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Where were you when I was looking to move back in 2010? In all sincerity, Island Park sounds like a great place to live especially with those taxes!
I love low taxes. I also grieve my taxes, willing to go to SCAR, fill out Sandy Damage forms etc all on my own.
Island Park has a commerical section that pays a lot of property tax plus at end of town a LIPA plant that pays a boat load of taxes.
Island Park is a rare LI town with NO High School. Kids attend either Long beach, or East Rockway and town negoiates between two for best rate. So no administrators etc and maint, pensions and medical for a big HS. Huge savings.
That said schools are just average. IP is safe, mainly older white Italian type folks in a lot of sections. It has it own private beach and houses walking distance from train.
If you have no school age kids and you like the beach it is great. If you need name brand recognition of a good town and blue ribbon schools not good.
I almost bought a fixable sandy damaged bungalow from Bank of American after Sandy. Ended up selling for 79K. Was a gut job, but someone threw 50K into it and all new like a showplace for a total of 129K. It had 4k taxes. If my kids was old enough to move out I would have bought it for one. At time it was a big project and I was repairing my own sandy damaged home.
But it goes to show folks who claim LI is unafordable for young folks are lying. Trouble is Rockville Center, Manahasset and GC 4 bed houses are unaffordable.
I posted here a few days ago looking for recommendations on towns on LI that would work for our family. We are strongly considering CT as well but LI is definitely still in the running, especially since me and my wife spoke and basically decided that if we are going to move from our urban area to a suburb that she is gonna have to get her drivers license and we will have to get a used second car for occasions when I cannot be there to taxi her around, because most suburb areas (especially the desirable ones) aren't really walker friendly and her driving opens up lots more options for us, especially since we don't have a real high budget.
That's not the topic of the thread though. I was wondering why Long Island has such infamously high taxes? Other places in NY or NJ have high taxes but there are some lower tax options, however LI is pretty infamous. Even my elderly in laws who are from the Bronx and have no experience with LI except for Jones Beach, and the Nassau Coliseum said "but the property taxes are so high out there!"
Here where we reside currently in SE PA, there are high taxes too but there is some variation. Towns with lots of retail tend to have the lowest property taxes, and small exclusive places with no retail have really high taxes but most suburbs seem to be somewhere in the middle. In LI it seems that there is really no rhyme or reason to the tax rates, the only constant seems to be that Suffolk Cty has slightly lower taxes than Nassau, which makes no sense to me because it seems like Nassau Cty is more urbanized/Queens like in places so it would have more retail and people paying taxes - thus lowering the share that everyone would pay.
We looked specifically at the areas where the malls are: Garden City (Roosevelt Field) and Lake Grove (Smith Haven), because here in our area people all want malls/outlets/shopping centers to get built in their suburb because the revenue lowers property taxes...not in LI apparently because those areas' taxes seemed just as high. The other area with a mall (Valley Stream) may be cheaper tax wise but we didn't look/weren't interested because we heard that area had some spillover crime issues since the mall attracts lots of folks from right over the city line in Queens.
Why are the taxes on Long Island specifically so high?? Taxes on a modest $350k bungalow in areas we can afford in Levittown are almost the same as taxes on a $900k mini-mansion in Bergen County, NJ!
I understand it's price of being right next to the biggest/priciest city in the country, and having access to tons of beaches, parks and not to mention good schools for the kiddos. But, still....having to spend what comes out to 50% of your mortgage ($9000 per year in taxes, $1500 per month/$18000 per year mortgage) just baffles me!
Why exactly are the taxes so high? Have they always been so high in relation to home values? If not - for longtime residents - when did it get so crazy? Are there any towns that are decent places to live that are not so heavily taxed at least compared to the rest of LI?
Just curious, as a potential resident.
That's a stupid old wives' tale thought up because of racism. Valley Stream has no more crime than anywhere else. Look at a map sometime. The Mall is on the far west side/right on the border of Queens and the shoppers from NYC don't even go into Valley Stream proper. They shop and turn left at the main exits on Sunrise Highway and are back in the city immediately. Also, the people who come to shop do so because there are stores they don't have in NYC like WalMart, NOT because they want to go into Valley Stream and rape and pillage. I've met people from Staten Island at the mall (or are they all criminals too?).
Another stupid old wives' tale about Green Acres Mall was that nobody should shop there because it is THE hot spot for stolen cars. That one finally died out because the police and insurance companies did a joint investigation, and found that people were arranging to have their cars stolen in the GAM parking lots for the insurance money! Guess who was doing this? The defendants were WHITE PEOPLE being taken away in iron bracelets.
