The Bottom Line

The Sun offers a look at what HoCo exec Ken Ulman's proposed budget for the coming fiscal year will cost us:

Property and income tax rates remain unchanged, but homeowners will pay more because of rising state assessments. That means $127 more for a house assessed at $250,000, or $228 more for a $450,000 house. Still the county's 5 percent assessment cap will save taxpayers $108 million next fiscal year.

Ulman's plan calls for increased costs for water and sewer to be passed on to homeowners to the tune of about $50 a year, and parking fines would rise from $20 to $35. Handicapped-space or fire-lane violations would bring stiffer increases -- from $150 to $250 for the former and from $50 to $150 for the latter.

...

Most homeowners would pay $50 more for trash and recycling services that now cost $175 annually. Residents in the western county would pay about $35 more because they do not get yard-waste recycling service. Low-income homeowners would get 60 percent off the fee.

All we can say is woe to those who park in a fire lane or handicap spot!