COVID-19 Megathread (Please limit all COVID discussion to this thread)

[NoNecksCurse]

Wow. You must be reading a different The Hill than I am. Fairly middle of the road in my opinion.

The hill is middle of the road. he may have gotten it mixed up with several others that lean left pretty heavily.

 

[Armourboy]

The reason it ended up being 34% was because the council chose to go with Mendes' proposal over Cooper's.

This is not political or Covid related, it's math.

We hear 34% and think that's just crazy. But it really isn't. The city has dealt with a property tax shortfall for 3 years due to the rules stating that you can't reassess property and charge the same rate--tax receipts must remain steady or less than they were before reassessment, and indeed most people paid less in taxes despite their property being valued at a much higher rate because they have to go very low to cover those instances where property values jump a lot. This 34% increase is actually an 8% DROP over 2016 rates--when property was reassessed.

Those accusing Cooper of keeping Nashville in Phase 2 for this reason are just reaching, IMO. It was happening now because this is when the law said they could.

Are people paying more out of pocket than they were before this passed?

 

[Legionnaire11]

Wow. You must be reading a different The Hill than I am. Fairly middle of the road in my opinion.

Maybe I'm mixing it up with Politico.

 

[Adz]

Are people paying more out of pocket than they were before this passed?

Yes. 34% because it's a 34% increase in the tax rate between 2019 and 2020. But not what it was at the time of reassessment. It is actually 8% lower than that amount. And that's where the law comes into play. I'm sorry mods but to explain I have to go away from Covid.

If the rate had never changed from what it was in 2016 you'd pay more in taxes between 2017 and 2020 just because the home value was higher. That is not permitted. You can't reassess and charge the same rate.

If you had a house assessed at $75,000 in 2015 in the USD your tax would have been $846.75 (the rate was 4.516)
If that house was reassessed at $100,000 in 2016 with the same percentage rate your tax would have been $1129.00

Under the reassessment rules, that $100,000 was instead taxed at 3.15% or $788.75 for the last 3 years resulting in a deficit to Metro over 2015 of $58/year. In 2020 it rises to a tax rate of 4.2277 (3.15 + 34%) and your new tax is $1056.93
Tax rate never changes: 1129 x 4 = $4516
Tax rate is lowered then increased: ($788.75 x 3) + 1056.93 = $3423.18 You paid 25% less under this method and it increases the tax rate over the 4 years. During 2017 - 2019, Metro was operating with $788.75 instead of the same home's $846.75. That is what created the deficit, but it's written into the law that that's how it must be done.

So now we have to pay the piper. And to do this they raise it 34% above the last 3 years' rate. That gets the deficit back in the coffers, saves you a little cash over time and your house is worth 25% more. No one likes taxes, but this is the system in place.

 

[hockey diva]

I don’t mind pay more property tax, my flat has appreciated quite nicely. And the services are needed to deal with the growth. What I mind are the corporate handouts certain companies got to build their headquarters here.

 

[sparkle twin]

I just don't understand how they expect people to pay that increase when so many are now unemployed and already facing mounting bills with no money coming in.

 

[Armourboy]

I just don't understand how they expect people to pay that increase when so many are now unemployed and already facing mounting bills with no money coming in.

Yep it doesn't matter what the lower than this, higher than that is, they are asking businesses and people to pay increased taxes in what is already a struggling economy. Then on top of that you won't let businesses open back up. Makes total sense.

Oh and they didn't even try and cut anything in the budget to boot. Gotta love it.

 

[lstcyr]

Maybe I'm mixing it up with Politico.

Wouldn't call Politico far left either. You might be thinking of Daily Kos. Consistent liberal thinking there.

 

[triggrman]

Please, I was generous with putting the Nashville Protest at "less than 10k" when estimates put it around 3-4k at the peak on the first couple of days and much less on subsequent evenings.

Yet the average Walmart sees 10k visits per day. Walmart on old fort parkway is the busiest one in the boro, I try to never go there but had to last Saturday, and there was no visible difference in traffic there from the parking lot to the number of people in aisles and at the checkout.

So again, a week of protests where most people are masked and distancing, or 10k daily at Walmart with 50/50 mask wearing? Both seem likely places to point the finger, but only one seems to be getting the blame.

Edit to add: basically every county is seeing an increase, a metro area of 1.6M is affected much more by a reopening effort than by a few thousand protesters.

I heard the protest were 10k+, where are you getting your numbers?

On June 4, five days later, the founding members of Teens for Equality — as the young women, ages 14 to 16, call their organization — were leading a march of protesters some 10,000 strong, according to police estimates. “I was astonished,” Kennedy Green, 14, told me in a phone interview last week. “I did not know there were that many people in Nashville who actually see a problem with the system. I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, there are so many people here who actually care.’”

Opinion | These Kids Are Done Waiting for Change

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee Highway Patrol tells our sister station, WKRN News 2 at least 10,000 people marched through the streets of Nashville on Thursday afternoon demanding racial justice.