That's a stupid old wives' tale thought up because of racism. Valley Stream has no more crime than anywhere else. Look at a map sometime. The Mall is on the far west side/right on the border of Queens and the shoppers from NYC don't even go into Valley Stream proper. They shop and turn left at the main exits on Sunrise Highway and are back in the city immediately. Also, the people who come to shop do so because there are stores they don't have in NYC like WalMart, NOT because they want to go into Valley Stream and rape and pillage. I've met people from Staten Island at the mall (or are they all criminals too?).
Another stupid old wives' tale about Green Acres Mall was that nobody should shop there because it is THE hot spot for stolen cars. That one finally died out because the police and insurance companies did a joint investigation, and found that people were arranging to have their cars stolen in the GAM parking lots for the insurance money! Guess who was doing this? The defendants were WHITE PEOPLE being taken away in iron bracelets.
Valley Stream has pretty high taxes considering it is junky and has so so schools.
Garden City and RVC also get nailed on a separate village tax AND the fact assessed values are so much higher they still chip in a lot to the Town of Hempstead.
So they have three taxes, GC School Taxes, GC Village taxes and Town of Hempstead taxes.
It should work your TOH taxes should be very little as GC taxes should cover part of that.
But since assessed values are so high you pay the same TOH tax as lots of towns not in a village and the village tax on top of that. Then you add in a high school tax rate.
If you are ok with average schools Inwood, East Rockaway, Island Park have very low taxes in Southern Nassau. And Glen Head/Sea Cliffe on North shore has low taxes and great schools. Bad train line. But if you drive to work it is great
Elementary Schools are pretty much equal in Nassau it is middle school and HS that is worth the high taxes for. If one bought a house when newlymarried in Island Park at 4k taxes by the time they have kids and oldest is 12 it could be 15 years.
15 years of 4k taxes is 60K
15K of "reasonable" 25k taxes in RVC or GC is $375k
Village taxes are mostly out of control in Villages that have their own police force, which RVC and GC do, plus Lynbrook and Malverne.
I want to leave LI ideally because the cost is just so high, but whenever I go visit another state, like on vacation, I always feel that these places do not have as much to offer. You don't need to look for towns with malls. Wherever you live, you can go a few minutes in any direction and find WHATEVER you want. Stores, restaurants, everything is right there. I noticed in other areas you have to drive, even if it's just 15-20 minutes to get to a shopping center or to restaurants. That really is not the case on most of LI. I can drive 5 minutes and have a million stores and restaurants to choose from. A lot of people say, yes LI is expensive, but you're getting a lot more for your money than other places in the country. I still think it is ridiculous and I am unable to buy a home here, but just figured I'd throw that in since you mentioned looking at the areas with malls. Lake Grove is a village and is very expensive, and Garden City is a really nice area, also very expensive. Valley Stream is known for its high crime rate comparatively. Typically, the north shore is going to be more expensive than the south shore, except for when you get into the Hamptons.
Known? By who? The ethnic white racists of Long Island? Look up the reality before spewing out nonsense.
NYS and NYC have been trying to crack down on what they determine is "statutory residency" as you mention in your post. They look at a lot of different factors to determine if you should pay NYC taxes.
I don't know how successful the city and state are at making the case and collecting NYC income taxes, but I guess it is a potential issue to be aware.
BTW, your post with the link to 90 Island Park with $4,000 annual taxes is making me consider downsizing. Super-Storm Sandy was only a "once in a hundred year" occurrence right?
We hope it was a 1 in a million occurrence! What a headache! And I didn't even get flooded. Just the chaos ... gasoline lines, no electric, etc., etc. I know it sure was horrible for people who got flooded!
I love low taxes. I also grieve my taxes, willing to go to SCAR, fill out Sandy Damage forms etc all on my own.
Island Park has a commerical section that pays a lot of property tax plus at end of town a LIPA plant that pays a boat load of taxes.
Island Park is a rare LI town with NO High School. Kids attend either Long beach, or East Rockway and town negoiates between two for best rate. So no administrators etc and maint, pensions and medical for a big HS. Huge savings.
That said schools are just average. IP is safe, mainly older white Italian type folks in a lot of sections. It has it own private beach and houses walking distance from train.
If you have no school age kids and you like the beach it is great. If you need name brand recognition of a good town and blue ribbon schools not good.
