The Bad News Report

[southslider]

^Earnings taxes are used more in older cities, or those with low-growth or even declining populations. If Charlotte wants to tax commuters, go after their cars, not their earnings.  Higher parking and commuting costs also help manage congestion. 

[tozmervo]

10 hours ago, southslider said:

The combined tax rate likely will go down quite a bit, but not revenue neutral. One does have to pay for the Cross Charlotte Trail and other newly discovered expenses.

Of course, waiting eight years for a revaluation did create more of a shocker. But instead of slashing that interval in half, I like states that allow actual sales to automatically update valuations.  Talk about fair market value.

Unless I'm mistaken, the XCLT cost debacle is entirely on the city's segments. I'm not sure it's on the county to step in to save the day.

[tozmervo]

[kermit]

^ ahh to live in the leafy burbs....

[Guest]

*SIGHS*  I knew Belmont was going to explode. I know taxes were going to increase. I was mostly at peace with that.... BUT 400% on the lot!

Call me naive, I feel the city definitely needs a tax boost. I just don't want the taxes to outright double.

[kermit]

^ yeah, Belmont is seriously brutal. I feel for any long-term owner occupiers over there.

Their new valuation on a house near Scaleybark was nearly double the old, but the new value is within 10% of my contracted selling price. While they certainly suck, I think the numbers do a decent job of reflecting market value this year. 

Edited January 25, 2019 by kermit

[SgtCampsalot]

Question as a new homeowner:

How does tax re-evaluation increase affect something like getting a home equity loan? And what's the difference between a tax value and market value with an equity loan?

[Dale]

1 hour ago, kermit said:

^ ahh to live in the leafy burbs....

Ah well, my taxes are no small chunk.  On the other hand, for my readiness to drive an extra 15 minutes, I  pay half for my house than I’d pay for a similar (even smaller, inferior house) closer in. So, yes, m’uh leafy suburbs.

[Bruco72]

I'd love to complain, but honestly, based on the sales I've seen in my neighborhood, my valuation is pretty spot on. 

[videtur quam contuor]

 

53 minutes ago, SgtCampsalot said:

Question as a new homeowner:

How does tax re-evaluation increase affect something like getting a home equity loan? And what's the difference between a tax value and market value with an equity loan?

When I had HELOC applications the institution hired a professional appraisal that included homes sold within one-half mile and within six months. This could be fudged in distance and time if sufficient comparable sales were not available. Tax value was not involved as I recall, only arm's length sales. The value thus derived became the basis of the loan with a percentage of appraised amount available to be advanced. I had to pay for this appraisal. For the first one they offered a list of approved appraisers and I could choose one if I was so informed, which I did since I knew one of the men on the list. The second time this practice was no longer available due to the possibility of contamination of value. Also the Great Recession.

Professional appraisers  and their employers are aware that tax values are not specific to a single property in the same way detailed appraisals are. 

[southslider]

23 hours ago, tozmervo said:

Unless I'm mistaken, the XCLT cost debacle is entirely on the city's segments. I'm not sure it's on the county to step in to save the day.

The City will be setting their tax rate with expanded obligations, like XCLT, in mind.

[tozmervo]

On 1/25/2019 at 12:11 PM, Bruco72 said:

I'd love to complain, but honestly, based on the sales I've seen in my neighborhood, my valuation is pretty spot on. 

Same. I think based on how I would list my home the evaluation is really accurate.

[videtur quam contuor]

The appeals information says a claim based on values "SUBSTANTIALLY" different. How much is SUBSTANTIALLY? 5%? 10%? Whatever percentage one theorizes I doubt i would be able to meet this bar of substantial difference from comparables. 

[Sigma]

On 1/26/2019 at 3:21 PM, tarhoosier said:

The appeals information says a claim based on values "SUBSTANTIALLY" different. How much is SUBSTANTIALLY? 5%? 10%? Whatever percentage one theorizes I doubt i would be able to meet this bar of substantial difference from comparables. 

Here's how I would approach it; can you sell your house for what the new assessed value is?  If the answer is yes, the valuation is accurate.  If you can get close to that, I wouldn't bother appealing. If selling your property for that amount is a pipe dream, you may have a reasonable appeal.  If you think you can sell your property for more, you got lucky.

[rancenc]

Layoffs at Charlotte-Douglas Airport announced

http://www.ncbiznews.com/sodexo-lays-off-69-workers-at-charlotte-douglas-international-airport/

[navigator319]

38 minutes ago, rancenc said:

Layoffs at Charlotte-Douglas Airport announced

http://www.ncbiznews.com/sodexo-lays-off-69-workers-at-charlotte-douglas-international-airport/

This is an AA decision in changing the contractor for their AA Admirals club, nothing to do with CLT operations.  Personal this is good news as it's AA upgrading its club experience.  

