jim surkamp
01-16-2007, 06:12 PM
(This email is sent from time-to-time from Jim Surkamp and does not represent any formal position of the Jefferson County Commission. If you do not wish to receive this email, please let me know immediately and you will not receive future messages - JS)
Hi again. I hope you're well.
It wasn't always this warm in winter here. The ice was a foot thick on the rivers and farmers a century ago cut out big chunks and stored them in ice houses. Snow fell several times in any given November. Drifts covered fences and riding a horse-drawn sleigh over these drifted fences was routine.
1. SEND ONE EMAIL AND HELP REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING?
The evidence of a global warming is indisputable. We, as West Virginians, could make a big contribution to this challenge by simply emailing our great Senator Robert C. Byrd, now Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and suggesting that he establish a sizeable fund to research and realize ways to have much cleaner coal-fired power plants, or the like. You can guess which state would get the research center.
His power to positively help this issue is unique.
His email is: http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_email.html.
(I've been told letters take a very long time to get to the Capitol because of security screening procedures.
2. COUNTY MINUTES ARE ONLINE AND WORD-SEARCHABLE
All the minutes and agendas of the Jefferson County Commission's meetings starting in January, 2005 are at this link on my web site.
http://www.jimsurkamp.net/pages/Minutes2.htm
Experiment with different Commissioner's names and topics.
This way you can search topics and evaluate the motions, votes, and positions of all Jefferson County Commissioners. (NOTE: Minutes are brief summaries of a meeting, not transcripts. - JS)
Two votes I think are significant.
In spring, 2005 I cast the sole dissenting vote against the Commission's limiting of funding for community programs to just $92,000 - or only eight days of the county's incoming video lottery revenue.
Another vote was my opposition last summer to the Commission's vote to support seeking a $20 million loan for the construction of a sewer plant into the Evitts Run area where there are few houses and even fewer chances of recovering the cost of the plant's costs. My differing position, that I argued on two occasions before the West Virginia Infrastructure Council, along with the cogent arguments by the Town of Charles Town, became the final position of this Infrastructure Council that would otherwise have provided the loan. I was concerned the loan would be a loan the residents could eventually be saddled with, especially with a slowing housing market threatening the viability of such a big project.
3. TAX BILLS
Mine went up. They went up because two homes within three hundred yards of my house sold that are new and big. Did you get a letter and did you have hefty sales of houses near your own your residence?
Having such houses near you in your so-called "neighborhood" affects your taxes. The State Tax Commission and Assessor identify, by strict criteria, over 200 such "neighborhoods" in our county to derive taxes assessments.
To get a sense of how comparable your taxes are with those of other homes in your neighborhood and with the most similar land configurations, size etc. go to http://www.jeffersoncountywv.org; click on "Elected Officials;" click on "Sheriff/Treasurer;" click on "On-Line Tax Inquiry."
Here you can get a sense of taxes paid for comparable properties in your "neighborhood" over the past five years. If you have real reason to believe that features on your property - such as flood plains - are not reflected in the tax bill - if you are positive no sales of houses occurred near your house - if you got a tax bill increase last year and one this year - you may call the County Commission office at 728-3284 and ask about going before the County Commission - acting as the Board of Equalization, or an appeal board. We hear appeals as a quasi-judicial body in early February. You must come with documents and research. You basically have to make a case against the appraisers and their appraisal. I believe they are very good at their job - but I think we might need to hire more appraisers to handle a heavy workload. (NOTE: The County Commission funds the Assessor's budget requests but does not manage the Assessor's Department, since the Assessor is another constitutionally- elected officer. - JS)
I should point out that the County Commission has chosen to not raise the County levying rate for six years running, even though we can. Four of five towns are also taxing at levels well below the level allowed by law.
Our Tax Assessor - with the County Commission cc'd - received a letter dated December 6, 2006 from the Tax Commission pointing out that the Tax Assessor "has had tax deficiencies over the last five years that materially affect value." It goes on to say:
"The Jefferson County Assessor is instructed to immediately conduct and implement a current modifier for residential and commercial property." This means that the Assessor - with the effect of keeping taxes low - has not appraised properties in a manner that reflects the current cost of living and property values in the County.
4. UNCLAIMED PROPERTY WAITING FOR YOU?
a. You can search this West Virginia database for property unclaimed by you:
http://www.wvsto.com/Unclaimed+Property/UPClaimPropertySearch.htm
b. Or nationally:
http://www.missingmoney.com/
5. 2007 HAS SOME GOOD NEWS:
(Something I wrote for The Herald Mail)
"The year 2007 could well be one of the best years for Jefferson County.
