Do your homework before you vote
It seems the hot topic right now is the city election! Facebook and the forums have brought many city election half-truths and flat-out lies about the current city council and city manager.
We’d like to address a few:
Short Term Rentals (STRs): We have owned a reservation service for the past 22 years and several different STRs, so we definitely speak from experience and from the heart. There have been stories of not allowing STRs in R-1 areas (single residence) and attrition of STRs. When this showed up on Facebook, our hearts stopped, so we called a couple of the people currently serving on the council. Apparently, there has been a discussion about R-1s and how it has changed the feel of our neighborhood. Nothing has been said about attrition.
The families living in R-1 areas are mainly saddened by not having neighbors to visit or their children to have playmates, and the elderly miss having the neighbors keeping an eye on them.
New to STRs this year is an ordinance which includes a fee and registration with the city. Although I think some of the ordinance is vague and unclear, I do think this is something that needed to be done. Communities all over the nation are way ahead of us on this procedure.
As far as R-1 homes, there is no current plan or even idea on how this will end up. Since it is up to the city council to remain fair to ALL citizens, I am sure this will come up for discussion in the next few years.
At that time, it will be important for citizens on both sides to step up to the plate and attend meetings and visit with the elected officials and city hall. This is how diplomacy works.
‘High City Taxes’ — This is almost laughable. One of my Facebook friends actually did his research using his own home and printed it on Facebook. His city taxes have actually gone DOWN in the last few years even as his appraisal has gone up. Please compare Fredericksburg’s tax rate with other cities in the Hill Country.
The appraisal value is something different as our appraisal continues to go up, up, up. There is nothing we can do about this as the selling market price is what is used, and if you are selling, you are probably very happy about that. We do love telling our friends in other cities the services our city offers. They are always amazed and jealous!
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