elderly

The podcast host discusses his passion for working with and advocating for the elderly in Radford City. He shares a personal story about meeting an older lady who expressed her concerns about paying taxes and not qualifying for tax relief. This encounter inspired the host to initiate changes in the tax relief system for elderly citizens. He believes that while everyone should contribute, certain individuals in the community should receive significant relief on their real estate taxes. The host also reflects on the different stages of life and the financial challenges faced by young couples and elderly widows. Welcome to one more round podcast where we fight the good fight for the citizens of Radford every single day Now let's get in the ring Welcome to one more round podcast. I'm your host as always Keith Marshall and welcome to the ring Hey, I'm glad to have you with me here today today. We're going to talk about something that's near and dear to my heart a group or a part of Radford that always were a very strong motivation For me to work for and that is the elderly the elderly of Radford City, you know, I love Old people I hate riding behind them. I Hate that, but I do love old people. I love to talk to them I love the wisdom that you can get for them and I have a deep appreciation Often for the way they've lived their lives the frugality the hard work of the dedication to their families to the to the city That they're in and they hold a special place for me And it always took a lot of joy when I was on council for working for people That are elderly and you know, it all started really while I was campaigning one year And it was it was when I first ran for office and it was very new to me and I was going door-to-door I had a few things my wife and I did all of our Campaign material I didn't I didn't buy anything from any of the you know, the out the you know The producers that put out flyers and all those things for you now You can do it online and do everything but we designed it ourself and we printed everything off on a home printer And it was pretty basic But you know I would go door-to-door and I'd knock on doors in the neighborhoods and if someone would come to the door I'd introduce myself and you know, I'd hand them my paperwork and talk to them there a few minutes and I was I Was going door-to-door and I think it was actually I may have said it wrong. I think was actually My second campaign I was already on City Council and I think it was the second time that I ran and I was going door-to-door And I was down in a little neighborhood there in in West Radford and I knocked on a particular door and nobody come to the door and I started to leave and the door kind of quietly opened and there was a There was an older lady there at the door and I could tell she wasn't real happy that I was there She didn't like the idea of a of a politician, you know stopping by her house And so she you can tell the look on someone's face when they're real skeptical of you and I just I said ma'am if I could give you this, I'm you know, I'm running for City Council and and Just wanted to hand you this and you know, whatever I can't remember exactly what I said, you know She took it and I and she kind of hesitated there a second and I asked her You know, is there something that you wanted to talk about or anything and again? She hesitated and but she did start talking to me and and what she explained to me had a profound difference in the way that I Look at the taxpayers of Radford. It really it really woke me up. It's one of those things you kind of know But you don't know you don't think about that. They're not in that front part of your memory Well, this dear lady who by the way has passed away now sadly, but She told me she said, you know Keith I don't usually talk to politicians or whatever and it's really not my thing. But I just wanted to say I Have a problem with the taxes that I pay to the city and I was like well and what if she was talking about real estate taxes And I'm quoting this back from memory. It's been you know, it's been eight years. It's been a good while More than that actually probably 14 15 years. But anyway, she said, you know, I Pay my taxes every year and there's two things That I worry about she said first of all, I don't qualify for any kind of assistance I don't qualify for any kind of tax relief now Radford City at the time as my memory serves Had a tax relief system in place for elderly and and we're going to get into that deeply here shortly and talk about that But I want to base this and I won't want to give you an idea of Where I first were this first come to my mind, but she said I don't qualify for it because they say my assets are too high and You know assets deal with the value of your home above a certain amount and it deals with how much money That you have in the bank and this dear lady told me she said, you know, Keith I Save for two things and I keep this amount of money in In my account my checking account savings account, whatever you want to call it She says I say for two things number one. I save to be able to bury myself to cover my burial expenses And she said and I save to make sure I have enough money in the bank in case my furnace went out in the wintertime But I wouldn't freeze, you know, I could fix my furnace And she also said and I have to start saving every month to have enough money to pay my taxes Those were the three greatest burdens in her life That she had those were the things that it really You really moved me to be honest, you know, first of all the responsibility of it. No, I I happen to Know some of that lady's family and I know for a fact that if she needed any help the family obviously would have Given their last dime to take care of her, but that wasn't the way she looked at things She saw it as her personal responsibility to bury herself To make sure she had enough