Greet Well the New Year

The earth has recently spun its way through the Winter solstice. The days have begun to lengthen, even if the change is barely perceptible. This is always a good time to reflect on the year just ending, perhaps to catch our breath for a few days before filling in next years to-do list, making resolutions, establishing goals and, maybe, putting just a few wishes on the board. This is also the time for remembering good friends, especially those with whom we haven't had as much contact as we would have liked.

We all realize that the New Year is not the blank slate we wish it were. Our troubles and challenges carry over as they are want to do. At the same time, there is nothing like a new point of view and a renewed burst of energy, a new resolve that can sometimes jolt loose a remedy where none had existed. And so, we wish you good health and good fortune for the New Year, set to begin in just a few days. And perhaps some clarity and a resurgence of determination to help you jump start a new, or dormant, ambition.

Stay well and make an extra effort to stay in touch. Believe it or not, Face book and Linked-In are good ways of contacting old friends.

And finally, a bit of tradition for those so inclined:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
and days of auld lang syne?
And here's a hand, my trusty friend
And gie's a hand o' thine
We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne

Listen,

Greater than all the Christmas presents ever presented is the gift of peace. Read and reflect on Luke's narrative below about a simple, long ago event that continues to spread its influence, even today, as its mighty presence has the power to outshine even the most trying of the day-to-day challenges we all face. Even if only for a brief respite, may you find that peace now.

In those days a decree went out from Caeser Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment when Quirnius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazarath to Judea to the city of David because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her first child, and she gave birth to her first born son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them at the inn.

Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them "do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David, a savior has been born for you who is Messiah and Lord. and this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying a manger. And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest
and on earth peace to those on
whom his favor rests."

Wicked Straight Talk on Property Taxes

As Plymouth's home town newspaper, the Old Colony Memorial usually does a good job of reporting on local government affairs. But in its December 5th front page ARTICLE concerning Plymouth's new property tax rate, many residents were scratching their heads trying to make sense out of the article.

While the headline accurately reports that the tax rate has been increased by $1.35 to $12.42, the sub-head statement that the Average tax bill will increase by $125 is impossible to verify with the information provided.

First of all, the $125 increase refers to the average residential tax bill. If we use the new average assessed value of $314,154 and apply the new tax rate of $12.42, we get the new average tax bill of $3,901.79. Trust me on this, I was a math major.

We know, from the body of the article, that this amount is $125.12 (not the $125 mentioned in the sub-head) higher than last year's average, or $3,776.67. Dividing last year's average by last years tax rate tells us that last year's average assessed value was $341,163.

Put another way, the tax rate has increased by 12.2% while the Average assessed value has declined by 7.92% resulting in a net increase of 3.31%. Once again, this applies only to residential property.

So, now we know what the tax rate is, but we must wait for the arrival of our tax bills to tell us the full story. Depending upon how your property's assessed value this year compares to last year, you could see a wide range of results. While it can be painful to watch the value of your home decline, it can be even more painful if your assessment is not adjusted accordingly and your tax bill shows a big increase.

It's hard enough to deal with tax issues when we are provided with the facts. This article clearly fell short. And while there is no reason to believe that the OCM has any reason to cloud the issue, they either were only given part of the story, or garbled the information they were given. Either way, the clarification provided by Emily Wilcox that can be found well down in the comments section of the on-line copy of the article, should have been published prominently in today's (hard copy)edition.