Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I live in the town of Wilton. We got re-assessed this year, went from $388K to $289K. That is about where it should be. Of course, to make up the revenue they raised the tax rate from 18.77 per 1000 to 25.45 in one year! Unbelievable!. Yes, I know, they need the same revenue, etc, etc. Problem is, I don't have it to give them and they could care less. So much for owning my dream home, the town of Wilton is turning it in to a nightmare.
I live in the town of Wilton. We got re-assessed this year, went from $388K to $289K. That is about where it should be. Of course, to make up the revenue they raised the tax rate from 18.77 per 1000 to 25.45 in one year! Unbelievable!. Yes, I know, they need the same revenue, etc, etc. Problem is, I don't have it to give them and they could care less. So much for owning my dream home, the town of Wilton is turning it in to a nightmare.
That is what kills me. Instead of cutting back like everyone else they simply raise the rates and continue on "business as usual"
That is what kills me. Instead of cutting back like everyone else they simply raise the rates and continue on "business as usual"
I agree with that point. Once a town goes above the $23-25 per $1,000 assessed value range the rate rarely goes down unless something like a school construction project gets paid off. I think New Ipswich had that happen a year ago.
New Ipswich's school is only just opening. so it's not paid off yet. There's also a bridge that is getting replaced next year - dunno how much the town is in for it (it's rts 123 & 124 in Highbridge).
If you don't like the taxes, you must go to the annual meeting and vote on the budget! I know NI's selectmen were suggesting a particular budget - and it got voted down! dunno what the result was, but they have to make do with less. Sometimes a few things happen all at once: trucks & buildings need to be maintained. you can put it off, but it's gonna happen at some point - and may be more expensive if you wait longer. and unfortunately, those basic costs go up.
If you don't like the taxes, you must go to the annual meeting and vote on the budget! I know NI's selectmen were suggesting a particular budget - and it got voted down! dunno what the result was, but they have to make do with less.
Make sure you know what the town or school districts Default Budget is before voting it down. When the budget article fails, they go to a default operating budget. Sometimes this is higher than the one they asked for.
There are other ways to lower the budget: In most towns you can propose a motion right there at the town meeting to remove $ or line items from the budget. At the meeting, once the moderator has introduced the article , e.g. the Town Operating Budget and it is open for discussion, simply raise your hand or line up and be allowed to speak. You may then make a motion to amend the article, e.g. "I move to amend the article by reducing the proposed amount by $10,000.". If you get a second, your motion will be discussed and voted on before the main article can move on. There's also a way to make your motion's vote be by secret ballot. This sounds a little devious, but all it means is people who might be intimidated to vote in your favor by show of hands or ayes may do so using a ballot box (moderators hate this by the way because it'll add 20 mins+ to the meeting!).
lreznick, Thank you for the tips & advice.
I'm afraid that while we could afford to buy a house outright we wouldn't also be able to make such a large investment in the stock market at the same time. We'll definitely look into CDs too. But I'm glad that not everyone thinks it's foolish to buy our house outright if we can.
Quote:
Originally Posted by lreznick
Cheekyerica, you definitely don't want to pay your taxes sooner than you must. While penalties apply to late payments, no tax collection agency ever pays penalties for overassessments or late refunds, or any other such errors. You are under no obligation to pay more tax or to pay sooner than the deadline and you get no benefit from doing so. As Valerie pointed out, the tax receivers are very happy to make money on your early payments that you would have made if you'd held it longer.
Interest rates are very far down right now, as you're probably aware. Certificates of Deposit (CDs) lock you in to a rate for a specific period. When you can afford to wait for that period and the rate is good, it's typically a safe way to stash cash in a very low risk, no capital loss instrument. However, right now the rates are awful. A 1-year CD pays barely more than 1%. A 3-year CD pays between 1.5% & 2% and a 5-year CD pays about 1.75% to 2.5%. Awful rates for such a time lock. And don't even get me started on the hit from inflation, which is at least double what the government reports and is, itself, more than the highest interest rate I cited for CDs. Anyway, you could stagger multiple CDs with specific principal balances so that each would come due just in time for your need, but the rate you'd get would be no less terrible. The only advantage if you have the cash to set aside that way is the preservation of the principal.
Another riskier approach you could take would be to invest in dividend-paying stocks. The upside is that the yield rates -- equivalent to interest rates -- are higher. The downsides are there's no guarantee on your principal, the dividend rate might go down if the company can't afford to keep paying it, and NH taxes dividend income @ 5%. Say that you invest in a stock that pays over 6%. (There are many including those up to over 10% that are fairly stable.) I certainly don't know what your property taxes will be, but say that you have to pay $5000/year in taxes. I'm looking right now at a stock with a price of less than $7/share that pays $0.68/year dividend (about 9.7% at that stock price). However long it takes you, buy 8,000 shares (pay about $56,000 at that stock price). That would pay you dividends of $5,440/year. A 5% dividend tax amounts to $272 leaving you with $5,168 from which you pay your property tax.
