OT: High taxes (was Re: [AT] Concrete slab- Subdivision Development

[Mike Sloane]

As a member of my town's governing body and also member of the Planning 
Board, I have observed that for every house that is built, the town gets 
2.1 school age children. And real estate taxes are based on the 
(approximate) market value of the home. So new homes tend to get taxed 
slightly higher than older homes, but it still remains that for every 
home built, the net taxes collected are less than the cost of increased 
infrastructure (town services, schools, etc.). And the schools don't 
have to be fancy to be expensive. Again, in NJ, the standards for how a 
school is built and what goes into it are determined not by the local 
school board but by some bureaucrats at the state capital. So when, for 
instance, the local K-8 school is at capacity (determined by the state), 
the very next house built will force the town to spend $10-20 million 
for a new school or at least, an expensive addition. And if the sewer 
system is at capacity, the next subdivision is going to cost the town 
millions for an upgrade. And another interesting law in our state is 
that you can't stick the new homes with the additional cost - it has to 
be distributed evenly over all the taxpayers.

Now this has two interesting ramifications: 1. as the taxes go up, older 
residents with no children at home are forced to move out (as Cecil is 
doing), and the folks coming in will be younger families with children. 
You can see where that leads. 2. Owners of farmland acreage will find 
themselves pressured by encroaching development and rising taxes and 
sell out to developers, who build more houses on the acreage, increasing 
the number of school age children.

What we did in our town was try to contain the growth by creating an 
"open space" plan and buying up undeveloped property, as well as 
participating in "farmland preservation" programs. This has helped, but 
there are still development applications coming in regularly, and the 
builders have a very powerful lobby at the state capital, and we are 
only a little rural town. When we try to stop them, they take us to 
court and win. :-( We just lost two the other day that will be 40 
individual homes and 230 townhouses on top of a ridge that can be seen 
for 20 miles. The same developer is also going against our wishes in 
building 180 units of townhouses adjacent to some wetlands - a future 
slum just waiting to happen. Between the two developments, we will 
definitely need a new school, addition to the sewer plant, and some 
other stuff I have forgotten. I have lived here for 35 years and love my 
place, but I am retired now and may not be able to afford the increase 
in taxes that are sure to come in the next few years. :-( :-(

Mike

Cecil E Monson wrote:
>> Hi Cecil,
>>
>> Actually the influx of folks from up your way HAS reduced our tax 
>> rates. The county is building buildings, adding services and hiring 
>> folks like crazy but the tax rates have held their own or come down 
>> for the last several years.  Of course the inflation in property 
>> values caused by the same chain of events have made the actual tax 
>> BILL higher.
>>
>> Charlie 
> 
> 
> 
>     Sad to say, you cannot depend on this situation staying the
> way it is. What has happened here with all these newcomers is the
> demand for more and more services and added expense to go with it.
> As long as the local residents outnumbered the newcomers, the taxes
> stayed pretty stable here too. But, as soon as these people outnumbered
> the locals, they started voting in bigger and more expensive schools,
> wanted bigger and more expensive highway departments and on and on and
> on until they raised the taxes out of sight. Our tax INCREASE in school
> taxes alone on this property for the year 2004-2005 was over $6000. I
> have to say this was a bitter pill to swallow.
> 
>     Take our Township highway department for example. In New York
> these Town highway departmenst normally have between 3 and 6 or 7 men
> in the departments. Ours has 18 now with a full time "sit at a desk"
> superintendent. They do a great job and the roads are just great - no
> doubt about it but it is expensive. The newcomers want to drive the
> full speed limit no matter what the weather is and in the winter they
> want the roads broom clean.
> 
>     Another ha ha  -  I believe the dog warden has a 4WD vehicle.
> I seriously doubt the need for this. I remember back in the 1980s when
> I went to Massachusetts to build Cable TV systems and the people there
> had just voted in Proposition 2 1/2 to lower excessive property taxes.
> I noticed the Dog Warden in one of the local Townships had a brand new
> $75K Telsta bucket truck. Guess why??  To get cats out of trees. Geez,
> I never heard of anything so rediculous but it goes to show you how
> taxes go up if the people allow it. Did you ever see a cat skeleton up
> in a tree?
> 
>     So, watch the taxes, Charlie. And believe me they bear watching.
> 
> Cecil

-- 
Mike Sloane
Allamuchy NJ
mikesloane at verizon.net
Images: <www.fotki.com/mikesloane>

The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always 
so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts. -Bertrand
Russell, philosopher, mathematician, author, Nobel laureate (1872-1970)


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