Dysmey Blog Archives > Book sorting, a couch, and property tax
I brought home almost all of my remaining books, and sorted the books in the upper room. I have also lined up my new bookcases along one wall, and arranged the books on them by subject. But I have found that the bookcases were not enough for all my books.
I still have yet to bring here the big white bookcase from my old room. During my one-day vacation I will bring that bookcase here, repaint it, and put in the living room. But, even with that, I may not have enough books. I will have to donate some of the books to the Friends of the Library book sale this coming September.
Speaking of the local Library, I had to stop in last week and sign my approval of the budget … and a letter to the local newspaper advising the town that there will be limited services and no new books until November. Even though the library district is wholly within Grant County, the school district is not, and the county to the south of us has yet to get its act together and get its assessor's data to the State. Without it Fairmount property owners will not get billed for property taxes, nor will local government entities like the library get any money, until November.
I do not intend to get smacked with a hugh property tax bill in November, so I paid my half of my property tax last week, even though I did not have to. But at least Grant County is well off as far as tax increases go; that's the advantage of having a moribund city for a county seat.
The property tax increases are horrible in Delaware county, where I work. The citizens there are up in arms and businesses threaten to move or close down. At least one business, a chain of BP stations, sold off its Muncie stations due to property taxes, and that was before the latest tax increases. The county is considering an income tax, but who would getting taxed? The residents of the county? Obviously. There are a lot of renters in the county, and the county is out to milk them. Anyone who works in the county? If that is what the county intends, can Delaware County legally tax the income of a worker who already pays income tax to the county where the worker lives? (In Indiana a county can tax income of a worker who lives in a county that has no county income tax, although not as much as a resident.)
Really, Muncie has itself to blame for this. The political corruption of the 1980's and 1990's, whose effects were softened by taxes from heavy industries that no longer exist, had saddled Muncie with over-expensive city services. It is these services that Muncie's citizens and businesses are now being asked to pay for in full. Now they will have to pay … either that, or cut services like police, fire, parks and public transport. Either way, it is going to be nasty.
Over the past year or so I had thought about moving to Muncie to take advantage of walking distance to Ball State and easier driving distance to businesses like Marsh and Miller Tire, where I am already a customer. But these do not make up for high taxes; and I know I made the right choice staying in Fairmount.
The lawn looks okay after I mowed it this morning. I decided to just mow and not stop to deal with the weeds. In fact I stopped only to remove obstructions. That shortened my mowing time a half hour, which I spent dealing with the weeds. Speaking of mowing, my sister tried to slip me my old mower this evening, but I caught her as I was walking out the back door. I had no choice but to store the mower until I can deal with it later. While the mower still works, it is rusty from disuse. Mind you, I could try out on the old mower the sharpening gonk I got with the new one to see if the gonk works.
The folks yesterday got me a couch at an auction, as well as a table (an old wooden record-player cabinet, actually) on which Isis can sit and watch the view. The couch is one of those Amish-made pieces of furniture complete with latches to hold the cushions in place. It is a very comfortable couch; and Isis took to it at once. The couch pretty much completes the living room apart from the big bookcase.