money to fix her furnace and to pay her taxes And I'm sure you know all the other bills that go along with living in a home in the city of Rafford that we all pay You know your electric rates your water your sewer, you know your groceries everything else you have to pay But she was so strong in that it was obvious and it really it moved me It really moved me and it spurred a conversation that I had at the time With the Commissioner of Revenue and I took it to council and we actually changed and not just because of her Actually when I left this person's house, I literally went across the street To a dear old guy and he was in really poor health He was in the same boat and he was talking about having to make decisions about Fixing his water line that come into his house. It was putting some rust. He was getting rust And he's coming out of a faucet because these old water lines saving for that and saving for his taxes Those were the things that really worried him and you know as a result of those couple conversations You know, it kind of gives you that You know This is really what things are all about when you get down to the nitty-gritty and you talk about Raising taxes or raising water rates or or electric rates or whatever it is It's more than just a dollar figure that you get because of it at the end of the year. It affects real people And like I said, I was moved by that. It really moved me So, you know as a result of that I took to council we were able to change Some of the numbers to make more people in these this dear lady's situation and this guy To make more people qualified for some tax relief Now, I think there's been a change again since then, you know, it's been so long. I have to Be completely honest with you. I don't know when that change would have happened, but it looks to me like Based on your income. There's some people that qualify for complete tax relief meaning they don't have to pay Anything on their real estate taxes for their home And I'll say this and and I can be persuaded either way. I'm actually, you know, but generally in my mind When I look at taxes or bills or what we should pay, I think everyone should pay something. I've always believed that But I do believe that there are certain people in our community in Rafford City That should get relief and some significant relief on the real estate taxes, you know, I want to explain something I think most of you know this but some of you may not have thought about this Especially when you're talking about the elderly in the city of Radford Think about your own and I'm speaking right now to young people People that you know, maybe you're in a little lower than my age bracket I'm 54 years old, but maybe a little older younger than me You know, I have a lot of neighbors and people that I know that are just getting started out I can you know, I watch them and I watch them with their kids. I watch them play in the yard. I love it It just but it kind of makes me sad because I'm not young anymore and I miss my kids being at home you know playing in the yard and I watch their families grow and their kids get bigger and I realized that You know, they're buying their first home often and they're living there and they're they're starting to pay on it They're getting some equity on it. They're in a totally different life stage than I am, but definitely than some of these Elderly people in the city, you know, most often you find their widows Those guys we do, you know, they they show pictures of us Sometimes these little memes are up up up on ladders and doing dumb things and they'll say this is why Women live longer than men and you know I don't doubt there's some truth to that because you know I've gotten hurt doing some really dumb things like that in my life and you know It probably clicks off a few months or a few years each time I do it But you know, they're often they're often widows and I think about these young couples and and we don't think about the future so much But you know when you go and buy your home, let's just let's give you an example and and I'll use my parents home Because it's something I'm intimately I have knowledge of and I can kind of tell you how it works And I'll say this my mom and dad have passed away and my mom outlived my dad by quite a number of years She was a widow She never was in this financial situation She was always you know They were they were blessed and they had a little extra money put aside and they never had any concerns along But I think you I can use her and our family home as an example, and it'll make sense Well, listen back in the 60s. They built that home in Forest Park and As I recall the cost of the home for construction was around between twelve and thirteen thousand dollars That's amazing in it from the 60s to now between twelve and thirteen thousand dollars their house payment By the way was $100 a month Which you know obviously seems like nothing but I'm sure in the in the early 60s that was a lot of money then So they paid twelve thousand dollars for the house and they paid it off It was just as hard for them by the way To pay that hundred dollars a month in the 60s and the 70s and 80s as they were paying it off It was just as hard for them to pay it off as it is for you. That's purchased your first new home but they paid the home off and At some point, you know, they work their lives just like you're doing now that they're paying the bill They're raising their kids. They their kids go off. They go to college. They move away. They get married They have kids of their own and at some point you're alone in your home You have the home. You're no longer working. You're no longer able to work. You've got up into your 70s and 80s And you're whatever income you have at that point. You're stuck with and in many cases Now my mom doesn't fit in this cat didn't fit exactly in this category But in many cases for these for these