Faith of our fathers

If House Republicans succeed in their efforts to gut the Johnson Amendment, it would open the door for Big Money donors and political interest groups to pressure and manipulate our nation’s churches and charities.

Without this amendment, Big Donors would have free rein to use institutions meant for the social good to funnel unlimited amounts of money into political elections in secret — and get a tax break for doing it.

The Johnson Amendment is crucial to uphold the integrity of our churches, our charities and our elections. This is why House Republicans should not gut it!

This story was originally published July 25, 2017 at 4:38 PM with the headline "Fiscal malfeasance."