State law REQUIRES property tax reassessment every 5 years, 2006 for us. There are certain to be MANY cases of DOUBLED and TRIPLED assessments. The law allows it to be postponed for one year IF the County gets permission from the State Dept of Revenue to do so. Oconee County did not request a delay, because purely and simply, they wanted to use soaring property values, brought on by rapidly escalating land prices, over which homeowners have absolutely no control, to raise assessments as much as possible BEFORE the new tax limitation amendment begins protecting us on 1/1/07. The amendment is subject to approval by the voters in November, but passage is widely expected. It will limit assessments to 15% over a five year period. Our legislators even CHANGED the law, making deferral of reassessments AUTOMATIC for this year, unless the Council acts specifically to reassess now. The intent is to give the voters a chance to speak before any further reassessments occur. The Council is now acting to reassess THIS YEAR, as RON RABUN planned all along. Help us stop it. All three of our legislators, Bill Sandifer, Bill Whitmire, and Thomas Alexander have worked hard all year, along with Legislators from throughout the state, to protect ALL state residents from soaring reassessments. The Council\'s plan to reassess this year will totally deny us the legislature\'s intended protection from this round of reassesssments. It doesn\'t matter where you live; their plan will deny all property taxpayers (farmers, lifetime residents, lake owners, every one of us) the permanent benefits of the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity provided to Oconee County by the State legislature just two weeks ago. Failure to alter the Council\'s direction will leave us with higher assessments, PERMANENTLY, as the base for FUTURE reassessments every five years. Make no mistake. Reassessment this year will hurt farmers, lifelong residents, and retirees on fixed incomes badly. It will absolutely devastate owners on Lakes Hartwell and Keowee, and quickly kill our largest remaining source of income growth. This is EXACTLY why the legislature acted, because a train wreck has already occurred along the coast. We have received several copies of the emails being sent to the Council, and they make it very clear that tripling their taxes will cause it to happen to them right here. They will be forced to move. WE CAN NOT ALLOW THIS HAPPEN. EVERY SUPPORTER MAKES A DIFFERENCE. If you are concerned, contact ALL of our Councilmen and Administrator Tom Hendrix. If you do not live in Oconee County, you are STILL a taxpayer. You will STILL get hit with potentially tripled ssessments. You should join TOO. The next two council meetings are crucial. The one on Tuesday 6/20 at 7pm is probably make or break, given all the support we have. The final meeting is Tuesday 6/27 at 3pm. After that, it\'s all over. Stop the train wreck headed toward Oconee County THIS YEAR, when our reassessment notices and tax bills arrive, by signing this petition to defer reassessment until 2007. Be sure to include your address (or subdivision and lot number if you reside outside Oconee County) in the comments section.

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