[wehatetoquitit]

I agree, the CA way is not the way to go we are heavely taxed. I am only suggesting that CA long ago faced the issue of escalating RE taxes and fixed income home owners. The issue forced the City goverments to be more accountable for the dollars they collected. By reducing the ability to raise RE taxes any time someone on the board of supervisors (in NH case- selectmen) decieded that some project was needed, the expenditure had to be justified. In additions, other methods of raising fund were implemented, such as higher development fees for developers, sewer and water hookup fees, etc.. Therefore, only those applying for the additions paid the fees. In addition, any improvements needed by the local jurisdictions which were outside of their budget needed to be approved by the voters, such as bond measures for education, sewer treatment facilites, and so forth. I as a voter actually have a say in how my local money is spent by allowing the city gov. to "add" a special assessment to my tax rate.