The home owners association in my neighborhood is trying to improve the appearance of the neighborhood I live in by getting taxes levied so that the city can build a nice brick fence around the neighborhood and make it look much, much nicer.  I’m actually all for it.  It’ll cost $385.00 more a year in taxes, but that’s a mostly good thing.  You see my neighborhood is older, its almost forty years old and it needs some gentrification pretty badly.  There’s very little about its older state that would draw people in other than low cost housing.  That is, in fact, what drew us into the neighborhood.  The Denver metroplex is very expensive and I haven’t got the money to live in the high-priced parts of Denver proper.  This house works just fine for me and my family.

The community is pretty split on this fence issue because the rise in taxes means some older folks on fixed incomes would suddenly find their homes going up in value (potentially) and their taxes going up.  The folks who want their properties to go up or maintain value want the fence, and those who want to keep their taxes low just want to leave things ‘as is’. One problem is that there has been a propaganda war going on and I got a flier this last weekend stating that “Property taxes will go up an average of $385 per year for 20 years.”  This is blatantly false.  The accurate statement would be that your property taxes will go up by $385.00 until the fence is paid off in 20 years.

Propaganda is nasty, its is like marketing from the devil :)  If you find yourself with an issue that impacts your finances and involves a community like this make sure that you fairly represent the scenario, it will be good for you, it will be good for the community, and it will allow you to be honest no matter which side you’re on.