The Joint Budget Committee voted to suspend the Homestead Tax Exemption. 

In April, the committee published its official recommendations, and the Homestead suspension was included. 

Before then, our state senator could have informed us, his constituents, of this consideration. Instead, Sen. Bob Rankin never spoke out against the Homestead suspension recommendation.

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As his constituents, we should have been informed and empowered to publicly object before the committee’s official recommendation in April. Knowing this suspension was a probability, we constituents could have had the opportunity to voice our objection. 

This suspension will add more financial strain on seniors and disabled veterans. Why have them, specifically, bear some of the burden of balancing a budget greatly affected by the overspending of our money?

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In the end, county assessors boldly spoke out against the April committee recommendation to suspend the tax exemption. But, sadly, the final vote went through. After that pressure, Rankin did vote against it, but it should not have come to that.