the truth on multiple homesteads

We catch people with multiple homesteads almost daily. We once compiled a list of over 40 cases in one week. When we find them we turn them over to the county and they finish the investigation because in some cases they may be justified. In most cases they are not! So despite what you may read OTOB, this is something we deal with on a daily basis and have been actively searching for and eliminating them since Building, Code and Zoning were combined. I have no doubt that there are easily a thousand people getting away with this in Hammond alone and when you add that up it could be costing us millions.

for the record. i know folks at the other board are trying to make a rediculous claim about daves home. they are wrong. dave purchased his home, and like most people he has a mortgage. just so happens the mortgage holder is also the former homewoner. that seems to be a concept to difficult for some of those idiots to grasp. but its all very kosher.

but i agree. the projects that voter speak of.....this is what makes code enforcement an invaluable resource for the city imo

I can't get real excited about this issue because I don't feel there should be a homestead deduction anyway. That said I also do not think so many expenses should be assessed to property owners.

We should all pay the same amount and we should only pay what is actually needed to run necessary services. If you want to build stupid statues & stuff seek private donations.

Well, I have a question. And you all know my situation. I quit-deeded my home to a relative, because I was denied medical in Indiana. Their loss.

Meanwhile the new home the relative bought and planned to live in, had to rent out. The taxes are evil. I thought with the cap, a house woth $100,000 without exemptions, could expect to pay no more than 3% of its value. Whether you are a home-dweller, or renting out because of neccessity, how do they arrive at $3,000.00 per year for taxes in an otherwise, run-down neighborhood, while adding rooms, making it fit nicely next to the senior citizen's place, and get penalized even MORE after turning it from no bedrooms to a full size house, with 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, etc.

To try and break even after taxes, leaves no money for for more landscaping, etc.

So, for improving a home that was and should have been demolished, you get penalized by taxes that are so outrageous, that it is impossible to improve any other house and care about it. It diminishes "HOPE".

The little calls you get that the faucet is leaking underneath, took a hand to twist it tighter. How stupid are they? I've rented for years and years, never bothered my landlords for anything I couldn't fix myself.

I just wonder why the taxes are so unfair in Hammond. How can you make money or even break even on rentals, when you get penalized for being a landlord living in Hammond, and you upgrade what should have been demolished in the first place, yet..you get socked.

Property taxes are unfairly accessed. And that is the truth.

It makes it so you think twice about buying and fixing it up, if even by accident...which means it wasn't your intention, you meant to live there, but family priorities do change.

Meanwhile, next door to where you live, the responsible owners up and left. I know where they moved. The backyard was ten feet tall, concealed by a private fence. Front porch hasn't been fixed in 5 yrs. They supposedly bought another house, but last I heard, they were going through divorce, and losing both homes. So, I'm stuck fixing the house next door. What's going on? I loved her dearly, hated him. He was lazy...she is incredible, never wanted to hurt her, but what does it take for her hubby who specializes in construction to get his crap together and either sell or rent, and fix the damn porch?

It took a neighbor to tell me they vacated, they are going through foreclosure, and after I sent Voter 3 the address, suddenly, hubby is living there.

Fine, but, fix the damn porch, get rid of the junky boat that has been sitting there since 2004, and notify the city whether you abandoned the place or not. I will not improve anymore until I know what is going on next door. Other than putting gutters up in front and back, and continue to pull my weeds.

Oh, I'll be back, I'm under contract right now for three years with a mortgage agency, but I'll be back. I just want to know if they are claiming 2 homestead acts, and if they really abandoned the home.

Just to reinforce my statement, in a beautiful subdivision, in a quaint town, a house worth $300,000, my brother pays $6,000.00 per year in property taxes.

My son and I are paying half of that on a house worth well, less than $50,000. And you wonder why people can't keep up with their properties?

Even where I now reside, because of a blessed job, I talked it over with my bro and sis, we would be better off in a mobile home, traveling and NOT paying any property taxes. They added up the figures: with all combined, when the mortgage is paid off, the property taxes, the full cost of the home is well over $800,000.00.

Think about it...maybe a mobile home, seeing the world, and not paying property taxes is the solution

Which is why our country is going to "hell". In a hand-basket.

