What Do You Get For Your High Property Taxes? (Southampton: low crime, new home)

[KarenBo]

Originally Posted by AndreaII

Here on LI 2/3 of the property tax bill goes to the schools - teachers salaries, school maintenance etc. A large part of the problem with the school tax is in Albany and the teachers union. Teachers who are tenured are set for life - after they retire they collect a hefty paycheck as well as medical, dental, and eye coverage for the rest of their lives. And it's the non-teaching public who end up supporting them.

There have been a number of threads in the past on this website about the teachers union if you're interested in reading them.
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I don't want to take the thread off on a tangent but this post caught my eye.

You make it sound as though teachers don't pay in for their pension. Tenure is also misunderstood. Doesn't mean you can't be fired. Just means you can't be fired without just cause.

I've seen multiple posts on this board about how important school district is in terms of real estate. People can't have it both ways. Can't have a good school district without good teachers. Don't forget that teachers pay those exorbitant taxes too.

Originally Posted by AlexisT

Not all LI teachers make $85K. Far from it. That's what you get with 15 years experience, if not more (IIRC, topping 100K takes 30 years and a doctorate, though most districts don't publish salary schedules, so I can't confirm this). Long Island teachers are well paid compared to those in other areas, but in many of the underperforming districts, you don't get the top teachers either. And think about it: these are professionals with masters degrees living in one of the most expensive parts of the US, and yet we expect them to accept less than what many posters on this forum would consider to be an acceptable middle class salary.

True. Thanks, AlexisT.

[fopt65]

Originally Posted by slynn41072

Maybe I'm wrong, but that is only for a large metropolitan areas compared to other large metropolitan areas. They also have lists for medium areas and small areas. It does not say LI is safest area in the whole country, only safer compared to similar population.
Also if you scroll down it was based on 2002 statistics.

I would really like current info if possible stating LI is the safest place to live per the FBI if possible.

But that is how you make rankings, you compare apples to apples. You don't compare metro areas to small areas in ranking because 1 criminal activity per such a small population would make the crime rate seem outlandishly high in comparison.

[Smash255]

Originally Posted by slynn41072

Maybe I'm wrong, but that is only for a large metropolitan areas compared to other large metropolitan areas. They also have lists for medium areas and small areas. It does not say LI is safest area in the whole country, only safer compared to similar population.
Also if you scroll down it was based on 2002 statistics.

I would really like current info if possible stating LI is the safest place to live per the FBI if possible.

It lists the 100 largest metro areas, that site has links to medium sized metro areas and small metro areas. Li ranks 1 in the 100 largest metro areas, 2 metro areas in the medium sized market have a lower index than LI according to the site (Danbury and Stamford) while zero of the areas in the smaller markets have an index lower than LI. So going by the 100 largest markets LI is #1, if you include smaller markets (any area with a population over 55,000) LI is #3

Also keep in mind that the list is a few years old and Long Island has continued to see a crime drop. 2007 saw Nassau county lowest crime rate in 41 years.

the idea that Long Island is a place with a lot of crime is a total and complete farce.

[AlexisT]

I can't demonstrate that LI is the safest, but I can demonstrate it's safe:

Nassau, NY Real Estate - Schools, Data, Maps, Homes - New York Times

Suffolk, NY Real Estate - Schools, Data, Maps, Homes - New York Times

Click on the interactive maps. It shows crime data for all the communities in the county. (mouseovers don't seem to work correctly in Firefox though).

Nowhere in Nassau, even Hempstead, has a crime rate above the national average. (With the average set to 100, Hempstead is 88.) Most are under 50, and a few are under 10 (Kings Point, Cedarhurst, Bayville). In Suffolk, all but 2 are under 100. The highest is, oddly enough, Southampton (143)--and that might be due to break-ins of unoccupied summer homes.

[fopt65]

Thanks for that cool link. Putting it on my "favorites".

[OhBeeHave]

[quote=slynn41072;4715749]

Originally Posted by Smash255

Not comparing the roads to other parts of the country, just want to know why they are terrible on LI with such high taxes? Low taxes and crappy roads make more sense if that is the case in other parts of the country.

Mt Sinai is located within the Town of Crookhaven, which has had (as usual) more corruption scandals, misuse of money, etc. The budget was screwed up and as usual there is nasty partisan back biting in progress. I'm also in Crookhaven and can admit firsthand that the roads are the shabbiest they've looked in quite some time.

Also some roads are handled by the State and others by the County. By identifying which particular district particular roads fall within, you might see a trend as to who is not spending the taxpayers money on repairs.

Another thought is the high volume on these roads on a daily basis. The traffic is much more heavy than it was when I was a college student commuting back and forth to Stony Brook.

[OhBeeHave]

Originally Posted by AlexisT

I can't demonstrate that LI is the safest, but I can demonstrate it's safe:

Nassau, NY Real Estate - Schools, Data, Maps, Homes - New York Times

Suffolk, NY Real Estate - Schools, Data, Maps, Homes - New York Times

Click on the interactive maps. It shows crime data for all the communities in the county. (mouseovers don't seem to work correctly in Firefox though).

Nowhere in Nassau, even Hempstead, has a crime rate above the national average. (With the average set to 100, Hempstead is 88.) Most are under 50, and a few are under 10 (Kings Point, Cedarhurst, Bayville). In Suffolk, all but 2 are under 100. The highest is, oddly enough, Southampton (143)--and that might be due to break-ins of unoccupied summer homes.

Are they talking about the Town of Southampton? That would make the higher crime rate more fathomable as it incorporates part of Riverhead and Flanders.

If it is just Southampton, I would think part of the crimes might have something to do with summer partying (rapes, robberies) in addition to the summer home break ins.

[AlexisT]

It goes by ZIP code. Riverhead is 99, IIRC.

[rocafeller05]

This is what we get.....

American Lung Association:*State of the Air: 2007

Thanks to Andy.

[AlexisT]

We're in good company though--lot of urbanized areas on it. Some results do puzzle me though--I can see how SF (not the rest of the Bay Area) can do well because the wind patterns blow the pollution away. But south Florida gets an A for ozone and B for particle pollution?

Compared to SoCal or Texas, though, LI is a clean air paradise.