Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Sunday, April 27, 2008

Marc Wehrs: Assessments spark online talk of tax revolt

By Marc Wehrs | La Crosse Tribune

One of the Tribune’s most-read stories of the past week also sparked an unusual unanimity among those who left comments on our Web site. But then again, who really likes to pay taxes?

The story of a 60-year-old North Side homeowner whose $8,000 in improvements netted her a $17,700 assessment increase started a wave of comments decrying increasing property taxes.

Here are some of the comments visitors at www.lacrossetribune.com attached to that story, which pointed out that assessment increases outpaced decreases by a 3.5-to-1 ratio in a slower housing market:

bigfoot wrote: “(L)iving in a smaller town isn’t any better. Water and sewer rates, fire protection and general utilities are awful, not to mention property taxes. My 110-year-old house was re-evaluated six years ago and jacked up 48 percent. ...”

HonestAbe wrote: “Just don’t make improvements ... let your house run into the ground so you can then afford it. The city should have to come up with a buyer at the assessed value; otherwise, how can they prove it’s not a fake dollar value?”

daddylonglegs wrote: “Don’t worry. With $7 gasoline around the corner, food shortages (already happening), increased unemployment, fewer and fewer will have the means to pay property taxes, let alone basic necessities of life. What will local/state governments do then?”

HIMSELF wrote: “That question has already been answered. They’ll come a knocking with the Bearcat and/or burn your house down.”

dbl lung wrote: “Too many TIFs equal high taxes, people.”

mike wrote: “It makes no sense to tax people out of their homes. La Crosse needs to figure out a way to get property owners some tax relief, or the tax base will continue to shrink and the inventory of homes for sale will continue to go up. The high taxes have nothing to do with Republicans or Democrats. It has to do with poor fiscal management in the city. Nothing will change until that is addressed.”

WDJS wrote: “Assessors: You know how many houses in La Crosse are selling under fair market value and some even under assessed value after many months on the market. What does that tell you?”

Krusty wrote: “Don’t forget that the ‘storm water’ tax is just around the corner.”

Packers’ fans don’t like the idea of Daunte

Before the comments degenerated into schoolyard taunts from childish Packers fans and equally childish Vikings fans, visitors at www.lacrossetribune.com made it clear they were pretty sure the idea of former Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper in the Green and Gold was a bad one. Here’s a sample:

Moderate Republican wrote: “As if seeing the price at the pump didn’t ruin my day. Brett, come back ...”

Eddie wrote: “Culpepper went to the Pro Bowl only because he could just throw the ball up to Randy Moss, who would usually come down with it. When it comes to reading defenses and checking down, however, Culpepper is clueless. ...”

Truth wrote: “What a slap in the face to Packer fans ... just when I was starting to come around with Ted.”

free_speech wrote: “Backup? He would be starting in a month. Bring him in!”

whipthehorse wrote: “Especially when Rodgers gets knocked out of the first game getting pummeled by Jared Allen.”

Sale of Star Hill starts debate anew

A report about two groups advocating strict separation of church and state trying to buy village of Holmen land that has a cross on it drew more comments than anything else at www.lacrossetribune.com last week. Here are a couple of them:

billorights wrote: “There can be no freedom OF religion unless there is freedom FROM religion. If you are mainline Protestant, you want to be free FROM the beliefs of fundamentalist Protestants. If you are Catholic, you want to be free FROM having to practice Protestant beliefs. If you are Jewish, you want to be free FROM Christian beliefs. If you are a non-theist, you want to be free FROM others’ religious beliefs. What many of the people posting here are saying is that, since they claim they are in the majority, they want to be free to impose their religion on everyone who sees the night time sky in Holmen. Would they also want the village to require all business to close on Sunday?”

KRKIKA wrote: “billorights, YOU’RE missing the point. The residents of Holmen (I should say the majority of us) are fine with the star/cross/flag on the hill and personally I can’t imagine Holmen without it, but because ONE person is offended the whole village should suffer? Does that make any sense? Is that fair to the rest of us? NO! These symbols are part of the community and have been there for many, many years. This ONE man needs focus on something else, move or GET OVER IT! ...”

andy k wrote: “Witness the examples of Christian love and charity here on this blog. Love thy neighbor.”

i>You may reach Tribune online editor Marc Wehrs at mwehrs@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8218.