Input on Port Wentworth? (Savannah, Garden City: HOA, hotels, buying a home)

[RuthinAZ]

Would like to get some info. on Port Wentworth....are there new subdivisions with HOA (which we would prefer), property tax rates, traffic problems, etc. How about noise from the airport? We'd like to move back to the east coast (used to live in So. Carolina), but want to try another state for a change. We're nearing retirement status (not age, by any means!!) Thanks so much for your help.

[mrsnespy]

I live in Port Wentworth and I'll try to answer these as well as I can.

Neighborhoods: There are several new neighborhoods with HOAs...all in "North Port Wentworth" (outside of the old city). These include Rice Creek, Rice Hope, Lake Shore, Newport, and some others that I can't quickly recall. Rice Hope and Rice Creek are on Hwy 21 heading north to Effingham County; Newport & Lake Shore are on Hwy 30...both close to I-95.

I can't find current property tax rates at the moment, but they are low. You can file two homestead exemptions...one with the county and one with the city. That certainly helps keep them low.

There is air noise. And be aware that it isn't just from the airport. There is also the Air National Guard base near the airport as well as Hunter Army Airfield that give overhead noise...and the two bases typically have larger aircraft coming in than the airport.

There is a daily commute-time traffic problem currently. It affects those living off of Hwy 21 and Hwy 30. There are various ideas of how to change them (Effingham Parkway project and Benton Blvd project), but those have yet to be completed, so there is still a problem that results from these areas and Effingham County emptying onto one road to get to I-95.

That being said, we enjoy where we live for the most part. Since you are near retirement, I'm guessing you don't have school-age children (the schools here leave a bit to be desired), so that shouldn't be an issue to you.

Did I cover (vaguely) everything?

[RuthinAZ]

Thanks so much for your detailed info. At first we were kind of zero-ing in on Pooler, but the more we investigate, the more we find other wonderful towns that might be possibilities for us. It's a good thing we are doing this 'way ahead of time.....I'm sure when we get down to the nuts and bolts of being ready to move, we're gonna have a real decision to make!!

We're close to an Air Force base here and aren't affected too badly by the flyovers....I would imagine buying a home that's not in the traffic pattern might be a challenge. Luckily the planes don't fly at night here; maybe it's different there. In any case, we would have to see when we get out there!

And NO, we're not concerned about schools. Our kids have kids of their own, and living up in New England.

Thanks again for your input!

[bgnzsavnh]

All county property owners - regardless of where they live - are charged 11.546 mills for the county's maintenance and operations budget, which covers the courts, the sheriff, the jail and other countywide services.
-- Savannah: 12.5 mills. (be aware that there are areas west of I-95 that are in the City of Savannah but realtors call "Pooler")
-- Pooler: 4.5 mills.
-- Port Wentworth: 4.397 mills.
-- Tybee Island: 3.738 mills.
-- Thunderbolt: 3.009 mills.
-- Garden City and Bloomingdale: Zero mills. Neither imposes a property tax.
So, we pay 11.546 mills to Chatham County
+ 4.397 mills to Port Wentworth
16.043 total mills in taxes we pay

City of Port Wentworth, GA
PW Chamber of Commerce:
Savannah Hotels and Restaurants: Port Wentworth, Georgia

City elections in November:
http://www.votenorthside.com/index.html

http://www.chathamcounty.org/boa_facts.pdf

2008 MILLAGE RATE
STATE .25
SCHOOL 13.404
SCHOOL BOND 0
SPEC. SER. DIS. 3.475
TRANSIT .82