Can I afford to buy in Orange County? (Disillusioned and frustrated)

[thunder88]

Lad,

Smart approach, although I won't be building I will be calling my local assessor to see if a potential property will have an 'unexpected increase'.

[Hinton Bound]

Originally Posted by MovesAlot

CAN SOMETHING BE DONE ABOUT THESE HIGH TAXES....?????

Sure, become an involved member of the community. Go to Counsil meetings and speak out. Biggest of all, VOTE- even if that means voting with your feet. Once the tax base gets fed-up and departs, politicians have little choice but to lower taxes to bring them back.

I grew up in Orange county, however I'm not certain I would move back there based on the tax/political situation. I left for a Military career some 20 years ago. As I approach retirement I considered moving back there, but just don't want to pay those high taxes.

[BobZ51]

Couple of comments. I live in Walden, Town of Montgomery, and my 4 bedrrom 2700 sq ft home is on the market (and a bargain at that). Visited town assessor this year and he lowered my assessment over 20%. List tax info is NOT always correct! BTW, I'm in the Valley Central SD.
Bob in Walden

[Nancy-NJ-NY-ME?]

Originally Posted by thunder88

... Any property in Orange County is available right here: Image Mate Online - Expired Session
Just log in under public access.

Great link, Thunder! I heard that Orange County was going to launch this, but was unaware they had done so. Finally, a place at which folks can get accurate information!!!

[BobZ51]

Interestingly, school boards, towns and villages in NY seemingly set their own budgets for the subsequent year. There are NO limits on these budgets (or appears to be none). We just received a newsletter from the school board with next years budget. It specifies increases whether you vote for the budget or not. It would seem that at a time of economic crisis, expenditures would go down, not up. Where is fiscal responsibility amongst these elected officials, the school board in this case???