The Jefferson County Commission and our 50,000 residents will likely see the results of: 1) three years to complete our state-of-the-art 911 communications center with computer-aided dispatching, thanks to the leadership of our director, Jeff Polczynski; 2) two years of working to renovate the historic old jail in Charles Town into county offices; 3) a one-year study for management consultant Sarah Birnbach to prepare our first comprehensive human resources policy, job definitions, and required performance evaluations -- all woefully lacking now; 4) an indoor swimming pool for the public's benefit from a non-tax fund source; 5) what might be a threefold increase in the amount of not-from-taxes funding to be distributed to legitimate community organizations, such as Shepherdstown's sliding-scale day care center; 6) two years of searching to apply $1 million to buy a much needed new soccer field(s); 7) two years to institute community television channels for emergency notification and government information; 8) implementing what is called a green infrastructure plan with the help of a mapper who uses geo-spatial information techniques (GIS). . . ."
MORE Go to: http://www.jimsurkamp.net/pages/CComments.htm
6. COUNTY AND TOWNS MUST PULLS THEIR OARS TOGETHER:
(Something I wrote for The Shepherdstown Chronicle)
"2007 could be the first of many good years if the governments of the County and five towns pulled all their oars at the same time.
"Annexation and money from the video lottery are misperceived by the towns as solutions when, in fact, better cooperation with the county and closer study of the law and processes is the answer. A town cannot expand its way out of fiscal insufficiency because each new house represents a net cost to taxpayers over the long-term that shows up on the books of the town, the county and the school board. As for the $30 million from the video lottery the county and its towns have gotten since 1999 -- things change . . . ."
MORE Go to: http://www.jimsurkamp.net/pages/CComments.htm
7. CHARLES TOWN'S MOST ACCOMPLISHED NATIVE SON?
(Something I wrote for The Spirit of Jefferson)
"I hope the School Board and its committee consider naming the high school after Charles Town's most accomplished native son - Martin Delany.
"In February, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln, after meeting with Martin Delany, wrote his Secretary of War: "Do not fail to have an interview with this most extraordinary and intelligent black man." Delany was, as a result, appointed to be the first black field officer in the U. S. Army."
MORE - Go to: http://www.jimsurkamp.net/pages/CComments.htm
For hundreds of pages and a photo of Martin Delany go to this web site I created about eight years ago:
http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/delany/home.htm
8. Total video lottery revenue received by both the County and five municipalities over nine years and as of June 30, 2006: over $34 million, roughly the cost of the new high school.
Thanks for living here. Let me know what's bothering you that I can help with.
Your Commissioner
Jim Surkamp
279 4796
Hi again. I hope you're well.
It wasn't always this warm in winter here. The ice was a foot thick on the rivers and farmers a century ago cut out big chunks and stored them in ice houses. Snow fell several times in any given November. Drifts covered fences and riding a horse-drawn sleigh over these drifted fences was routine.
1. SEND ONE EMAIL AND HELP REDUCE GLOBAL WARMING?
The evidence of a global warming is indisputable. We, as West Virginians, could make a big contribution to this challenge by simply emailing our great Senator Robert C. Byrd, now Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and suggesting that he establish a sizeable fund to research and realize ways to have much cleaner coal-fired power plants, or the like. You can guess which state would get the research center.
His power to positively help this issue is unique.
His email is: http://byrd.senate.gov/byrd_email.html.
(I've been told letters take a very long time to get to the Capitol because of security screening procedures.
2. COUNTY MINUTES ARE ONLINE AND WORD-SEARCHABLE
All the minutes and agendas of the Jefferson County Commission's meetings starting in January, 2005 are at this link on my web site.
http://www.jimsurkamp.net/pages/Minutes2.htm
Experiment with different Commissioner's names and topics.
This way you can search topics and evaluate the motions, votes, and positions of all Jefferson County Commissioners. (NOTE: Minutes are brief summaries of a meeting, not transcripts. - JS)
Two votes I think are significant.
In spring, 2005 I cast the sole dissenting vote against the Commission's limiting of funding for community programs to just $92,000 - or only eight days of the county's incoming video lottery revenue.
Another vote was my opposition last summer to the Commission's vote to support seeking a $20 million loan for the construction of a sewer plant into the Evitts Run area where there are few houses and even fewer chances of recovering the cost of the plant's costs. My differing position, that I argued on two occasions before the West Virginia Infrastructure Council, along with the cogent arguments by the Town of Charles Town, became the final position of this Infrastructure Council that would otherwise have provided the loan. I was concerned the loan would be a loan the residents could eventually be saddled with, especially with a slowing housing market threatening the viability of such a big project.
3. TAX BILLS
Mine went up. They went up because two homes within three hundred yards of my house sold that are new and big. Did you get a letter and did you have hefty sales of houses near your own your residence?
Having such houses near you in your so-called "neighborhood" affects your taxes. The State Tax Commission and Assessor identify, by strict criteria, over 200 such "neighborhoods" in our county to derive taxes assessments.
