Property Tax Assessments If you held onto your home through the recession you may soon be rewarded with a bigger tax bill. You may be thinking, "Wait! Prop 13 keeps my tax rate from rising more than two percent a year." That’s true, but a proposition enacted the same year as Prop 13 - Prop 8 (not the same-sex marriage Prop 8) - allows your tax bill to go down as your property value decreases. The problem is there is no cap on how fast property taxes can rise once they’ve been assessed lower. So people who saw a 50 percent decrease in home value and property tax payments can potentially see a tax payment increase of 50 percent if their home value bounces all the way back. This tax increase may come over time or it may come all at once. One thing for certain, is it can come faster than two percent a year. To find out more about this situation (and whether there are ways to avoid a big fat tax bill) we’re speaking with county assessors from around the region, including Sacramento, Yolo and El Dorado counties.

 

Prescription Drug Disposal Improper disposal of medications is a public health and safety issue and unused medications in the home pose a threat for drug abuse by children and teens. Because flushing and throwing away medications can harm the environment and the water we drink, the California Stewardship Council has implemented the "Don't Rush to Flush" pharmaceuticals take-back program for Sacramento and Yolo to set up six permanent pharmaceutical collection sites in the region to safely dispose medications. We'll talk about it with Heidi Sanborn, executive director of the California Stewardship Council.

 

Karin Slaughter New York Times bestselling author Karin Slaughter just released her newest book in the Will Trent series last week, and this Thursday she'll be in town to talk about it. Today, Slaughter joins us to talk about her newest thriller "Unseen," which will be the subject of the "Sacramento Bee's" July Book Club event, and her success in crime fiction.

 

Sound Advice: Slim Whitman At the Opera host Sean Bianco grew up with the music of Slim Whitman. When the legendary singer recently passed away, Bianco decided to bring his collection of Slim Whitman records to Capital Public Radio for a special Sound Advice remembrance. We'll hear some of Whitman's best-known tunes including, "Indian Love Call," "Rose Marie" and "I Remember You."