Can't count on your casinos, so start planning for your future without the gov't supporting you as politicians, and here's something noteworthy of reading, and I recommend the council to read this, and discuss it with the mayor, if they would seriously be involved in reigning in costs:

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/heraldnews/news/1806465,4_1_JO05_INSURANCEBIDS_S1-091005.article


JOLIET -- The city plans to hire its first new health insurance broker since 1992 and expects to cuts its cost for the services in half.

This is the first year the city has sought competing proposals for brokerage and consulting services since the local John Manner Insurance Agency took over those services.
» Click to enlarge image
Joliet plans to hire its first new health insurance broker since 1992 and expects to cuts its cost for the services in half. City Manager Thomas Thanas (pictured) says ten brokers have submitted proposals.
(Herald News File)

Ten brokers have submitted proposals, City Manager Thomas Thanas said. He expects to recommend a broker to the city council today or Tuesday.

The city has paid between $200,000 and $482,000 for broker services each year in the past five years and expects to see a big reduction in that cost, Thanas said.

"It's safe to say it will be at least 50 percent of the cost we paid this year, and we could save more," he said.
Competing proposals
The city sent requests for proposals to 18 firms, and received proposals from 10 of them.

Since brokers, who consult with the city on its health benefits and help oversee insurance claims, provide a professional service, the city is not required to bid the work.

But city unions and candidates in the last city council election had called for the city to seek competing proposals from brokers as the city faces a budget crisis that could lead to layoffs and has already led to changes in health insurance coverage.

The city also has changed its manner of payment for brokerage services. Instead of allowing the broker to collect a commission on claims, the city will pay a fixed fee for brokerage services.

"I felt this was the more appropriate way of handling it so we have a fixed cost," Thanas said.
John Manner agency
John Manner, which is a local division of insurance giant Brown & Brown, opted not to submit a proposal.

The local agency is headed by John Manner, who said he chose not to seek the city business because he had become a target of blame for city employees upset with changes in their insurance coverage this year.

Manner said his family has endured insults and he had heard from his own pharmacist that he was being blamed for higher insurance costs paid by city employees.

"I don't need this, and Brown & Brown didn't need this," Manner said. "I work for Brown & Brown, and Brown & Brown said, 'Why are you fooling with this?'"
Insurance changes
Manner's firm served as a consultant to the city as it negotiated changes in employee insurance that included first-time premium contributions of about $100 a month.

The city also negotiated a new policy that takes working spouses of city employees off of the city's insurance plan. Those spouses who have insurance available through their employers now are required to take that coverage rather than use the city plan.

"We found that the city of Joliet had become the dumping ground for a lot of other employers," Manner said, noting that spouses typically went on the city plan because it provided better benefits at less cost to the employee.

The spousal coverage change is expected to save the city more than $1 million a year.
Commission-based pay
Manner said his company's policy of collecting a commission on insurance claims is a typical broker practice. He said 80 percent of the commission goes to Brown & Brown and the remainder stays with his firm.

The commission-based payment policy is standard with Brown & Brown, which handles insurance for 600 municipalities in the U.S., Manner said.

His firm also provides services to other municipalities and local governments among the nearly 200 employee health insurance programs it handles, Manner said.

And where transparency is available, where I now reside, I'm proud to say that I can visit the Mayberry RFD police dept., and put my feet up on the desk and discuss politics and crime with these guys. They are my friends. They didn't have anyone stopping me from seeing the chief. To give you an idea how their council meetings go, and are posted openly, here's your chance to see how things are conducted by a responsible mayor/council members, and just so educated.

For those of us who can't hear, it's minute by minute on the web.

http://www.villageofmanhattan.org/

If the city of Hammond would conduct itself in a civil manner such as this town, which has an older part trying to combine it with a newer part, with really one having to drive to I-80 8 miles away to visit a Walmart, etc., but manages to hold on and get industrial industries to locate, providing jobs, this should hold as an example how Hammond should be run.

Look how transparent the web-site is. Look at how professional they handle the council meetings...and I know for a fact that a few despise two of them, but they don't point fingers, they work with them. I don't know how to compare Manhattan to Hammond, except to say I got an "Okay, we make exceptions" when I asked the undercover cop if it was ok to use my "Ex's" car with Indiana license plates, though I insured it, left mine in the driveway in Indiana, until March, due to the four wheel drive he has, and my security. He said, "hey, no problem..." In Indiana, they'll probably ticket my car, but I'll have it at the old place in Dolton for the winter. Wow, such political mess. Over NOTHING.