At least 10,000 march through downtown Nashville in peaceful protest

 

[Legionnaire11]

I heard the protest were 10k+, where are you getting your numbers?

4k might have been the evening crowd that stuck around. But 4k, 10k it's still pretty small compared to the amount of people who are out and about every day in the region without taking any precautions and I stand by my assertion that the continued finger pointing at protests as the reason for cases increasing is misguided. Especially since they have gone up everywhere and not just where protests took place.

The real reason is just exposure, as should have been emphasized all along. Nothing ever changed about the status of the virus, there was no lessening or cases or anything that prompted a reopening. The reason reopening started was because of economic concerns, nothing else. So spikes in cases was always inevitable, the protests just make a convenient scapegoat.

 

[predfan98]

There is no LAW telling Cooper when to shift from phase to phase. It’s all his judgement and decision.

Hypocritical to close down those 4 bars and restaurants by the metro health board. Hope they sue and win big.

 

[triggrman]

4k might have been the evening crowd that stuck around. But 4k, 10k it's still pretty small compared to the amount of people who are out and about every day in the region without taking any precautions and I stand by my assertion that the continued finger pointing at protests as the reason for cases increasing is misguided. Especially since they have gone up everywhere and not just where protests took place.

The real reason is just exposure, as should have been emphasized all along. Nothing ever changed about the status of the virus, there was no lessening or cases or anything that prompted a reopening. The reason reopening started was because of economic concerns, nothing else. So spikes in cases was always inevitable, the protests just make a convenient scapegoat.

I mean there was a reason to reopen. Hospitals were not full or overwhelmed like they feared. Even with the spikes, they still aren't. Remember, staying home was to flatten the curve, not to get rid of the virus.

 

[Marty Party]

Covid itself is real as well as the double standards. Who even knows what's real anymore.

 

[Pred303]

people sure do stampede easily.

 

[Legionnaire11]

I mean there was a reason to reopen. Hospitals were not full or overwhelmed like they feared. Even with the spikes, they still aren't. Remember, staying home was to flatten the curve, not to get rid of the virus.

And reopening doesn't mean business as usual.

 

[jwhouk]

Uh guys?

Y'all might want to petition the NHL to play all of the games of the series vs. the Coyotes at the Bridge.

We are into 12 of the last 14 days of 1,000+ new cases in AZ, and two straight previous days of 2K cases.

 

[bdub24]

Uh guys?

Y'all might want to petition the NHL to play all of the games of the series vs. the Coyotes at the Bridge.

We are into 12 of the last 14 days of 1,000+ new cases in AZ, and two straight previous days of 2K cases.

So...its not going away with the heat then? No ‘like a miracle itll just disappear’? Nah...cant be right. Gotta be fake news jwoke!

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Uh guys?

Y'all might want to petition the NHL to play all of the games of the series vs. the Coyotes at the Bridge.

We are into 12 of the last 14 days of 1,000+ new cases in AZ, and two straight previous days of 2K cases.

I wonder how the NHL is going to rationalize moving forward at all now. They sure seemed to couch all of their grand unveiling of the return to play PR in the words and hopes of the time... how it would be contingent on cases dropping, etc, etc, all the usual expectations that were associated with phased reopening. Oh so long ago it seems. And then a month later, none of that has really come even remotely to fruition.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Saw this on the main board... does not bode especially well for things...

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

So...its not going away with the heat then? No ‘like a miracle itll just disappear’? Nah...cant be right. Gotta be fake news jwoke!

It's just because they're doing more testing brah.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

Saw this on the main board... does not bode especially well for things...

Just shut it down and look toward possibly a slightly delayed start for '20-'21. Trying to shoehorn this postseason into the mix is just going to cause more problems.

 

[lstcyr]

There is no LAW telling Cooper when to shift from phase to phase. It’s all his judgement and decision.

Hypocritical to close down those 4 bars and restaurants by the metro health board. Hope they sue and win big.

Confused here. If the governor had the legal right to set the rules and the bars and restaurants broke the rules, shouldn't the bars and restaurants pay the penalty? Or are you saying that, if it's against the law to run a red light and I run a red light because I wanted to, that there should be no penalty? Help me out here.

 

[BigFatCat999]

Any one have info of the disability rate and the full recovery rate?

 

[FossilFndr]

Today TDoH reported 1188 new cases over yesterday, highest so far. red slash is the day Tennessee began to open up.

 

[Armourboy]

Confused here. If the governor had the legal right to set the rules and the bars and restaurants broke the rules, shouldn't the bars and restaurants pay the penalty? Or are you saying that, if it's against the law to run a red light and I run a red light because I wanted to, that there should be no penalty? Help me out here.

The only issue with that is that one is a law, the other is just the whim of the mayor and is made up on the fly.

The hypocritical part is that while he is shutting bars down for too many people he has encouraged people to break his own rules about gathering in large groups with the protests.

Consistency is the issue.