From Dan Mulder

Monroe

To the editor:

Recently my wife and I moved to Monroe after 16-plus years in New Glarus. We decided that in spite of the fact it was another 15 minutes further to work in Madison commutes every day, that the community was a great place to live. We looked at the tax rates before we bought our house and fully expected an increase over what we were paying in New Glarus based on the fact our new Monroe home cost more and it was under an 11-year-old tax assessed value. Then we got our new assessment and it was a double whammy: The assessed value went up just under $10,000 more than we paid for the house and Monroe used to tax at 91.5 percent of assessed value. Now they tax at 100 percent of assessed value!! On top of this the school wants a referendum which will raise taxes even farther! Who can afford to live in Monroe? The property taxes are higher than the mortgage payments! How can anyone retire and live in an environment that taxes people out of their homes? This can’t go on. Based on the open book meeting attendance I sense I am far from alone in my concerns and frustrations. I know people worked all their lives to pay off their house only to find their tax payments are higher than their mortgage payments were.