widows in particular, they are left with Social Security And just so you know, the typical Social Security seems to range somewhere from about $1,500 a month to $1,800 a month Yeah, that's that's what I said 1,500 to $1,800 a month that is not a lot of money is it? No, no think about what your electric bill is now in the city of Rafford and your water and sewer bill Think about now what the cost of a jar of peanut butter is what the cost of gas is so they are living on that fixed income and The one good thing the one positive thing that they don't have now is the house payment You're dealing with the house payment and they're astronomical now, but of course your income level is usually a lot higher But you're dealing with that house payment So the one thing one asset that they've worked for in their life and they've paid off so they would have a home So they wouldn't have to worry about that is their house you know the basics of Human survival, you know, you need shelter and You need you know food and water But shelter is a huge component of that. So they've taken care of that They've worked for that and they've earned that and they've paid it off and they live in a home that they own But sometimes and you think well, it's a good thing well Sometimes for the elderly and often For those that are living and by the way, some of them, you know A lot of these widows and people they work their husbands worked at Lynchburg foundry They earned a little pension that pensions running about two or three dollars a month literally And a pension that from someone that retired in in 1980 Is Nothing a few hundred dollars sometimes at the most So put yourself in that situation in that home The place that you live the place that you need you can't afford a smaller home. You don't have any extra money You can't you don't have money to go and rent a cheap apartment Really sometimes you don't want to you want to stay in your home where you're comfortable Where you where you've lived your life where your memories are you want to stay there and I don't blame them My mother until the very end wanted to stay in her home Because she was comfortable there and she was familiar with everything there and she was safe there felt safe there So that's important to them. So that home though as the cost of real estate taxes continue to grow and And as the values of the homes You know skyrocket now now think about this You have a home and you live there and you paid $12,000 for it in the 60s. You built it or you bought it, whatever it was well, I have to tell you it's went up 20 times in value since then and so is the taxes just to be honest and That that house becomes a large expense to you. I'm not talking about the maintenance on it I'm talking about the taxes on it I mentioned to you that that lady that told me I would keep that begin saving I begin saving for this for my taxes on day one of the new year I'm saving up to make my first tax payment in June. I'm saving up now to make my second tax payment in December and that's why This tax relief for the elderly elderly for those that qualified. That's why I pushed it That's why it we grew it a little bit so more people could qualify now it looks to me like and you know, I could be wrong about Exactly the the rules of it when I was on council because frankly I I don't have that paperwork anymore And I just do not remember But it looks to me like now You either qualify for the relief or you don't and if you qualify for the relief, you don't have to pay any real estate taxes And I'll give you the qualifications for that relief in a minute But I wanted to say this just as a principle of myself and I think you know Most of us would agree with this. Maybe we differ a little bit and I certainly could be convinced either way But I believe everyone Should pay something Everyone should have a little skin in the game Now, I certainly my ability to pay my taxes in the city. I don't deserve any breaks Okay, I can pay full I don't like what I'm paying I'm gonna fight against these continuously You know poor decisions in city government that are causing our taxes to go up I'm gonna fight against that on principle not because I can't afford it Because I want to use my money for what I want to use it for. I don't want to pay for malfeasance for somebody else But there are those that are not in the situation that I am and I do want to see them have relief But I do think they should have a little skin in the game But it looks to me like now if you qualify You're a hundred percent exempt from real estate taxes. If you do not qualify you pay all you pay a hundred percent And I don't believe those are in the exact spots. I believe they need to be changed a little bit So let me let me bring you up to 2024 to a conversation that I had last week With actually the child of someone that lives in the city Talking about their parents real estate taxes in Radford and let me Let me just cover where they were at They qualified previously for tax relief Now they are this is a person that lives in a little little town home in the city of Radford Their income is minute. It's just Social Security fifteen eighteen hundred dollars a month They do not have any assets personally Other than the little Christmas Club, they have a Christmas Club. They save up for the grandkids Typical just it reminds me so much of of the person that I spoke to those many years ago same sort of scenario Not any extra money just enough for just you know, just a little bit in the bank for major things But this person got a notification this year that they no longer qualified for any exemptions now had their income changed No, they still don't have any money their income level. All they collect is Social Security and it's not enough to meet the threshold They do not have money and stocks and bonds in the bank. That would disqualify them from qualifying for this so why Did