Don Greife, I can't really blame you for being hesitant to invest in a company with 60% of its income in arrears, with no plan in place, no budget and threatening to increase its prices to its consumers.

The property taxes where we live are very high. We voted for an override since we have a cap on increases over 2 1/2%. The town reasses your property to an amount you will never sell for. With the increase in taxes it was to restor services in ouor schools and senior service - instead our town council decided to add new programs, buy the police department ATV's and new SUV's believe me there is no need for this.

Where we vacation at a large lake in NH charges unheard of property taxes if you have water front property we looked at one house for $400,000 and the taxes were $24,000 per yr. They are now trying to implement a "scenic water view tax" so if you live across the street and can see the water you get charged a premium rate also.

My opinion is to just be very careful on this slippery tax slope. I agree with most of the posters that get the arrears in tact before you go after those that are paying because if they are not paying you now they are not going to pay the increase. Who knows if you collect even 60% of the 60% that aren't paying you may not been in as bad shape as you think. Yes I do own property.

There is a big difference between paying $24K in taxes on a valued $400K property and paying $200. You show me any city that can provide the basic infrastructure and police protection with that tax revenue.

We are looking for solutions here. Yes, you can talk about how poorly goverments spend tax dollers and how unfair taxation can be, but IMO, there is no way AC can provide me with the living conditions I and the other residence deserve and must have to make AC the place we all want it to be with the current real estate tax structure.

My opinion is AC needs to stop relying on GOB to solve so many of its problems and find new revenues of its own that the local politicians can keep and use for the problems of AC and be held responsible by the people of AC to do so.

I am willing to pay more in tax and take a chance on the local goverment as opposed to depending on GOB and have AC turn into another Belize City.

PS: yes you can relate running a municipality to running a business. But, for a business to be successful, the first thing it needs, and must have, is proper capitalization. I admit I have not seen the budget or income the Town Council has, and that should be the first step in analizing the situation. But, I will be surprised if and hopefully when, someone with some sense looks at that, that AC can provide the solutions to crime and provide the needed infrastucture to keep pace with development with me paying a few hundred dollars tax on my condo. I will complain like HELL when I am paying too much for what I get, but I will not be in the group that bitches and moans about the problems but is not willing to pay to solve them.

Aggressive collection MUST come first. Tax liens, public notices of past due taxes, freezing bank accounts and finally property auctions to satisfy tax liens are the only ways to force people to pay.

No question our proerty taxes are too low but 40% uncollected taxes is way out of line.

Collect what is due first, increase rates second.

I will gladly pay more for more services but EVERYONE else should pay as well.

The very poor living in very poor housing should pay less simply because they can't pay more even though they utilize services the same amount or more. A tax system will never be "fair". The wealthy will always pay more taxes yet utilize public services less. That's just the way it is in a social society.

One of the problems is, believe it or not, politics. The elected town officials being UDP used the fact that the last goverment was PUP and would not give them what they deserved. Well now both local and national are UDP. I bet AC will still not get what is needed from GOB because GOB is broke.
So are the local politicians, wanting to be re-elected, going to go to the voters and say - "we are going to force you to pay your back taxes - even though if we collect those, it is only a drop in the bucket, so we are going to increase your taxes also".

If the solutions are going to be found, it requires all of us to be willing to pay what is needed. It will require the voters to demand of the politicians to do what is needed and tax us if necessary. Good luck. It probably won't happen. Especially if people here keep finding reasons why they should not pay more than a few hundred dollars on property worth hundreds of thousands.

It would be much more helpfull to discuss how we can find the needed revenues, and it is undeniable that more money is needed, than to talk about why we should not using reasons like a relitively small amount of back taxes are not collected. Yes, 40% is alarming. But 40% of what? If that 40% amounts to very little of what is really needed, do you expect the policticians to go after it? That is not the answer.

40% of what is a good question. How do you know that is a small amount if it is not published by public notice?

"It would be much more helpfull to discuss how we can find the needed revenues, and it is undeniable that more money is needed, than to talk about why we should not using reasons like a relitively small amount of back taxes are not collected. Yes, 40% is alarming. But 40% of what? If that 40% amounts to very little of what is really needed, do you expect the policticians to go after it? That is not the answer."

What is the answer?

It would be hard for me to go to a SanPedrano and say "I pay $200 in taxes on my half a million dollar condo and you are not paying your $10 in taxes on your $25K house. You are the problem".

I think I, and people like me, are the problem more than the guy not paying his pennies in back taxes, and are the solution. First in setting the example and mood that we are willing to pay what is needed and then addressing issues like collecting from the guy who probably can't afford it.

It will take a united community to force the politicians to do what is needed and a "rich gringo" paying what he pays in taxes telling a poor San Pedrano he needs to pay more will not unite. I am not one of those saying that.

Warren you and I are on the same page here for a nice change but again how do you know the back taxes owed are "pennies". I bet 40% of all taxes owed is more than you think. I bet that 40% uncollected would be enough to hire several "local" police and pay their salaries for a year maybe more.

A public accounting of overdue taxes would answer that question.

How do you know that only the very poor are the ones not paying? What if some of these "back taxes" are owed by people like us that own there, can pay but just don't. I met a local bar/rest. owner last week who said he didn't pay his taxes because the guy he bought from didn't pay so he had to pay the back taxes at sell. He said the next guy who buys from him will just have to do the same.

I don't think a public notice of unpaid taxes will divide the community. And I also don't think there are enough "rich gringos" to pay for all the needed services for the island.

OK, I will agree with you on some of this for a change. You are right, I do not know how much extra there could be if all taxes were paid. I am only assuming that if I pay what I pay for my condo in taxes, the total tax role is not sufficient to meet the needs. And, before I come across as someone who comes here, pays for real estate that drives prices up where locals cannot afford to buy, and then complains that some of them are not paying their fair share when what I pay is 1 to 2% of what I would pay for like property in my own country, I prefer to look in the mirror and like what I see before I look to my neighbors.

Just think how this conversation would come across to a local reading it. Makes it pretty easy to see why "gringo" can have a negative connotation and where the term "ugly American" comes from.

Irregardless of what others pay or don't pay, I cannot in good faith be critical based on what I pay. I am not saying I have the answers. That is up to those that vote and those they vote into office. But, I will be surprised if an answer is ever found and it turns out I am not part of the problem based on my existing contribution by way of real estate tax. It is going to take a unified community willing to pay what needs to be paid to solve the problems. Not a community that looks to their neighbors to pay for what is needed.

AC has looked far too long for all of its needs to be paid for thru taxes on tourists or for sufficient funds to be returned by the GOB. It will kill tourism and leave AC having to invest and pay for the needs it did not do when it should have.

I've been watching and paying annually property taxes in San Pedro since 1986 on several different pieces of property.I have personal experience subdividing and reselling.
I've noticed;
Property taxes are outrageously cheap.
The Town Board does a extremely poor job of accounting and managing the collection of the tax.(no matter which party is in power)
IMHO
A professional accounting and management co. would solve the problem, The skills necessary to do a proper job can't be found by appointing people to be in charge from the population of the village.
The system of notifying the Town Board that the subdivision of large parcels of property has taken place is faulty. Taxes are said to be unpaid on tracts that no longer exist because they are no longer coconut plantations but multi million dollar subdivisions. Hearing that lots of unpaid taxes is the problem makes me feel even worse about the poor management , the revenue lost from having an old system taxing properties for what they where ten years ago does not compare with late payments.