LETTER: County property move would undercut city tax base
It seems as though Washington County’s commissioners are now wheeling and dealing in the real estate business.
Last year, they spent $400,000 to buy the dilapidated Caldwell Building in Washington across from the courthouse in the hopes of shuttling the district attorney’s office over there in a plan that still hasn’t come to fruition. Now, they’re considering spending countless millions by possibly acquiring the Crossroads Center as a possible replacement for the current county building just a block away in the city.
Besides the money it is costing county taxpayers to purchase these buildings, there’s a very real financial burden on the Washington School District and city of Washington by bringing these lucrative properties off of the tax rolls. This would be in addition to the courthouse, current county office building and county jail that are also tax exempt – not to mention numerous other nonprofits in town – and already undercutting the tax base of the city.
If the county does eventually buy Crossroads Center, it should be required to offer a tax stipend to the city and school district to offset any loss in tax revenue. Washington’s taxpayers shouldn’t be subsidizing the county’s real estate gambit.
Mike Jones
Washington