To the Editor:

(Plain Press, February 2022) I would like to comment on your article in the December 2021 Plain Press on property taxes. I grew up in Mentor and own the home I grew up in, and currently rent it out. The property taxes for that house are much lower than the Cleveland house I currently live in, yet Mentor’s neighborhood is nicer and quieter.

LETTER

   I tend to believe that homeowners pay property taxes in Cleveland at a higher rate to make up for those who don’t pay them at all. There also seems to be a big difference in sewer and garbage charges between the two properties.

   The sewer has had charges between $70-$81 for the entire time I have owned the Mentor home, which has been since December 1997, and is currently, and has always been, a three-month charge.

   The garbage is also a three-month charge, which has been from $16-$30 throughout the same period.

   I cannot comment on the water charge, as the tenants pay that monthly.

   The charges for the Cleveland house are way more, and always have been. It seemed when the billing switched to monthly and garbage was added as a charge, the rates continue to increase. So, when I read about people on fixed incomes that cannot afford to pay utilities and property taxes to live in Cleveland, it is not because we live in nice and quiet neighborhoods. There is definitely something else promoting these increases from time to time.

Pauline Clark