My Fellow Portland Property Taxpayers:
The Portland Public Schools Board is now considering adding an additional property tax of $.65 to the $2.00 per thousand dollars of your home's assessed value that is already on the May ballot. This means that an additional property tax on the average Portland home, assessed value $170,600, of $452/year may be coming your way. This also means that renters in Portland can look forward to a $25-$45/month increase.
Judging from my conversations with neighbors and reading the comments in the online Portland Tribune and Oregonian on this issue it is abundantly clear that a significant number if not a majority of Portland property taxpayers OPPOSE these outrageous tax increases.
I have already testified to the PPS board and written to thousands of readers about my opposition to these mind bogglingly insensitive and disrespectful property tax increases (see below). It is time to take action and take to the streets.
If you are as angry as I am then let's work together to do something about it. A public protest march around city hall would be a good start. Are you in?
How many of you would be willing to contribute $450 to this campaign? That's what's it's likely to cost you for years if the PPS tax passes. Think about it. Pay once now or many times latter.
Interested? Email me at stopppstax@goodgrowthnw.org . Just say, "I'm In" as the subject and include your name, mailing address, phone number, how much you pledge to contribute and, if you like, a short message. Tell your friends, relatives and neighbors to contact me too. Use whatever social media you like to spread the word.
If and when we reach critical mass I'll announce our next move. Join in. Take action now so that you won't have to feel the financial pain in years to come. Pay now or pay later. Your choice.
Democracy is NOT a spectator sport.
Richard Ellmyer
Thirty-Five years of political activism. Leader of two successful efforts in 1999-2000 to stop proposed neighborhood destroying outdoor amphitheaters at PIR and the Expo Center.
Former progressive, socially liberal, fiscally conservative candidate for the North Portland House seat in the May 2010 primary. Defeated by establishment Democrat Tina Kotek, who supports the PPS property tax increases as she has every other tax bill in Salem.
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BOYCOTT Property Tax Raisers Nike, Gerdingedlen Developers, Azumano Travel and Hoffman Construction.
Nike, Gerdingedlen Developers, Azumano Travel and Hoffman Construction recently contributed a total of $18,500 to Portlanders For Schools, the group that is spearheading the effort to raise property taxes on Portlanders by about $400 and more per year
Below are just a few arguments in opposition to the outrageous tax increase proposed by the Portland Public Schools board that have been well publicized and on the record testimony. Nike, Gerdingedlen Developers, Azumano Travel and Hoffman Construction executives are invited to respond to all of these objections so that I may publish the results to my readers and other interested parties.
Portland taxpayers that oppose the enormous PPS Property Tax Hike should Boycott Nike, Gerdingedlen Developers, Azumano Travel and Hoffman Construction until their executives satisfactorily support the arguments below in writing and then make a very large contribution to OPPOSE the PPS tax increase.
Economic hardship is already a reality for many Portland taxpayers but obviously not to any of them. It will be made worse if the PPS bond passes. The heaviest burden will fall on the poor not any of them.
Arguments In Opposition
On behalf of 80 Percent Of Portland Voters Who Are NOT Public School Parents and are also Portland Taxpayers I ask that the Portland Public School's Board discuss placing a HUGE NEW PROPERTY TAX INCREASE of 548 Million dollars on next May's ballot that it do the following:
1. As a sign of the PPS Board's fiscal integrity, declare that ALL UNFUNDED LIABILITIES, such as PERS, will immediately and in the future be included in PPS's general budget in a manner that will show the TRUE cost of educating children in the Portland Public Schools.
2. As a sign of the PPS Board's fiscal responsibility, announce that immediately public employee contributions to PERS and any other pension and retirement plans will match those of every self-employed person in the PPS district, namely, 100%.
3. As a sign of the PPS Board's fiscal responsibility, announce that immediately public employee contributions to health care premiums will match those of every self-employed person in the PPS district, namely, 100%.
4. As a sign of the PPS Board's belief in progressive taxation, announce that any future proposed tax increases will NOT apply to PPS district taxpayers whose household adjusted gross income is below $25,000.
Portland Area Among The Cities Hardest Hit By Recession
"Portlanders, it's not your imagination. The recession has hit harder here than just about anywhere else in the world.
Portland plummeted from a pre-recession rank of 45th to 139th during the worst of the recession, one of the steepest declines among metro areas included in the survey. Study author Alan Berube dubbed Portland one of the "housing-bubble metros," places where an over-reliance on the residential real estate industry made it particularly vulnerable when the sector crashed."
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2010/11/portland-area_among_the_worlds.html
Proposing yet another hike in Portland's already highest in Oregon property tax is MADNESS.
First Fire Bureau, Now Portland Public Schools - Both Mismanaged
Randy Leonard, Fire Bureau manager - aided and abetted by the entire Portland city council - FAILED to set aside sufficient public funding for vehicle replacement forcing him to cry "public safety" and do an end run around the city's budget and taxpayers to compensate for his, and their, MANAGEMENT FAILURE with our money.
Superintendent Carole Smith - aided and abetted by the Portland School Board - FAILED to set aside sufficient public funding for building maintenance and replacement forcing her to cry "for the children" and do an end run around the PPS budget and taxpayers to compensate for her, and their, MANAGEMENT FAILURE with our money.
The PPS 2008 facilities assessment "found that almost all of Portland Public Schools’ facilities, on average more than 20 years older than other comparable school districts, are at or near the end of their useful life. Most major building systems require replacement."
So the question arises, What the hell were the PPS board and staff doing during the decades before 2008 with regard to facilities assessment and budgeting for maintenance and long term replacement? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.
Public officials that CHEAT on public budgets and purposely deceive voters and taxpayers do NOT deserve our trust and our money.
Robbing Peter To Pay Paul
PPS is NOT and SHOULD NOT be in the business of creating jobs. Taking more money from overstressed Portland property taxpayers to stimulate the local economy is an outrageous, cynical, irrelevant argument. Carole Smith has been on a generous public payroll too long. She should be planning for MAJOR CUTS in school funding from the 2011 legislature. The legislature is NOT going to raise taxes. There is a lesson here Carole and PPS board need to learn. DON'T RAISE TAXES in a recession on the people who can least afford it.
Richard Ellmyer
North Portland