Letter to the Editor: The Tip of the Tax Iceberg

The tip of the TAX iceberg?

April 2, 2013 the taxpayers of Reading will be asked to support Reading’s share of the Library renovation/expansion of $9 million, most of the total cost of about $14 million. This will cost the $400,000 assessed home between $140 and $200 per year for the next ten years. This is just the tip of the TAX iceberg.

The same home is paying presently $150 per year for the High School, which has about eleven years to go to pay off. The Killam School needs $5 to $6 million dollars in renovation for windows and ADA compliance, adding $50 to $60 annually to the TAX iceberg.

At Town Meeting we heard the need for all-day kindergarten, and the cost of a building (St. Agnes’s old school?) could be $10 to $20 million dollars, which could add $150 to ??? The TAX iceberg is growing.

Phase II of the downtown streetscape’s ( those wonderful bollards) cost of $5 million dollars will add $50 to $60 to the TAX iceberg.

As yet it hasn’t been determined how the first phase of a $25 million dollar water main relining, $6 million dollars ,will be an exclusion or add $50 to $60 per year to your water bill, not including any MWRA increases.

Keep in mind that the $400,000 home pays approximately $6,000 annually in real estate taxes. Add in 2 ½ percent increase in the levy limit, and the $400,000 home could be paying $7680 in the tenth year from now.

Governor Patrick has proposed both a gas tax and income tax increases. Since January we have seen the Federal tax go up, and many have seen an increase in insurance costs. Home heating oil is over $4 per gallon, and gas is approaching $4 per gallon. How much more can we absorb? By the way, the Patrick increase in the income tax is one percentage point, which is actually a tax increase of 19 percent.

Until the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Library Trustees, and the School Committee get together and tell the taxpayers the total cost of the proposed exclusions and water increase, I think it is time to say no on April 2^nd to the library question.

Remember, it was not the tip of the iceberg that sank the Titanic, it was what was not seen.

William V. Brown