US Cities May Have To Be Bulldozed In Order To Survive

[Sweet Willy]

Bullshit. What exactly do you suppose Flint or any city can use 1,000's of delapidated houses for? Crack refuges?

It matters not one bit what was spent on utilities in the development. They are costing the cities money now. The properties have been abandonned. No one has asked you or anyone else to pay for any of this. No one asked anyone to abandon property either, leaving the city to foot the bill for upkeep. If your property isn't worth while for you to pay the taxes needed to keep it up, why on earth would it be economically sound for a local government to keep it up? They have no use for your abandonned property either.

Sounds to me like Flint and Youngstown are doing what they need to do to survive. You're going on about someone else's problem, a problem no one has asked you to solve. You simply read that the Government has refered Mr. Kildee to these towns and immediately make a bunch of idiotic assumptions.

As far as being involved, I have been an engineer for 20+ years. I know all to well what goes into planning development. I also know what it cost to maintain it. If it sits around empty and abandonned for years, it's a loser, for everyone.

 

[RodISHI]

When cities become private property owners of such property it is obvious that the private property owners could not keep up with the expense of owning these properties.

This house is selling for much less than the taxes for one year are owed on it. It belongs to the city of Flint, Michigan. They gain the house through the tax levy on it. What you are saying is it is better to keep taxing the shit out of the poor and then make excuses why the poor are always needing government assistance. You can't charge eight to ten dollar an hour employees expenses and taxes every year more than what they make and expect them to live in a decent manner. "By God don't give the poor a real chance at owning a home free and clear. We want our money and we'll inflate whatever the hell we want to get it!"

The basic reason to raze these houses is to keep the tax rates high. There is no value to a house that will not sell when you have stated you will not take a lesser bid than XXXX amount.

Property Tax Information

Since the passage of Proposal "A" in 1994, several legislative changes have occurred affecting property tax bills. The Attorney General's Opinion #6911 of 1996 declared the Value Change Multiplier to be unconstitutional, and Public Act 476 of 1996 (HB 5359) made technical amendments to the General Property Tax Act. It should be noted that the statutory requirement for assessments, before and after County and State Equalization is still fifty percent of True Cash Value, and that the Constitution still requires that assessments NOT exceed fifty percent of True Cash Value, before and after County and State Equalization. After County and State Equalization, assessments as equalized become the Taxable Value (Property Tax Base) for every parcel of property subject to the General Property Tax Act that has a Transfer of Ownership in the prior year.

EXAMPLE: Assume the Taxable Value of your principal residence property is $50,000 and the millage rate is 38.9759 mills. Your tax bill would be calculated as follows:

$50,000 x .0389759 = $1,948.80
plus 1% + 19.49
Total Taxes = $1968.29

 

[Sweet Willy]

Bring on the bulldozers.

As much as 40% of these cities is uninhabited. There is no reason or logic to keep that many empty houses around. No reason for the city to own that many houses. No jobs or industry for anyone to come live in that house. The jobs are gone, they are not coming back. These cities will never be the size they once were. Never. In fact, they will continue to shrink. Has to be dealth with.

 

[RodISHI]

Are you saying if people do not have a factory to work at that can't have a home to live in?