they not qualify? They were notified that because of their assets their assets exceeded Seventy thousand dollars they no longer qualified now Let me read you what the rules are now in order to qualify For tax relief here in the city of Radford and let me say this before I get into this This is not one of those podcasts where I go after someone and say look what you've done Look what you're doing. You need to correct this. It's not I Think what I'm about to go over is just a one of those consequences that happens When we see astronomical jumps in real estate values in the city It's one of those unintended consequences of those things happening. I don't blame anyone in particular for this happening I think it looks like this is something that has slipped through the cracks now maybe Someone on City Council has or someone with the city is talking about providing this relief and if they are hey, just ignore me All right But if but if not, if it's what's happened is what I think's happened and because these real estate jumps What I'm about to describe has happened if someone doesn't know about this, let me encourage Our elected officials to take a look at this freshly and see what we can do To rectify the situation so without going any further Let me read you what our current rules are in order to qualify in order for these Elderly or and also, of course handicapped individuals in order for them to qualify for this real estate tax relief Here are the city's current rules that I have found online All right, and I found this Under the city's website and if you google Real estate tax relief for the city of Radford I think you'll get really close to it and you can find it and read it for yourself But OMR is going to read it for you right now. So here it is real estate tax relief The real estate tax relief program administered by the Commonwealth Excuse me Let me start again the real estate tax relief program administered by the Commissioner of the Revenue Office is a benefit provided by the City of Radford to give Radford City homeowners a 100% exemption for homeowners over 65 years of age or those who are disabled Exemptions are granted on an annual basis and are not automatic which means you have to apply for them So if you fall into that category by the way And you didn't know that this existed and I'm going to give you the rules of it as we follow through here You have to apply for this each year to qualify All right tax relief must be requested by filing a form annually with the Commissioner of Revenue that's located You know where the courthouse is downtown. What does that Second Avenue? I think that's where you go The Commissioner's Revenue Office is there in that building if you didn't know those who meet the qualifications Should contact our office for more information or to complete an application Qualifications now pay attention here. Here are the qualifications to qualify for tax relief in the city You must be 65 years of age on January 1st of the year of the application Your total income for the preceding year cannot exceed $24,000 you can't make more than 24 K in a year This includes income of the spouse or anyone residing in the home The dwelling must be owned by you and be your principal place of residence Now, of course, that's what we're talking about. This is where these elderly people live They've often been there for many many years. All right now pay attention to the next point your assets cannot exceed $70,000 And it goes on to say and you know an application must be submitted and you know kind of some unpertinent information there, but They give some examples of your income, you know I said your income cannot be over $24,000 a year for your income those include Social Security pensions earned income interest income from savings certificates or deposits and any miscellaneous income Now for assets now, this is what I really want to key in on here today your assets include your savings account certificates of deposit CDs Money market accounts stocks and bonds all those things that you would expect but this last one is the one I think that kicked out this particular person that gave me a call and And also I think it's going to kick out a lot of other people after this assessment So the last asset that can put you over and remember your assets cannot exceed $70,000 one of your assets though is any value of the home that exceeds $180,000 so for example If you have a home that is worth $250,000 Its value has went up to that level. Well, that is $70,000 above The $180,000 so those that would be $70,000 in assets so you no longer qualify for that benefit There can be a combination of the two. Let's say you have This particular person had a Christmas Club So if they had a you know $1,500 in their Christmas Club or $1,000 or whatever it was and you know You add that with your home's value above $180,000 or whatever a combination of those would be maybe you know I mentioned that this one particular lady saved up enough money to bury herself That's seven eight to ten thousand dollars probably a little more than that now Enough money to fix her furnace maybe six or eight hundred dollars, you know And then the asset of her home you add those together if it exceeds $70,000 you do not qualify now if you go on just so I don't want to leave it out There are some exclusions to the rule that deals Specifically with disabled people they have some extra Ways that they can qualify and some of their income is not counted like and you can read that for yourself But I'm going to deal mainly today with and I'm not not that I'm leaving those out You should check that out if you're in that category if you're disabled, you know There's some other things some proof that you have to provide a couple certificates of disability your first 7,500 of the income is you know, you don't have to worry about that or the first 6,500 of income of someone that's