What you get from paying Property Taxes?

[Fern]

Those of us who are property owners and paying for a variety of town services. How many of these do you personally take advantage of? Here are some examples:

1. My town does not offer garbage pickup, leaf pickup, so no benefit there.
Some people pay for private hauler, but that's more expensive than bringing your trash to the dump yourself. Dump sticker, tho, is still not cheap: $80 a year, more than most neighboring towns.

2. Curbside recycling, yes. i recycle glass, plastic (1 & 2), cans, cardboard and newspapers

3. The Library: i rent all my DVDs and videotapes from the library, for free. Don't do it that often, but nice to have that option occasionally. Don't have much time for reading,. so don't check out books often, tho i do buy a bunch of books, cheap, at the library's annual book sale.

4. My town has an annual health fair where you can get a variety of free health screenings for bone density, cholesterol, etc, some giveaway samples, info on lyme disease, etc.

5. i now have town water and sewer services, which enhances my home's value, but costs me: about $30 a month for water and same for sewer. Plus, my neighborhood's homeowners had to take out mandatory (3%) loan for $10,000 about 6 years ago to pay for our 'share' of the sewer treatment plant. So that's a lump sump bill of $600 once a year.

6. My town is one of just a few in my state with a 'borough' tax. Presumably pays for things like sidewalks, which only exist in my part (the center) of town, and streetlights, but this is all humbug. Just another unnecessary layer of government. The annual borough tax is about $250.

7. Snow plowing, yes. You can also take as much sand as you want for better traction from the highway dept.

8. Fire fighting and ambulance services are free and volunteer-based, tho many make a donation after they have a need to use them.

9. My town has a town-owned movie theater that charges just $2 per movie. Try to take advantage of that when i can. They also have 2 swimming pools, but it's mostly families with kids that go there, plus you have to pay for a pass, so have never done that. Maybe i'll take up tennis someday, the courts are right down the street from me.

10. Big Labor Day parade attracts thousands, many from out of town cus it's so well known and well done.

[shengmei]

I am still praying that someday the government will offer a voucher for homeschooling, like they do when they offer a voucher to go to private school.

[mom-from-missouri]

The library, and police protection . My children are not in this school district. We pay for services such as fire and ambulance. My street never ever gets plowed... Our trash is a private company.

[PRICEPLUS]

Taxes are high here. We get leaf pick up, recycling, and garbage pick up. The town makes two stops to pick up leaves. The town does a fairly decent job at plowing. There are three pools and a miniature golf course. We have four libraries that are part of a larger system. The park system is fairly extensive between state and local.

We have excellent police protection. The town is the fifth safest of its size in the country. Fire and Ambulance are volunteer.

The schools are excellent but the taxes are high and they get higher every year.

The cost of living here is high and getting higher all the time!

[cicy33]

We live in a town of about 1000 people (though I have never seen them all)

We have the option to pay for garbage pick up but we prefer to use a company that picks up. Costs us 32 a month but worth since we also do construction.

They do snowplow well.
Fire and ambulance are a joke. Two years ago took the fire truck over 20 minutes to travel 3 blocks to an apartment complex on fire cuz of some idiot that had a meth lab

We have a small fair that is pricey every year.

Sports is the biggest thing here. not too bad on costs for that. about $25 per child to join discount for more than 2.

About a year ago we got our first Stop Light. We are so proud! lol Actually it pissed a lot of people off cuz it messed up businesses that have been here a long time. Tore up our streets horribly. Getting better though!

We are not a home rule town so no effect on that.

Taxes on my home: approx $1500 a year for a 3 bedroom house and about an acre of land. (there are 4 lots) The renters home is about $350 a year. BUT our average pay here is 6.50 an hour. So we are probably lower than a lot of areas.

[BillsGirl]

lets see how you OWN your property when you forget to pay taxes!!

[Snoopy2645]

We get the library art center museums, schools we finally got new middle schools thanks to new taxes but it was worth it!! Now hoping for new grade schools soon. So the kids get thier education. The only thing I wish my taxes covered is a preschool or headstart which is only free here if you qualify & we dont so we have to pay for that.

[cicy33]

Originally Posted by BillsGirl

lets see how you OWN your property when you forget to pay taxes!!

I know what you mean!

[Tree0164]

We get the school system, library, road to drive on, roads that are cleared, our parks are maintained. Police and fire departments as well.

We do pay separately for garbage pick-up, and water bills.

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by shengmei

I am still praying that someday the government will offer a voucher for homeschooling, like they do when they offer a voucher to go to private school.

Ditto.

[ban26ana]

We don't get trash pickup either. I pay about $60 a quarter for a private company, who also takes my recycling.

Our emergency services are decent. We have a seriously understaffed police department. Our town is over 100 square miles, and we sometimes have 4 police officers on duty. Our 5 fire departments are all volunteer, but we have great firefighters. They get on scene in about 5 minutes. Our ambulance squad is both paid and volunteer. They are their own corporation, but the township still pays for their fuel and their vehicles. The township might pay for more too, I'm not sure. They bill for their services, but they don't take township residents to collections; they just eat what isn't paid by insurance.

We have a library that is part of our county system, so I have access to the other libraries in the county. We have excellent schools and decent transportation for them. We have a new lake and park at the municipal complex, and they're adding community activities every year. This year we had a carnival, and we had weekly movies and concerts in the park.

Our public works department does a good job of plowing in the main parts of town, but it takes a while for them to get out to the boondocks where I live. If I didn't have police pick me up for work, I'd never be able to make it in a snowstorm.

But best of all, taxes pay my salary!!! I'm a 911 police dispatcher.

Taxes are expensive, though. We rent, but the taxes on the house are about $3000 a year for a 2B/1BA 800 sq ft house on 2 acres.

[dealsaver]

A society where uneducated youths don't roam the street in search of mischief.

[PrincessPerky]

Originally Posted by dealsaver

A society where uneducated youths don't roam the street in search of mischief.

Hmm you must not live where I do, while they are locked up during daylight hours, they more than make up for it at night. Poor kids.

[CRFSaver]

Look at your county or city budget. I have seen as high as 60% goes to law enforcement.