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I am writing to express my position that you should not raise property taxes this year and in fact, I would propose that you should reduce the amount of taxes that we are currently paying. I do not know of any of your own personal situations or experiences during the ongoing recession, but I would like to briefly share mine with you.

I have a total of five people that are very close to me that have lost their jobs during the last two plus years; four of them live in Loudoun County, two of those were out of work for 9 months, one for two plus months and one for two years and running. Where I am employed, our staff has been reduced by 25% and we have had no raises for three years and a 12% wage cut last year. I also know of many others in worse situations. During this same time period; heating oil has gone from $1.78 to $3.89 per gallon, regular gas is close to $4.00 and food prices are soaring, just to mention a few. My point is, as you know, we are living in very difficult times.

I read some comments made by a couple members of the Board saying that the increase you are considering “would only raise the average tax bill by $20 a month.” That is an additional $240 per year on the average household. In this economic climate and in the face of what is already happening to many of our neighbors, this should be unthinkable.

Loudoun County already has the highest taxes in the region, even higher than Fairfax County to our east. We used to see bumper stickers that said “Don’t Fairfax Loudoun” now it is the other way around.

Thank you for taking the time to read this e-mail.

Sincerely,
Geary Higgins
Waterford, Virginia