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<br />Pearson said they are alrely getting a break. There is a $100 homestead exemption <br />and a $7,500 exemption for people 65 or older already in place. <br /> <br />The city's tax rate of 25.57 per hundred of taxable value translates to about $30 a <br />month in city taxes on the average $157,000 home. That money pays for all city services <br />including law enforcement, fire protection, ambulance service, roads, planning, <br />zoning, tourism promotion, drainage and supports the arts and museums, Pearson <br />said. <br /> <br />"The school freeze makes sense for people 65 and older because they are not using the <br />schools, " he said. "But people over 65 use all of the city services. That is not changed by <br />their age in any way. I think that $30 is one of the best investments they could make." <br /> <br />Easy passage forecast <br /> <br />Caspary said response to the petition indicates that the tax freeze will pass at the polls <br />with ease. <br /> <br />Retired pediatrician Lowell Kepp said he is not so sure. When he first started hearing <br />about the freeze initiative, he was all for it. Now he is with Pearson against it. He <br />thinks others will follow suit if they actually research the issue. <br /> <br />'The tax rate is not onerous to begin with," Kepp said. "If the city should experience a <br />catastrophe that affected its infrastructure like a hurricane, it would put the burden <br />on the people in the middle. When I first looked at it, I thought it was great. But now I <br />see it is not right because it is unfair to the people in the middle. Why defer something <br />from people who are more readily able to pay the taxes anyway." <br /> <br />3 <br />