South Fayette School District will Sue you to Raise your Taxes

Welcome to South Fayette School District, a lovely community in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, PA. Good schools, interesting neighbors, and a policy of SUING NEW HOME OWNERS TO RAISE THEIR TAXES.

Ok, I don’t usually scream in mails, but that had to be done. Let me explain why you may want to think twice about building or purchasing a home in South Fayette School District unless you want to be sued and have your taxes raised.

Allegheny County is the assessor of property value, and not a great one at that. But after they assess the value of your home, you will get a letter in the mail from the lawyers the South Fayette School District hire to raise your taxes that states “you are being sued because the  South Fayette School District wants to raise your taxes.”

And off it goes. I was shocked, but my neighbors informed me that all new construction projects get this letter and have to make a trip downtown to face the South Fayette School District Lawyer who is hired to raise your taxes. Some win, others don’t I almost hired my own lawyer, but I did not. My ego prevailed perhaps, or maybe I thought I would be lucky. Maybe I thought they wouldn’t show up or maybe I was just curious to see why a school district that attracted me to build a new home in their area would SUE ME TO RAISE MY TAXES.

There I go again. Ahem. Sorry.

So I go downtown and enter into this holding cell of a waiting room. Apparently, this is not that uncommon and in the waiting room were some sad home owners and sad lawyers waiting to do the only job their crappy law degree could get them: suing homeowners to raise their taxes.

And I am sure that the sad lawyer is a nice person, has to feed children and make house payments just like I do.

My main question is” Why does the South Fayette School District feel the need to sue me to raise my taxes?

The lawyer had tons of materials, tons of official looking papers, assessments of houses that did not match my own, all of course with much higher taxes. I asked and pointed out that their comparison homes are not like mine. It did not matter. I did not have tons of material. I just build my home in the South Fayette School District that sues people to raise their taxes.

And I lost. Poor me. What a schlub. Now I guess I could hire a lawyer, appeal and change the whole thing back by spending thousands of dollars. I still might. But in the end, I just want to make one point. Perhaps you may have missed it.

If you build a new home in the South Fayette School District be prepared for their lawyers to sue you to raise your taxes.

Whatever the county says, it will not be enough.

They have to raise enough money to keep the lawyers well paid.

They have to hire people to do research on your home to find out how much more they can get from you.

They have to hire administrators to count their money, build new buildings as glory palaces to their alter egos of grandeur caused by the beauty that is local government.

I think I understand now.  But perhaps other people may not and will think twice about building a home in the school district of South Fayette near Pittsburgh because they won’t like it being sued in order to have their taxes raised.

Sales and Politics of Fear: Home Protection & Guardian

F^&^@! U Guardian Technologies and your politics of fear. I fear neither the reaper nor you. This is what I learned from Vinyl! When I recently built a home, the home builder used Guardian protection services as their “service” provider for all sorts of useless home crap like a $3500 home vacuum system.

(Side note, I am angry about the vacuum as well. I told the sales ‘man’ that I could buy a new vacuum every 6 months for the rest of my natural life for that price)

Well, Guardian tried to sell me on fear to get their subscription to a security system. They talked about home break ins, etc. When that wasn’t working, they told me the system was ‘free.’ Do I look, smell, eat, poop, or babble like a complete moron? Free is free, not $35 per month with a three year contract.

After fighting them off during the mandatory sales pitch, I figured I was done. No, I get letters every month from them. Here is a gem from them. The funny thing is I don’t live in ‘Penn Hills”

Nice try, fear monger, ahem… “Life Safety Consultant” 

What the f&*! is wrong with Tropicana?

Tropicana, once my go to OJ, once my light in a sea of darkness. You have betrayed me. Years ago, you started introducing Brazilian oranges into your once pure Florida OJ. I called you once about this to ask why, and you told me it was to save money. I hope all of those Polymethoxylated flavones are worth it. Your OJ tastes like every other sugar water OJ on the market now, dry and mealy, devoid of that pure Florida sparkle  it once had, robbed of pure American sunlight. You might as well be Tampico. When I lived outside the US, I would always seek you out for a small taste of home. Now, the blend has diminished you to a mish mash of orange crap.  I am so angry I could spit. I will write again later after my nap.

Consumer Rants by Consumerant

This site lists some small issues I have with today’s major manufacturers.