It's the KISS system. Keep It Simple, Stupid.


and...


Don't sweat the small stuff.

Passion wrote:

I can't get real excited about this issue because I don't feel there should be a homestead deduction anyway. That said I also do not think so many expenses should be assessed to property owners.

We should all pay the same amount and we should only pay what is actually needed to run necessary services. If you want to build stupid statues & stuff seek private donations.

couldnt agree with you more. the original intent of the homestead was good. but expanding it every year as the state did made it inheritantly unfair to those that dont have homesteads.

add in all the lost revenue from clerical errors and cheats and its now way to high of burden on those who dont have homesteads.

Do you know why the Preacher can't file for a homestead exemption? He doesn't have a home to file one on. He still lives with daddy.

Why, that creep!

sparks wrote:

The emphasis that the Mayor has put on code enforcement is one of the best things he has done as Mayor. Clean, well maintained neighborhoods are stable safe places for families to live.

Yeah, Sparks, but that's hard to do when your neighbor gets to move in another part of Hammond, doesn't rent out, just vacates it. Makes my house look even crappier, cuz, their front porch needs fixing up. The boat has been rotting in the back in the alley/side/alley, since 2004. Get RID of it.

Tell me to cut your grass if you can't. Tell me if you are vacating it, going in foreclosure, so I can at least know what is going on. I only hea second hand rumors. How in the hell can you buy another house when you can't fix a cracker box up for years...????

I admit I have a lot of landscaping to do, planting bushes. Also need to install gutters this fall, get new outside doors. But geez, what's it take to put siding up on the front porch and paint your rails? Oh. I dunno.

What are the intentions? Is the house vacant, not gonna fix it up and rent it out? Are you gonna make me do the improvements when I want my house to look nice? Are there two homesteads now in Hammond on that house, since they relocated behind Walmart? I had to give up my exemptions, I did the honest thing...

I finally had to post onthe other board since they were bashing my department and accusing of us of ignoring the situation. I dont expect them to believe me and I truly dont care. I have no intention of posting there again but may have to if I am challenged.

voter3 wrote:

I finally had to post onthe other board since they were bashing my department and accusing of us of ignoring the situation. I dont expect them to believe me and I truly dont care. I have no intention of posting there again but may have to if I am challenged.

No sweat, Voter3...just want you to know that I may not own the house legally, right now, but it is still my home...and my retirement home. I do try and do the right things...and I still ponder over your one remark over many remarks, that made me feel good, and that was you aren't looking to take anyone to court. You are willing and rather more than willing to work with homeowners or landlords to corrects things, rather than take them to court.

For that, I commend you. I know that comes from the heart. I also know many people "fear" code enforcement, and they shouldn't. You want to work with them. You help them out. That means a lot.

Oh, I read the BS especially from FREE who rents out the basement. One exit, where there should be TWO as required by law. She only has ONE exit. The fact she claims she doesn't pay rent is because the house is paid for, mom collects from the renters downstairs, but Free pays the property taxes.

Pretty cheap rent. When there is a problem, she covers up excuses by crying to mom that the city is out to get her.

When she speaks of "family," the cousin next door calls her mom to tell her she's nuts. The two siblings don't even talk to her, nor do they come around for holidays. It's bogus talk on her part when she speaks of family. She stated she hates her mom.

She hates everyone, and trusts NO ONE. She'll use ya. She's playing games with Tiger right now...I see right thru FreeTime/ anything that passes her time.

For awhile in the last few months, I thought she was getting it right, but now it is back to "revenge".

Personally, everyone has their skeletons in the closet...and it is no business of anyone to detail a contract for sale on a house and why they have an exemption, but I can tell you this much: it's nothing worth clicking on over there. Tommy boy has disengaged the board by repeatedly dwelling on the same subject at different angles.

Please, allow Dave and his family privacy; every family has that need at one time or another...and show some respect. Quit adding salt to the wound. Let them deal with it.

Don't they at least deserve that? Because if it happened to my family, I would not be able to absorb anything more than the initial shock that rocked on them. To have articles, comments, discussion boards to continue the pain...it has gone beyond political as they claim. I've never met the family, but my heart goes out to them.

We've had some of the same demons, won't you admit, in everyone's lives whether a distant cousin, friend, it's no different, so lay off this family that I don't know nor, ever met. And I am not a demo or repo.