During this period of Trump-COVID-U.S. oil cartel-induced runaway inflation it is comforting to see both Mission and Edinburg holding the line on their property tax rate. However, can you imagine how much more our economy would flourish and the extra money the middle class would have to pay their bills and/or invest in our nation if someone would get Hidalgo County Tax Assessor-Collector Mr. Pablo Villarreal to answer one important question: Why do our assessed property values continually increase?
I have owned my home for 22 years. Maintenance cost has increased every year. The roof was replaced recently, adding back $14,000. Did I get a discount for that aged roof before I replaced it? No! The sidewalk to my front door and my driveway has cracked, the brick on one wall has
a crack, there is rot on the eaves. No doubt the pipes are partially clogged. Add in a few drywall cracks and a floor crack or two and I have a home that is worth much less than when I bought it. But, not in your opinion! What reference do you use that indicates lumber and brick, copper wire and pipe, cement and asphalt increase in value with age? I can’t find it.
Mr. Villarreal, what drives this periodic increase in assessed, not real, value? It can’t be lack of available land in a rural county like Hidalgo. What with schools being closed and repurposed for lack of students it can’t be a huge population increase. Could it be that your office is really demand driven by the county, cities and ISDs? That is to say, you meet their demands through higher assessments?
Stop it, Mr. Villarreal. The current policies are unethical, fiction-based, and we can’t sustain them.
Ned Sheats
Mission
Benefits
addressed
Ms. Diane Teter’s Sept. 14 letter to the editor implies I’m opposed to free school lunches for children. All children should always be nurtured and protected at whatever financial cost. This is done by standing up — using our voice to make sure all children, born and unborn, are always heard.
It is worthwhile to make sure we stand up and give the voiceless children safety and protection. They all deserve protection, be it by providing them with all their necessities, be it free lunch, good health and the right to live and flourish.
Healthy adults can always strive to help themselves, by working and using their God-given abilities, like most Americans always do.
My Social Security benefits are based on my continuous years of work from age 16 to 66, nonstop (while they were collecting from my paycheck to pay others who had never paid into it). The same length of time by my husband, without any rewarding benefits whatsoever, made it possible.
No welfare awards for any members of our family, including two children. It taught us that refusing to burden our hardworking brothers and sisters is the best form of love anybody can give their fellowmen and our country.
Imelda Coronado
Mission
