Against long odds, the island's Senator, Craig Barshinger, is trying to solve the St. John property tax mess.
The crux of the matter: St. John residential properties have been valued much, much higher than is justified by appraisers or the marketplace. Owners are facing property tax increases of several hundred percent. Many locals fear they will be unable to pay.
Barshinger has proposed legislation to have real estate values set by 'certified appraisers," according to Merry Nash at Islandia Real Estate.
"He is also proposing that improvements on St. John be valued the same as on St. Thomas," she said. "Currently St. Thomas improvements are valued at $93 sq. ft. and St John improvements are valued at $360 sq. ft." This means that a house on St. John may be taxed almost four times as much than if it was on St. T.
Does Barshinger's idea have a chance? No.
There us no reason to expect the 14 other senators, from St. Thomas and St. Croix, to give him support. St. John is, to many of them, a cash cow. It revenue expectations from St. John were lowered from their sky-high levels, the burden would fall more heavily on their constituencies on the relatively poorer islands.
At least this effort by Senator Barshinger brings this very serious problem for St John homeowners into the eye of the public. We need to be heard.
Thank you Senator Barshinger!
Well said, Allen. This problem, along with all the other problems, really need to be addressed. What municipality can’t get it together enough to collect property taxes in 3 years? What a joke.
What do we get here on St John that they take for granted on St. T and St.X? Public water, sewers, reliable electricity, good roads, Police “protection”… Need I go on… ? If we are expected to pay 4 times as much taxes, we should expect 4 times the services.
As it is, we already have the higher cost of living here because of transportation markups for goods and services, power, food, and fuel expenses, the VI gov’t should give us a discount on our taxes for the hardship it is to live on St. John.