living with you. It doesn't doesn't have to be counted in some of their figures So there's some other things but today I'm gonna deal mainly With with this particular person that gave me a call and I did a little research on their behalf just talking to them Looking up these rules and I know exactly why they no longer qualify this particular person's Where they live their home with this new assessment. It looks like it went up about 40% somewhere in that neighborhood About 40% I mean we're talking $60,000 in value that was added to their home with the latest assessment now Just so you understand particularly young people. I think need to pay attention to this because you may say to yourself Man that's a good thing your home shot up in value. Well understand this to an 80 year old person The value of their home means nothing to them Those assets are not liquid. Okay, they can't use the increased value of their home To buy more things for themselves or to fix a leak in the house or to put a new roof on Man, I guess they could go and get some sort of home equity line or or something like that Maybe but they don't have the income to pay the payments for a new debt. So that's just kind of out of question They live in their home The one that they built that they've been living in for years that they bought for 15 10, you know 30 20 25 whatever $40,000 many years ago It's when I went up astronomically now because of the value of their home. It's eating them alive this particular person that I'm Speaking about went from paying zero in real estate taxes to $1,800 a year the value of a full month of Income for this person to pay for their real estate taxes and that is because that's what Social Security they collect about $1,800 a month Now I can tell you this The cost of my real estate taxes is not equal to a month's income Thank goodness, and I want to point out to you just because it kind of Kind of shows the kind of wild crazy Price swings we have here in Radford City This is I don't want you to think of this home as this person living in you know one of the more ritzy neighborhoods in Radford with a 2,600 square foot home with a huge backyard and you know, no this person lives in the townhome It's it's a townhome and nothing wrong with that, but you wouldn't attribute it to the kind of value That was placed on it 250,000 some dollars so it's quite a shock to the family when this happened to her and I can imagine it was you know when you go and you realize and you go from paying nothing to a month's worth of Your income in order to stay in your home and for it not to be taken You know by the government or having to be sold that's quite a shock to the financial pocketbook of that person I will also mention something Some of us, you know, those of you that are making house payments every month You don't think about your real estate taxes as much, you know, that's divvied up over 12 months You know part of your escrow account and paying your taxes and it's like coming out and you don't really realize that it's incorporated into your house Payment, but when you actually have to write that check a couple times a year It has a profound effect on the way you think about real estate taxes especially when you're in the category of a Honestly a low-income category because your age and because you're not able to work anymore You're not able to add your assets. You're not able to bring in more income Writing that check is a big deal and it's tough and it you know It can make or break you and you know These people they they don't want to put you know, some of you will say what about their kids? Whatever and I'm sure you know in all of these situations including the one that I'm talking about No one would let that person go needy. They would take care of that problem But you know these people these elderly people and I'm thankful for them. I talk about the things that I love about They want to take care of themselves, they don't want the burden placed on their children Their children will eventually get the benefit of selling that home when they pass on I guess but these people live in their home They want to pay their bills with their income. It's important to them And I'm glad for that. These are the people honestly that built this city These are the people that paid the taxes that have built the infrastructure that we're living and enjoying now So yeah, hey, they've paid their fair share I don't have a problem with giving them some relief and I don't think most of you do either You know, there's and I'm gonna talk about this a little bit And it's some solutions that I won't want to see happen. Let me just get it out there now what I want to see happen Here's why I'm doing the podcast I think we need to adjust the numbers and it needs to account for the amount of increase the average Home has seen in the city of Radford. We need to change that 70,000 threshold or maybe we need to change it to the amount above $200,000 or $210,000 somewhere in that neighborhood or maybe a combination of the two. I Think everybody like I said should pay something So I think we need to sit down and we need to crunch the numbers To try to help those people to at least bring back where we were before this reassessment For those that were qualified before whatever adjustments we need to make to make sure they qualify I think we need to do that and it probably would be to look at the percentage of Increase in real estate values of the average home in seat of Radford and adjust it by that percentage. I think that would be important Now inevitably you're gonna say and it crossed my mind. We know Radford City's broke Can we afford to do this? Well, the first thing I'll say we weren't collecting that money before this year Anyway, those people that were qualified that were 100% qualified. We weren't collecting anything from them before this happened And I do believe we should