When the public bus system of Hamilton County, Ohio needed an overhaul, ‘Reinventing METRO’ promised improved service and financial sustainability. To get it funded with an increase in the county sales tax, the local REALTOR® board joined a broad-based coalition in a leadership capacity, with support from the Ohio Association…...
Pennsylvania REALTORS® Lobby Governor to Resume Responsible In-Person Real Estate Business
Across Pennsylvania, the pandemic shut-down was leaving housing consumers in dire straits, and real estate professionals unable to provide any in-person service. With 48 other states allowing at least some form of in-person real-estate business during the lockdown, the Pennsylvania Association of REALTORS® worked tirelessly to convince a reluctant governor…...
Utah REALTORS® School Lawmakers on Best Practices for Education Funding
With support from an Issues Mobilization Grant, the Utah Association of REALTORS® was able to convince state lawmakers that impact fees imposed on new development were not a rational source of funding for local schools – and would actually exacerbate the affordable housing crisis. Sustainable growth, the REALTORS® argue, will…...
Huntsville REALTORS® Get Out the Vote to Support School District Expansion Funding
Though the jobs and housing markets are booming in the northern Alabama region served by the Huntsville Area Association of REALTORS®, its school district has been seriously overburdened. With help from the REALTOR® Party, the local REALTORS® backed a successful ballot initiative to pay for essential construction and renovations with…...
Hilton Head Area and Beaufort Jasper County REALTORS® Lead Winning School Funding Campaign
In Beaufort County, S.C., major construction, renovations, and updates were urgently needed throughout the school district, which had not had a successful bond referendum – its only source of such funding – in more than a decade. When a promising referendum made it to the ballot this year, the area’s…...
Wisconsin REALTORS® Urge State Senate to ‘Hold the Line’ on Property Taxes
With a full-on campaign called ‘Hold the Line on Property Taxes,’ the Wisconsin REALTORS® organized a powerful response to the governor’s plan to lift a freeze on municipal and country property taxes. An Issues Mobilization grant helped them convince the state senate that the move lacked tax-payer support....
Texas REALTORS® Achieve Tax Reform for Texas Property Owners
In Texas, where there’s no state income tax or a state-levied property tax, it’s the tax bills from your county, your municipality, your school district, and various other special districts that’ll get you. Texas REALTORS® have been battling the ‘Hidden Property Tax’ inherent in the system for years, and this…...
Greater Los Angeles and Southland Regional Association REALTORS® Join Forces to Defeat Parcel Tax
Fresh off a win with a highly publicized teachers’ strike earlier this year, the Los Angeles Unified School District called for a 16-cent/square foot parcel tax on all residential and commercial buildings, claiming that it would support students. But the REALTORS® of the Greater Los Angeles and the Southland Regional…...
Washington REALTORS® Campaign for Affordable Housing Legislation
REALTORS® in Washington state knew that access to affordable housing at all income levels was being hampered by lack of inventory. Using an Issues Mobilization Grant, they’ve convinced lawmakers to tackle challenges ranging from zoning to builder-liability to spur the creation of more housing stock....