I have a birthday card that has to go to a friend in Nevada next week. Can anyone take it to her? I will give you 50 cents.
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I have a birthday card that has to go to a friend in Nevada next week. Can anyone take it to her? I will give you 50 cents.
No takers?
Luckily, the U.S. Postal Service will do that for me. To me, it is one of the best services our federal government provides. Letters from friends, invitations to weddings, thank you notes for gifts, all come right to my door thanks to the valuable postal service.
Except this week when our real estate tax bill came.
It’s ironic that it came on the same day I finished the final episode of “The Last Dance,” the documentary on the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan. In relation to that series, there was a posting on social media that Michael’s house in suburban Chicago was still for sale at the amazing price of a bit over $14 million.
I am not the world’s greatest mathematician, but If you took one third the value of his house and my tax rate, his tax bill annually would be about $450,000. Yikes!
I read an article in a Chicago paper about a couple who 38 years ago bought a run down, soon-to-be demolished dairy for $179,000 and rehabbed it into a comfortable, beautiful home. They were selling because their current real estate taxes were $76,000 a year and they just decided to sell and move. The kicker is, the property sold for almost $7million and is going to be leveled so a developer could build bigger homes on the three city lots the dairy occupied.
Suddenly, my real estate tax bill doesn’t seem so bad.
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Did you read in last week’s paper that Rochelle Township High School seniors earned more than $1.3 million in scholarships from colleges and universities and another $130,000 in scholarships from local organizations and individuals?
That is simply amazing.
Congratulations to all those earning an award and congratulations to the local folks for those scholarships. Normally there is an assembly honoring those students, but these are not normal times.
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My understanding is the former Nippon Sharyo facility is in the process of being developed, but there is a nondisclosure agreement in place to prevent announcing details on the project. Just because we aren’t hearing anything official does not mean nothing is happening. Patience pays — we will soon find out.
Terry Dickow may be contacted at terrydickow@gmail.com
