Oct. 11, 2007 — The release of more data on the recent property revaluation has fueled the fight against what St. John property owners see as unfair taxation.
"We have to show the government the people have to power to make changes, but it's apparent no one is listening to us," Lorelei Monsanto said.
A comparison of the average tax bill included on handouts presented at meetings last week on all three islands by Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis, Tax Assessor Roy Martin and their staffs shows St. John is again getting hit hard.
According to the handouts, St. John's average residential tax under the old tax rate was $1,542. Under the new proposed tax rate, it will be $3,831. The average old tax bill for land stood at $812 with the new tax bills coming in at $2,607. Timeshares had an average tax bill of $229, but the new rate will push that bill to $335. Commercial property had a tax bill of $2,559 under the old rate and $4,445 under the new rate.
On St. Thomas, the average residential property tax bill would actually drop from $945 to $927. The average landowner would see a decrease from $577 to $475. Timeshare holders on St. Thomas would see an increase from $225 to $300. The commercial bill would drop from an average of $4,544 to $4,374.
The average residential property tax bill on St. Croix would increase from $554 to $596. Taxes on land would drop from $287 to $281. Commercial property owners would see their bill go from $2,209 to $2,455. The Tax Assessor's Office is still calculating taxes for St. Croix timeshares.
Officials have proposed changing the tax rate to shift the bulk of the burden away from residential property owners. While the current tax rate stands at .0075 for all types of properties, Government House is proposing different rates for different types of properties. The residential rate would be .0035, the land rate, .0046, the commercial rate, .0065, and the timeshare rate, .0100. This still needs legislative approval.
The base rate for houses on St. John was recently listed at $360 a square foot compared to $93 for St. Thomas and $89 for St. Croix. The base rate for land on St. John was listed as $25.12 per square foot, $7.41 on St. Thomas and $2.78 on St. Croix.
Residents said they are outraged that Francis, Martin and their team discussed the average tax bills for St. John but wouldn't provide the average tax bills for St. Thomas and St. Croix at the Oct. 4 meeting on St. John.
"It really ticked me off," Madeline Sewer said.
Sewer stood up at the Oct. 4 meeting to ask about the St. Thomas and St. Croix average tax bills, but didn't get any results.
She said Thursday that it seems like officials are concealing those numbers, and makes the whole St. John revaluation issue seem clandestine. Meanwhile, many St. John residents from all corners of the community have vowed to put up a fight.
Myrtle Barry has mounted a writing and fax campaign to convince senators to hold a Committee of the Whole meeting on St. John to hear firsthand the residents' concerns.
And Lorelei Monsanto and a group of residents have put together a petition asking that the U.S. District Court-appointed special master advise the court that the revaluation is unjust.
"The assessment is outlandish and has no clear definition. We live in the St. Thomas/St. John District. St. John residents are prepared to file a class action lawsuit about this matter. We will not sit idly by and take this without a fight," the petition reads.
The special master must sign off on the revaluation because the District Court ordered the territory to value all real estate the same way after commercial property owners complained they were assessed differently. This resulted in the revaluation.
Monsanto said the petition is available for signing at Connections, Bordeaux overlook shops, Kaleidoscope Video stores in Cruz Bay and Coral Bay, and with people carrying them around on clipboards.
Several residents pointed out that the St. John revaluations are based on the fair market value of high-end homes because those were the only ones that sold during the 2003 to 2005 period used in the calculation.
"People like us do not sell our houses here because we love the area and have no intention of leaving," Barry said.
She said that even now, only high-end homes are selling.
Joan Sparling, who owns American Paradise Real Estate, agreed. She said that most St. John sales were high-priced second homes or for investment purposes.
However, she said that on St. Thomas and St. Croix, people buy and sell primary residences at a regular rate. This provides a more realistic average price for homes on those islands.
"We do not have this phenomenon on St. John," she said.
Bill Morris said the number of homes sold on St. John is too small to be statistically accurate when it comes to developing figures for St. John. And he said that although sales are very slow on St. John, houses are continuing to be built. He said the value of those homes is not factored in.
Barry and Morris, who both live in Contant, used their own homes as examples of the huge errors made in the revaluations.
Both said the house part of their properties were valued at $1,000. However, Barry said the land portion for her less than a quarter-acre had a value of $996,000. Morris said his three-quarters of an acre of land was valued at $1.9 million.
Back Talk
Share your reaction to this news with other Source readers. Please include headline, your name and city and state/country or island where you reside.