[CLT2014]

After an improvement in our homicide rate in 2018.... 2019 is not looking good. Unless this rest of the year is dramatically less violent, we could crack 100 homicides and make the top 10 most violent US cities list in the national news. Been a VERY violent year of tragic shootings and Charlotte is at 22 homicides in city limits so far. We are currently tracking at 12th most violent in the country with a homicide rate just below Detroit and Cleveland, but just above Miami. 

To put things in perspective, the entire city of Los Angeles has the same count of 22 homicides as Charlotte so far (4 million people vs. 860k people) and Chicago's homicide rate this year is a good amount better than ours (2.1 / 100k in CLT vs 1.4 / 100k in Chicago). 

Also.... related to national perception.... 2020 is our year in the national spotlight. If we break the top 10 in homicide rates in  2019, I wouldn't be surprised to get references to fighting crime, public safety, and the need for better crime fighting with Charlotte as an example from the commander in chief during the RNC. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by CLT2014

[lancer22]

17 minutes ago, CLT2014 said:

After an improvement in our homicide rate in 2018.... 2019 is not looking good. Unless this rest of the year is dramatically less violent, we could crack 100 homicides and make the top 10 most violent US cities list in the national news. Been a VERY violent year of tragic shootings and Charlotte is at 22 homicides in city limits so far. We are currently tracking at 12th most violent in the country with a homicide rate just below Detroit and Cleveland, but just above Miami. 

To put things in perspective, the entire city of Los Angeles has the same count of 22 homicides as Charlotte so far (4 million people vs. 860k people) and Chicago's homicide rate this year is a good amount better than ours (2.1 / 100k in CLT vs 1.4 / 100k in Chicago). 

Also.... related to national perception.... 2020 is our year in the national spotlight. If we break the top 10 in homicide rates in  2019, I wouldn't be surprised to get references to fighting crime, public safety, and the need for better crime fighting with Charlotte as an example from the commander in chief during the RNC. 

On the other hand we are running on a small sample size. Any idea where the killings have been. Any particular major shooting spree?

 

[Matthew.Brendan]

CMPD is tragically understaffed. How do we fix that?

 

[videtur quam contuor]

from Governing, here is a roster of reporting cities and officers/10k citizens. Charlotte looks similar to Jacksonville, Indianapolis and Nashville which are also county wide departments ( think).

http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/police-officers-per-capita-rates-employment-for-city-departments.html

[CLT2014]

11 minutes ago, lancer22 said:

On the other hand we are running on a small sample size. Any idea where the killings have been. Any particular major shooting spree?

 

Here's the homicide map so far: https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article226749064.html

The first two months of the year as a small sample for sure. Just notable because it isn't even the end of February and we've reach 40% of all of last year's homicides. Things could very well reverse and March and April for example end up being some of the lowest homicide levels for those months in a while and all of a sudden things even out. 

[j-man]

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2019/02/25/google-considered-but-passed-on-site-in-charlotte.html

[Dandy Chiggens]

Not really surprising.  Charlotte has some very 'progressive' City Council  members views police as domestic terrorists so I am not surprised they are understaffed, underfunded, and probably have low morale.  

Edited February 25, 2019 by Dandy Chiggens

[kermit]

1 hour ago, Dandy Chiggens said:

Not really surprising.  Charlotte has some very 'progressive' City Council  members views police as domestic terrorists so I am not surprised they are understaffed, underfunded, and probably have low morale.  

Three posts up is a link that indicates CMPD is not understaffed.

IIRC CMPD officers received a 6.5% raise last year.

A quick look at Glassdoor suggest that officers are generally satisfied with pay and sound generally positive about the department.

Sounds like you have a political axe to grind....

[Dandy Chiggens]

24 minutes ago, kermit said:

Three posts up is a link that indicates CMPD is not understaffed.

IIRC CMPD officers received a 6.5% raise last year.

A quick look at Glassdoor suggest that officers are generally satisfied with pay and sound generally positive about the department.

Sounds like you have a political axe to grind....

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/9-investigates/9-investigates-cmpd-officers-take-on-secondary-jobs-because-of-low-pay/820608763

I'm sorry but lol @ using Glassdoor as a source.   Also one pay raise cant instantly fix low morale and burned out officers.  After the riots here a few years ago I cant blame an officer if he/she wants to take a more passive approach to doing their job.   Law Enforcement did less policing in Baltimore for the same reasons and the murder rate exploded.  

 

Mark Michalec, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said that while many officers like having the option of a secondary employer, some have to work extra because of low pay at CMPD.

“We are being overworked,” Michalec said. “We need to get more officers in here, better pay, better benefits.”

 

I dont have any kind of political axe to grind.  Its not my fault most of the demonizing of police and military generally comes from one side of the aisle.    Have you ever gone to war or worked a shift in a high crime area and then read the news and see your profession demonized?

Edited February 25, 2019 by Dandy Chiggens