I almost bought a fixable sandy damaged bungalow from Bank of American after Sandy. Ended up selling for 79K. Was a gut job, but someone threw 50K into it and all new like a showplace for a total of 129K. It had 4k taxes. If my kids was old enough to move out I would have bought it for one. At time it was a big project and I was repairing my own sandy damaged home.
But it goes to show folks who claim LI is unafordable for young folks are lying. Trouble is Rockville Center, Manahasset and GC 4 bed houses are unaffordable.
I find that a lot on here about living in a name brand recognition town and people love to tell you that you're are crazy or stupid for living in an area they don't find desirable. It's like they don't think of people that don't have kids, or want to be close to the water, want to pay less taxes, or some other positive reason they don't see.
They also like to tell you that you are "too close to the city". I don't know if everyone noticed, but for the past two decades crime has been steadily declining in NYC. Also, if NYC is so bad, then why is it so damn expensive to live there (house prices, property taxes, income taxes)?! lol
Seeing posts like yours make me happy when someone talks about the positive aspects of a town or area on Long Island.
Valley Stream has pretty high taxes considering it is junky and has so so schools.
Just because you are annoyed at me for other things (like correcting you on where Pat Benatar is from), don't take it out on VS.
That's insane. The taxes are not high at all, especially the Village taxes compared to other villages.
Considering the word "junky" that's strange coming from you, a person who pushes the dirtbag areas of Island Park. If you're not on the open bay or on Harbor Isle in Island Park, forget it. You also push Inwood and East Rockaway, both mainly dirtbag areas with a clear conscience. Valley Stream is head and shoulders above them all and offers a lot more in terms of safety, school quality and recreation.
As for the schools, they're fine. Why do people routinely tell people looking to move to Malverne to make sure the house is zoned for Valley Stream SD13 then?
Let's see how "so so" Valley Stream's three high schools are compared to your picks (and where you live):
79.0 Valley Stream North
78.7 Oceanside
74.2 Valley Stream South HS
72.0 Valley Stream Central HS
67.7 Long Beach High School (Island Park students have to go there)
66.3 West Hempstead HS (Island Park students have to go there)
60.7 Lawrence High School (Inwood students have to go there)
58.7 East Rockaway SHS
Look how low East Rockaway is. But the ethnic white racists will think it's WWAAYY better than Valley Stream only because it's almost all white. Newsflash: There are white dummies too, both students and parents!
As for "junky" Valley Stream:
The schools do strict home checks on new students to make sure they aren't illegally coming from Queens. There is a lot of recreation for adults and kids. I think the new people moving in from Brooklyn are attracted to the diversity in the schools. Yes, we have diversity, which is usually a dirty word for ethnic white LI'ers, so that's why some LI'ers who haven't been in VS in years down it. Our diversity (asian, hispanic, black, etc.) is strictly middle class families who teach their kids middle class values not ghetto, so the hipsters know their kids won't be attacked in school and they don't have to fear crime. So they can get the diversity they seek with safety. Not so much in Brooklyn and anything nice in Brooklyn is really expensive but still has bad schools. Valley Stream is a short commute to either Manhattan or Brooklyn (rush hour average 32 minutes) plus they can get a good home for a lot less than Brooklyn for the hipsters that aren't "rich." We also have three LIRR stations serving us, the main one on Sunrise Highway, the Gibson one for south VS, and Westwood for people in northwest area of VS.
As for safety, we have Nassau County PD, VS Auxiliary Police, VS Public Safety, and a VS Civilian Patrol regularly watching over VS 24 hours a day. VS is very strict about illegal apartments and go after people who try and do that. There is no overnight parking allowed on the streets in the Inc. Village, which also discourages illegal apartments.
Go to Parks and Recreation and click on Activities and Programs and scroll down to see. That's not even all of it. We have a roller hockey ring near one of the LIRR stations that serve VS and residents participate in a league. There are other active sports leagues too. At the bottom of the list they mention a Community Center. That is also new. It has classes and activities and can be rented by VS residents to have a party in. We have all the typical kids' clubs like Boy Scouts, etc. My friend's two sons are Eagle Scouts and they have lived in VS all their lives.
The high schools have an ice hockey team, a rifle team (where VS has been champs for several years in a row now) and anything and everything else you can think of. I don't have kids but I still get the brochures they mail out for my SD and every day there's something going on at the schools for the kids.
