Let Them Eat Pizza

When Marie Antoinette told the French people, "Let them eat cake,'' the Revolution began.

But not so in apathetic Zionsville.

When asked how much the $42 million November referendum tax will cost Zionsville taxpayers, the school superintendent Scott Robison quipped:

"About the same price as a piece of pizza a day.''

At $5,850,000 a year for 7 years, make mine double sausage, double cheese please.

Where is the public outcry that will cost Zionsville property owners millions to pay off the School Board's humongous boondoggle of a new sports complex, new football stadium? All that and a multi-million dollar school sitting vacant.

The famous line from the school's financial guru Mike Shafer was that the empty school is being held in "strategic reserve.''

Are we in Kansas yet Toto?

And if residential property owners are not concerned yet, Main Street should be doubly worried because it will shoulder the greater weight of the referendum tax than a residential property of equal value.

Commercial properties, unlike residential ones, are not eligible for deductions for mortgages and homestead exemptions which add up, meaning that Zionsville businesses will have to cough-up almost three times that of the residential properties.

In a letter to the editor in this week's Zionsville Times-Sentinel, Peter Heles of Zionsville writes:
``There are approximately 50 parcels of commercial real estate on Main Street. The average gross assessed value of these properties is $485,000 based on the March 1, 2009 assessment. That means, on average, a commercial property owner on Main Street will pay an additional $10,015 for the seven year referendum tax.''

Heles is worried, as all Zionsville should be, that as hard as shopkeepers are trying to survive in the economic downturn, and in addition to increases in property taxes owing to the reassessments of the past few years, this new tax could cause some to shut their doors.

Pass the pizza.

Slick Ads, Slick Talk...Higher Taxes

Remember 2007 when an upstart quartet ran for the Zionsville Town Council?

Remember those slick mailers that arrived in your mailboxes promising change?

Under that mantra, Matt Price, Michelle Barrett, Tim Haak and Mark Plassman promised `"our property taxes will go down.''

One of Price's mailings stated, `"Zionsville taxpayers don't have a say in many of the decisions that affect our school district - and our tax bill. On the council, Matt will take a proactive approach to controlling growth, giving us a voice in the decisions that affect our schools and our wallets.'' That sentiment was also echoed in the Times Sentinel's Candidate questionnaire.

Well folks, 60-80 percent of your Zionsville tax bill goes to the Zionsville Community School district. (Check out your property taxes here.)

And yes, the Town Council has no control over school spending.

But, with a referendum looming in November for the school district to increase taxes 29.5 cents on each $100 of assessed value, where is the Town Council? Not a peep, nary a discouraging word, na da about what could be a whopping extra $1,000 in taxes on a home valued at $300,000.

One would think that the Price administration would take a stand on the referendum if it were really concerned about taxes as they appeared to be in 2007. Could it be that the schools are fodder for the development industry, which dumped thousands of dollars into the campaigns of Price et al? Don't bite the hand that fed us. After all, there are empty schools to fill up.

It's a given that good schools attract people. Zionsville's schools are among the best in the state, so folks with children keep coming, new homes and multi-family housing go up, and who bears the burden? Look in the mirror.

And, where is the Price administration as Zionsville's school debt approaches $240 million? His council is focusing on major issues - $50,000 for a new town logo; $30,000 for a new town website; $20,000 for an annual report, and it goes on and on. And, don't forget the weeds on Main Street.

One would think that the more affluent Zionsville residents have money trees in those spacious well-groomed yards. There seems of be an apathy about the referendum, except for those backing the school referendum - the school administration's controlled lackies and its well-oiled propaganda machine.

Don't say that Zionsville Confidential didn't sound the warning bell when the tax bill rolls around and you wonder where the money went.