October 10, 2016 / Evansville, Indiana – Over the weekend, Republican Vanderburgh County 1st District Commissioner candidate Sean Selby participated in the 95th Annual West Side Nut Club Fall Festival Parade whose grand marshal was Evansville Olympic two-time gold medal winning swimmer, Lilly King. Over the past week, he also spent every day of the Fall Festival interacting with voters and talking about the issues important to them.
Selby commented, “We received a very positive response at the Fall Festival to our platform on bettering roads, keeping taxes low, reducing restrictive regulations, opposing annexation that results in land grabs, encouraging entrepreneurship and attracting businesses that create jobs, and more.â€
Specifically regarding keeping taxes low, at a recent United Neighborhoods of Evansville candidate forum, Selby spoke out against a proposal to raise property taxes by relaxing the property tax homestead exemption rate from 8% to 6% and by annually by 2% until completely gone. “Numerous Vanderburgh County residents have serious concerns that the Evansville City Council will vote today to increase their property taxes by relaxing the homestead exemption and I equally share in those concerns.â€
With USA Today reporting that nearly 7 in 10 Americans have less than $1,000 in savings, some residents have even said they would eventually be unable to endure these projected annual 2% increases if passed and may be forced to consider moving to other counties. “When we look at multiple economic indicators, we realize that it is an especially bad idea to consider repealing this exemption of the homesteads in Vanderburgh County residents at this time. Furthermore, many are frustrated that Evansville will be able to outnumber the county voters who have spoken so clearly on this issue. So, I have called on individual city council members to reconsider this course of action today and hopefully they will.â€
Later today, the Evansville City Council is slated to meet and may attempt to relax part of the property tax homestead exemption, which will lead to a tax increase of all Vanderburgh County residents for their homestead.