To get a sense of how comparable your taxes are with those of other homes in your neighborhood and with the most similar land configurations, size etc. go to http://www.jeffersoncountywv.org; click on "Elected Officials;" click on "Sheriff/Treasurer;" click on "On-Line Tax Inquiry."
Here you can get a sense of taxes paid for comparable properties in your "neighborhood" over the past five years. If you have real reason to believe that features on your property - such as flood plains - are not reflected in the tax bill - if you are positive no sales of houses occurred near your house - if you got a tax bill increase last year and one this year - you may call the County Commission office at 728-3284 and ask about going before the County Commission - acting as the Board of Equalization, or an appeal board. We hear appeals as a quasi-judicial body in early February. You must come with documents and research. You basically have to make a case against the appraisers and their appraisal. I believe they are very good at their job - but I think we might need to hire more appraisers to handle a heavy workload. (NOTE: The County Commission funds the Assessor's budget requests but does not manage the Assessor's Department, since the Assessor is another constitutionally- elected officer. - JS)
I should point out that the County Commission has chosen to not raise the County levying rate for six years running, even though we can. Four of five towns are also taxing at levels well below the level allowed by law.
Our Tax Assessor - with the County Commission cc'd - received a letter dated December 6, 2006 from the Tax Commission pointing out that the Tax Assessor "has had tax deficiencies over the last five years that materially affect value." It goes on to say:
"The Jefferson County Assessor is instructed to immediately conduct and implement a current modifier for residential and commercial property." This means that the Assessor - with the effect of keeping taxes low - has not appraised properties in a manner that reflects the current cost of living and property values in the County.
4. UNCLAIMED PROPERTY WAITING FOR YOU?
a. You can search this West Virginia database for property unclaimed by you:
http://www.wvsto.com/Unclaimed+Property/UPClaimPropertySearch.htm
b. Or nationally:
http://www.missingmoney.com/
5. 2007 HAS SOME GOOD NEWS:
(Something I wrote for The Herald Mail)
"The year 2007 could well be one of the best years for Jefferson County.
The Jefferson County Commission and our 50,000 residents will likely see the results of: 1) three years to complete our state-of-the-art 911 communications center with computer-aided dispatching, thanks to the leadership of our director, Jeff Polczynski; 2) two years of working to renovate the historic old jail in Charles Town into county offices; 3) a one-year study for management consultant Sarah Birnbach to prepare our first comprehensive human resources policy, job definitions, and required performance evaluations -- all woefully lacking now; 4) an indoor swimming pool for the public's benefit from a non-tax fund source; 5) what might be a threefold increase in the amount of not-from-taxes funding to be distributed to legitimate community organizations, such as Shepherdstown's sliding-scale day care center; 6) two years of searching to apply $1 million to buy a much needed new soccer field(s); 7) two years to institute community television channels for emergency notification and government information; 8) implementing what is called a green infrastructure plan with the help of a mapper who uses geo-spatial information techniques (GIS). . . ."
MORE Go to: http://www.jimsurkamp.net/pages/CComments.htm
6. COUNTY AND TOWNS MUST PULLS THEIR OARS TOGETHER:
(Something I wrote for The Shepherdstown Chronicle)
"2007 could be the first of many good years if the governments of the County and five towns pulled all their oars at the same time.
"Annexation and money from the video lottery are misperceived by the towns as solutions when, in fact, better cooperation with the county and closer study of the law and processes is the answer. A town cannot expand its way out of fiscal insufficiency because each new house represents a net cost to taxpayers over the long-term that shows up on the books of the town, the county and the school board. As for the $30 million from the video lottery the county and its towns have gotten since 1999 -- things change . . . ."
MORE Go to: http://www.jimsurkamp.net/pages/CComments.htm
7. CHARLES TOWN'S MOST ACCOMPLISHED NATIVE SON?
(Something I wrote for The Spirit of Jefferson)
"I hope the School Board and its committee consider naming the high school after Charles Town's most accomplished native son - Martin Delany.
"In February, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln, after meeting with Martin Delany, wrote his Secretary of War: "Do not fail to have an interview with this most extraordinary and intelligent black man." Delany was, as a result, appointed to be the first black field officer in the U. S. Army."
MORE - Go to: http://www.jimsurkamp.net/pages/CComments.htm
For hundreds of pages and a photo of Martin Delany go to this web site I created about eight years ago:
http://www.libraries.wvu.edu/delany/home.htm
8. Total video lottery revenue received by both the County and five municipalities over nine years and as of June 30, 2006: over $34 million, roughly the cost of the new high school.
Thanks for living here. Let me know what's bothering you that I can help with.
Your Commissioner
Jim Surkamp
279 4796