As has been the case with other communities, we have been fortunate enough to get to know in the past, we are attracted to people, the surrounding, the beauty - in other words, the culture. The purpose of this letter is to alert the people of Jackson County to something we have observed here, something we have seen happen before in other places - the rapid rise in property taxes and the effect it has on people whose families have lived on their land for generations. The story is very basic and has happened hundreds of times before in other communities. It begins with a quiet, beautiful, peaceful place being discovered by thousands of other people looking for that perfect place to have a second home or a home for retirement. Soon after that, real estate investors begin buying up raw land for the purpose of resale or development, the net effect begin to make money.
Property values begin to skyrocket, and a rapid escalation in property taxes follows.
The real tragedy then begins to take place, and it involves people whose families have been living on the same home place for generations. The taxes are so high, that many families can't afford to pay them, and in desperation the property is sold. I'm not writing about those families who make an economic decision to sell their property to take advantage of high property values. I'm writing about those families who could care less what property values are, they just want to continue living in the same home place they inherited from their ancestors, but can't afford to do so because of the taxes. It is apparent to me that this problem already exists.