p.s. some of us voters did speak up but if no one listens it does not matter much does it?

I knew there were big problems brewing over two years ago when I saw their 5-year budget plan, with a 10% increase year over year.

It begs the question as to whether they really thought assessments were going to continue rising.

On the other hand, there was the guy from GMU who made some off-the-wall prediction about how much houses in this area would cost by 2025. If a GMU economist can make that error, certainly the MP City Council could. I imagine that comes from the same sort of thinking that heads of lettuce would cost $10/each if we didn’t have low cost labor to pick them..or the same sort of thinking that says that this area will have 24×7 gridlock if X millions of dollars aren’t spent on transportation.

That 5-year-budget plan, by the way, is NOT zero-based budgeting by any stretch of the imagination.

I don’t think the Park will fold. They have there problems but to the credit of the Park, albeit on the backs of bonds of hopeful property taxes, they at least spent most of that money for the benefit of all and better facilities. Now the timing and progression is certainly a question to deal with but clearly the Park has needed some of these improvements for some time. Keep in mind the Park watches other areas do the same and has to offer its residents some of those perks as well. The police department and fire departments have needed as serious overhaul for a decade, especially that old joke of a police office.Remember the old “municipal buildings” before city hall? The school system was the pits! Old clap-board wooden “sheds” damn near compared to what they have today. I am not happy with the money spent on Cougar right now though. I think that improvement could have waited. The new rec center is long, long overdue and has a benefit of returning some revenue. Again, the Park and its residents see the surrounding areas. Was it wise to spend up so much, so soon? Maybe and maybe not. For the Parks sake, I hope they don’t fold. The county is fine but licenses, permits and building construction is a long drawn out process that the Park and the City of Manassas do not have. The City of Manassas had their growing pains as well.

I suggest to all to attend the monthly meetings and have some input. Avoid talking to Mr. Polk. His shoe fits his mouth well and may cause mumbling.

My home value is down 60% from peak so I’m not sure where they get this 30% number from either? It is unreasonable in this economy to ask the citizens here to pay any rate beyond 1.4% under ANY circumstances and even that is an ABSURD number considering the VAST majority of municipalities in the surrounding area are in the neighborhood of 1%. I can not sell the house now, I am under-water, can’t refi into a fixed loan, have a neighborhood full of section 8 renters, have trash all over the development because the city flat out REFUSES to give us larger dumpsters and so the cretins just drop their trash next to the dumpsters where the animals and elements rip open the bags. Many homes here still hold 5-10 people when they were built for a family of 4. Any rate beyond 1.4% will be the final nail for me at this point since I have an ARM resetting in April with no way to refi out of it. I have spent $2500 this year alone on home repairs which I will never recoup. I am a renter that has to pay to fix things at this point. I assume many others here feel the same way.

Unfortunately, Very few people wanted to run for office here last year other than Brian and Suhas, myself included, because I knew what was coming and didn’t want my name associated with it. This is playing out exactly like I said it would. The scary part about this folks is that there are probably literally thousands of other municipalities in the same boat right now around the country. We simply taxed and spent our way into the poor house in this country. Allowing millions of illegal invaders in to do our dirty work, putting them on the welfare dole, schooling their children, incarcerating them when they got rowdy and allowing them to destroy whole neighborhoods where they settled certainly did NOT help. All was fine for the liberals, businesses and politicians at the top as long as they got the cheap labor and the ‘help’ stayed in their own areas (read Manassas Park). Now the bill is due and the chickens are home to roost.

I pray the council does the right thing and does not try to tax their way out of this by putting an essentially back-breaking burden on those of us stuck in the park with no way out other than foreclosure and bankruptcy. April should be very interesting. Maybe Manassas Park could apply for TARP funds when the messiah’s stimulus plan is ratified into law ;P

Greg, I have been searching for AIG and Manassas Park and bonds and can’t find anything on the web. Where should I be looking? What’s the source for this information? I would really like to see it. Thanks!!!

Thanks for the link. I hadn’t heard that she had been found. What a horrible shame. What in the hell is happening to this area? This country? This world?

Sounds like Detroit.

Maybe the Park can plan a new town hall while there at it, invest the bond proceeds in mortgage insurance guarantees through 48WorkFromHome.com, and end up holding Governing Board meetings on a roofless concrete slab for the next ten years. It’ll only add $250 a year to everyone’s tax bill…

What’s so bad about that? You’ll get a new police station, fire station, elementary school, a newer high school, middle school, and possibly a new rec center as well.

Oh nooooooooooooo! Heaven forbid!