To the Editor,

First, Warwick taxpayers haven’t had much if any, tax increases for eight whole years. Not bad Warwick! John Howell was a little surprised that more people didn’t complain about it. I’m not. Warwick taxpayers were clobbered with maximum tax increases from 2000 thru 2016 when I had “something” to do with rallying the “80,000 taxpayers who are paying the tab.” Since that era, then Mayor Joe Solomon and especially present Mayor Frank Picozzi have been very respectful and attentive to the needs of the taxpayers as well as the City budget.

Second: The Beacon reported that 21% of us had a tax increase over $500. That means that 79% had a very small tax increase. Again; not bad Warwick! Mayor Picozzi was faced with the possibility of raising taxes last year but he showed great restraint in delaying the inevitable tax increase. He has consistently satisfied almost everyone by being attentive to the needs of “everyone.” It doesn’t surprise me that today’s news was so acceptable. It’s no wonder to me that he ran unopposed.

Finally, and this should be helpful to those who are trying to figure out how Warwick, or any community, for that matter, calculates real estate taxes. Here are the factors that go into your final tax bill.

1. Appraised value: This one is simple. Look it up yourself on “Zillow.com”. The appraised value is the approximate price you could sell your house for. Remember: It’s an “approximate”! and it has very little to do with what you actually pay in real estate taxes.
2. Assessed value: Big difference! The “assessed value” is a combination of the appraised value and the tax needs of the city/town. For example; high tax needs of an urban area like Providence = high assessed values. Low tax needs of a rural area like Charlestown = low assessed values. It might not seem fair, but it is what it is.
3. The percentage of the assessed value: Cities/towns use this just to hide the truth (I believe). They use 100% or 80% or ???, I believe, just to cover up what is really going on and again, it happens everywhere and has been the rule for so many decades that it is what it is.
4. Politics: In the years past, this played a strong part in the final cost of real estate taxes. Today, everyone is treated equally and fairly.
5. Finally, the tax rate: Here’s the good news. The present tax rate of $18.73 per thousand is dropping significantly to $14.76 per thousand. Cheaper is better! Thank you Mayor Picozzi!

The final analysis is this. Real estate taxes (and death) are always in our future. Taxes will always go up while our time remaining on this earth keeps going down. Be thankful we have homes that are appreciating at a tremendous rate (over 20%!) and enjoy every day, because we all have an expiration date. Hopefully, it will be far in the future for us all.

Richard Corrente

Former politician and present happy-taxpayer