1. Pension. They should not give out pension to NEW hires, including school teachers, public sector workers, police etc. All new hires should be on 401k or 403b plan. Existing workers would keep the pension. This would cut future liability and reduce the growth rate of property tax. Salary, you cant' do anything about it, it is a competitive market.
2. Too many school districts. There are 125 school districts in two counties on long island. Each district has its own superintendent and assistant superintendents. Each superintendent costs 300k in salary and AT LEAST 300k in future pensions, with a couple of assistant superintendents, supporting personnel with pensions, building, utility cost, you are talking about AT LEAST 3 million and more per school district headquarter. Time 125 by 3 million gives you 375 million. This is real money and growing every year. If you reduce 125 school districts to between 6 - 10, you can cut the cost significantly. 10 districts time 3mil gives you 3 million annual cost, which is significantly below the 375 million figure. I talked about this in another thread on how McLean high school fits in with only one school district in Fairfax county in Virginia.
Anyway, the current situation is approved by previous generations living on long island. It is everywhere in the US. People vote to elect leaders to levy high taxes on people. Voters always want more without realizing everything costs money which they have to pay.
Just because you are annoyed at me for other things (like correcting you on where Pat Benatar is from), don't take it out on VS.
That's insane. The taxes are not high at all, especially the Village taxes compared to other villages.
Considering the word "junky" that's strange coming from you, a person who pushes the dirtbag areas of Island Park. If you're not on the open bay or on Harbor Isle in Island Park, forget it. You also push Inwood and East Rockaway, both mainly dirtbag areas with a clear conscience. Valley Stream is head and shoulders above them all and offers a lot more in terms of safety, school quality and recreation.
As for the schools, they're fine. Why do people routinely tell people looking to move to Malverne to make sure the house is zoned for Valley Stream SD13 then?
Let's see how "so so" Valley Stream's three high schools are compared to your picks (and where you live):
79.0 Valley Stream North
78.7 Oceanside
74.2 Valley Stream South HS
72.0 Valley Stream Central HS
67.7 Long Beach High School (Island Park students have to go there)
66.3 West Hempstead HS (Island Park students have to go there)
60.7 Lawrence High School (Inwood students have to go there)
58.7 East Rockaway SHS
Look how low East Rockaway is. But the ethnic white racists will think it's WWAAYY better than Valley Stream only because it's almost all white. Newsflash: There are white dummies too, both students and parents!
As for "junky" Valley Stream:
The schools do strict home checks on new students to make sure they aren't illegally coming from Queens. There is a lot of recreation for adults and kids. I think the new people moving in from Brooklyn are attracted to the diversity in the schools. Yes, we have diversity, which is usually a dirty word for ethnic white LI'ers, so that's why some LI'ers who haven't been in VS in years down it. Our diversity (asian, hispanic, black, etc.) is strictly middle class families who teach their kids middle class values not ghetto, so the hipsters know their kids won't be attacked in school and they don't have to fear crime. So they can get the diversity they seek with safety. Not so much in Brooklyn and anything nice in Brooklyn is really expensive but still has bad schools. Valley Stream is a short commute to either Manhattan or Brooklyn (rush hour average 32 minutes) plus they can get a good home for a lot less than Brooklyn for the hipsters that aren't "rich." We also have three LIRR stations serving us, the main one on Sunrise Highway, the Gibson one for south VS, and Westwood for people in northwest area of VS.
As for safety, we have Nassau County PD, VS Auxiliary Police, VS Public Safety, and a VS Civilian Patrol regularly watching over VS 24 hours a day. VS is very strict about illegal apartments and go after people who try and do that. There is no overnight parking allowed on the streets in the Inc. Village, which also discourages illegal apartments.
Go to Parks and Recreation and click on Activities and Programs and scroll down to see. That's not even all of it. We have a roller hockey ring near one of the LIRR stations that serve VS and residents participate in a league. There are other active sports leagues too. At the bottom of the list they mention a Community Center. That is also new. It has classes and activities and can be rented by VS residents to have a party in. We have all the typical kids' clubs like Boy Scouts, etc. My friend's two sons are Eagle Scouts and they have lived in VS all their lives.
The high schools have an ice hockey team, a rifle team (where VS has been champs for several years in a row now) and anything and everything else you can think of. I don't have kids but I still get the brochures they mail out for my SD and every day there's something going on at the schools for the kids.
/rant
\
Of course they are in Eagle scouts and rifle team, need to learn how to use a knife and a gun.
Lots of 13K taxed houses in the hood. And in IP I said if no kids in the school is best.
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