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Sherri McGuire, host of the gathering, said, "We’re taking a stand. We cannot live with the proposed costs of owning property in Pulaski County. So many of us have lived here for a long time; we’re not intimidated by developers and others that want to buy our farms and lake lands. If you can even see the lake, your property is being assessed at a very high level.”

Laura Walter, a Claytor Lake resident, presented slide-projections of raw data about some aspects of real-estate evaluations and associated information. One point of interest was that there had been a 40 percent drop in sales in the last year in Pulaski County.  

A county resident reminded the group that the US Government had just released their consensus that stated, on average, real-estate in the USA has dropped in value by about 20 percent in the last year.

One attendee said that developers were wanting the large tracts of farm lands, so that their infrastructure costs could be

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The grass-roots group hopes to expand the county residents’ involvement in the quest to attain reasonable real-estate taxes. 

Numerous concerns were raised about the recent appraisals of their properties. Some said that the Claytor Lake area was the most appreciated in value, while one county resident stated that not only did his Claytor Lake property increase in evaluation, but his farmland had also increased by 400 percent. 

Richard LaBire stated that he was concerned for local residents that were on fixed incomes. He cited an example of a man that had lived at Claytor Lake for most of his life, but feared having to move, due to his income/taxation ratio.

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“We’re working for them," said Sherrill VanDyke. "Our Board of Supervisors is not listening to us; they’re supposed to be working for us. They need to cut their budget. Should we ask them to resign?"

The group concurred that they would advertise, gather more members, and be very pro-active in fighting for their concerns. Another group-meeting is being planned for early December.

When asked if they had named their group, Sherri McGuire said, “We haven’t thought about that. We’re starting with our petition, and gathering more data from the county. We have to attend the Board’s December meeting. We need to change things before the February decision. Appeals can be made through March, but we want the increases to be moderated now.”

EverythingNRV.com will update information about the ongoing efforts, as soon as it is available.

Comments (1)

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Take A Stand; Pulaski Co.
written by Pulaski Neighborhood Fan, November 19, 2008

It's good to see that folks will work together for the good of all. All citizens and their governments have needs and wants. The moderation of expenditures and balancing those with monies collected is a must. Property owners should not be burdened to the point of desperation. Sales tax revenues, State and Federal grants, and other sources are significant. Perhaps a higher, local sales tax, which would spread the intake-base, including monies from tourists, and another look at budget priorities is relevant? (I realize the antiquated 'Dillon' rule exists, prohibiting certain preferences of locales). It's just great to experience activism. Nice folks!

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