collect something. It should be a small small Affordable percentage, but I don't believe it should be where it's at because we're we're at we're gonna price those Dear people right out of their homes. We're going to force them out of their homes because of that and I think that's wrong And as far as the city being broke, you know They are broke by the way Those of you that listen to the last episode 12 questions, you should be asking, you know, your leaders go back and listen to that I know there's been some denials out there and some word salads and some you know, you know They're in tough shape and I realize that and I acknowledge that and it crossed my mind before I did this episode You know, can we really afford to? to give relief to anybody And I want to say this I think we can't afford not to It's a principle that I live by and it's done me so well I've been so blessed as a person But there's a principle that I was taught as a child and that's tithing Giving 10% of what you make and I give mine to my local church But but the principle it's a biblical principle You'll find in both the Old and the New Testament But the principle of giving back giving alms to the poor giving 10% of what you make back And I believe it applies to everyone Now I realize that some of the people that are that are listening to my podcast may not be Christians as I am They may not go to church at all. I suspect most of you, you know are Christians or you you know, you do or at least have a You know a general belief and you know giving and taking care of those less needy than you I believe most of us fall into that category And I believe it's important to do as individuals. I Believe businesses if you own a business I believe your business should follow that 10% principle too. And as a government as a city government, I Absolutely do believe that a city government should follow those same principles now Radford City does do some of that. There are some We do give money in Radford City. We contribute to some organizations that do provide charitable things to our citizens in Radford We always try to take a look and I assume that they still do now What is the benefit of these organizations to the city of Radford and you know Are we giving a proportionate amount to help the citizens and they still do that? I assume and that is part of that and so is this You know, I found in my life That the harder times that I had the harder it was To give that 10% to to tithe to to give alms to the poor The poorer I was the more it hurt But you know what I found out The harder it was for me to give when I did it The more I was blessed Now when I say blessed, I'm not talking about Hey, you know, I gave $20 to church and I opened up my mailbox and I got 60 back. It's not always monetary Sometimes it is Sometimes it's in ways that you can't calculate Sometimes it's in bills that you don't get Sometimes it's in health or blessings at home. God blesses you in many ways. We can't calculate it. Can we I know I can't There is not I'm pretty sure There's not anybody in city of Radford more blessed than I am and I'm not talking about money I'm talking about a thousand other things a thousand other things And I'll I'll stop my sermon but I will say this You want to start a good prayer life? Start with thankfulness Start right there Because we all have a lot to be thankful for but when we have the opportunity to give back as a community as a city to those who Need it the most that are often most deserving. Oh This is a great way to start and I don't think we can leave these people out I Don't think I want to crawl over the backs of these people in order to pay our bills. I don't So I'd like to make the suggestion to our leaders and like I said earlier if this is something you're already working on Hey, that's awesome. I Just spent 30 40 minutes talking about it. Maybe inform some people about how it works But I would encourage our city leaders to take a fresh look At this real estate tax relief program and bring it up to date With the the current numbers of the real estate increases we've had in the city these people are some of the best that we've had and So and it's not a lot of there's not a lot of people in this category. We're not talking about a million dollars here you know, but The little that we get it may be a little bit to us That we give back The little bit that we give back to them. It may just be a little bit to us But it's a whole lot To people like the lady that I spoke to here recently and like the dear lady who's passed on it meant a lot To them and I think as a city the generosity that we can give back. I Think will be repaid Hundredfold to us For doing the right thing for these people. I really believe that. Okay, there's something else I really believe in and that's God's Word and I want to finish this podcast as I do every podcast and that is by reading our key or Theme verse for the podcast and that's found as always in Ecclesiastes chapter 12 verses 13 and 14 And God's Word says this let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter Fear God and keep his commandments for this is the whole duty of man For God shall bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil Hey, thanks for joining me again today here in the ring. I really enjoyed this podcast because this is something that's really Important and special to me our dear old people that live in the city of Rapid We have an obligation to them. We really do and I think it's our job as young people in this Little little semi. I still call myself not quite there, but semi young semi old, too It's our obligation to try to take care of those people that need help Help those that we can help. All right. Thanks again for joining me here on the podcast I look forward to talking to you again until then though I hope God richly blesses you and I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Thanks