Now, obviously, you wouldn't necessarily want to put all your money in one stock. This is just to show the sample numbers. The point is that there are a number of ways you can handle the taxes when you plan it correctly and carefully.
Given that you have the cash to buy outright, you are saving a lot by not paying the interest rate of the mortgage. Even with low interest rates, the money paid into a mortgage for the first years go mostly to interest, not principal, and few people stay in a home long enough to pay the principal down very much. Those who say you can keep the cash not spent on the outright purchase and invest that are missing that detail. Your equity will be more in your favor later when the real estate market recovers.
I still don't see how towns up there get away with raising the taxes year after year.
Here in FL, it's political suicide, so they don't even try. For example, my school district (40,000 students) didn't even try for the temporary extra levy that FL lawmakers allowed two years ago (to offset state budget cuts). Districts had to put it up for a vote. Some districts did manage to pass it.
NOW, the district says they need that money to pay for things like a new A/C system at the high school (it keeps failing and temps in the building are 90 degrees), so they are issuing bonds and borrowing the money with interest!
What a mess that is. Nobody has any common sense.
As I mentioned before, your health insurance costs are a big part of your high tax bills up there. We checked one school district and the plan offered was something that you can only dream of down here! (even generous by NJ standards now) The days of getting full coverage with $5 co-pays are long gone in the private sector.
Our school taxes actually decreased this year (by order of Florida lawmakers). Teacher pay has been frozen for years, and the health insurance premium just went up by $50 a month for teachers.
I'm not advocating strangling education by any means, but you have to find a balance.
The other thing that we have in the South is economy of scale: we have large districts (the entire county) instead of smaller districts with the same overhead duplicated for every township, etc. My district has 40,000+ students. I was researching districts in NJ and one only has 4,000 students. We have high schools here with 3,000+ students.
We visited Moultonboro and it seemed like a really nice place. One of the last such places in the USA these days, I'm afraid.
I still don't see how towns up there get away with raising the taxes year after year.
Here in FL, it's political suicide, so they don't even try. For example, my school district (40,000 students) didn't even try for the temporary extra levy that FL lawmakers allowed two years ago (to offset state budget cuts). Districts had to put it up for a vote. Some districts did manage to pass it.
NOW, the district says they need that money to pay for things like a new A/C system at the high school (it keeps failing and temps in the building are 90 degrees), so they are issuing bonds and borrowing the money with interest!
What a mess that is. Nobody has any common sense.
As I mentioned before, your health insurance costs are a big part of your high tax bills up there. We checked one school district and the plan offered was something that you can only dream of down here! (even generous by NJ standards now) The days of getting full coverage with $5 co-pays are long gone in the private sector.
Our school taxes actually decreased this year (by order of Florida lawmakers). Teacher pay has been frozen for years, and the health insurance premium just went up by $50 a month for teachers.
I'm not advocating strangling education by any means, but you have to find a balance.
The other thing that we have in the South is economy of scale: we have large districts (the entire county) instead of smaller districts with the same overhead duplicated for every township, etc. My district has 40,000+ students. I was researching districts in NJ and one only has 4,000 students. We have high schools here with 3,000+ students.
We visited Moultonboro and it seemed like a really nice place. One of the last such places in the USA these days, I'm afraid.
From my research when we were looking at moving to NH, it appeared that they in fact didn't raise taxes every year, as there were years that the millage rate decreased.
Also, FL has a sales tax to aid in meeting revenue needs, where as NH only has the property tax for the most part to meet the demands of budgets that fluctuate.
We depend a lot on the sales tax down here, and it is just not returning to the "good old days" of revenues. In fact, sales tax revenues are down again here, so that means a cut to the state budget of at least $2.2 Billion again next year. It's death by a thousand cuts for our programs here. Plus, we are still losing value on homes every year due to the housing bust and very high numbers of foreclosures.
So all revenue sources are being reduced, while the demand for services increases (Medicaid, etc. going through the roof because FL has so many poor people and low wage earners).
We depend a lot on the sales tax down here, and it is just not returning to the "good old days" of revenues. In fact, sales tax revenues are down again here, so that means a cut to the state budget of at least $2.2 Billion again next year. It's death by a thousand cuts for our programs here. Plus, we are still losing value on homes every year due to the housing bust and very high numbers of foreclosures.
So all revenue sources are being reduced, while the demand for services increases (Medicaid, etc. going through the roof because FL has so many poor people and low wage earners).
That's what happens when most of your economy is based on tourism and people don't have money to travel.
If you're worried about decreasing services, or lack thereof, I don't think New Hampshire is for you. Maybe California - plus the weather is nice there. If you want winter, look into New York - plenty of services there, plus you're in the north east. I'd choose NY over FL any day.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
