Wow! received my property tax bill (St. George, Washington: sale, insurance, condo)

[Heavy winds]

I live in Washington Utah. Our local and county school tax was over $1,100. Do you think this is awfully high? We just moved here last year. We are retired with no kids. Any opinions?

[Bideshi]

Originally Posted by Heavy winds

I live in Washington Utah. Our local and county school tax was over $1,100. Do you think this is awfully high? We just moved here last year. We are retired with no kids. Any opinions?

Fasten your seat belts and hang on-you ain't seen nothing yet. Goverment is broke and property owners are a captive tax cow. It's not only Utah.

[karenSG]

I live in St. George. My bill was $1387 last year and it's $1402 this year taxable valuation that is lesser by $15,000. So, my house is worth less but the bill is higher. ( Doesn't sound like zero per cent inflation, does it? The city and school expenses have gone up, so ours do too.)

I'm retired, no kids, but I think the tax bill is reasonable here.

[Heavy winds]

We moved here from CA, My wife and I live in Washington Utah now The best thing we have ever done. Retire now and in my 60+.Taxes are a little high, But That as good. I'm happy to help out.

[caldad]

Where I live in Clovis, Ca my tax bill is $2900 a year! Now that is high

[2bowlings]

Our bill for our large single family home is a little higher this year; but it's still less than half of what I pay in California for my condo...

[Okiefirst]

None of the messages indicate the value of the home vs the tax. Our property tax in NC is $3900 on a tax appraised home of $300,00 (current estimated sale price $275,00). Be grateful that you are not in a state ruled by one political party for over a century.

[karenSG]

You're right. Sorry. In the message I posted earlier I should have said the tax bill of $1402 this year is on a market value of $203,569 and taxable value of 111,965. The local school fund rate is .006309 ($706 of the bill).

[Steadykat]

Washington County has raised the mill rate for local property taxes. I'm overly simplifying it but basically they multiply the number of homeowners (those who haven't bailed out on their mortgages that they can't afford and those who the Banks haven't been kicked out of their homes yet) paying property taxes into the amount of dollars that they need to cover costs.

Viola! your property taxes go up....even though your property "value" continues to decline. As the number of property taxes decrease each year the "Mill" will continue to increase.

This way your ability to protest the value of your home on your property tax statement to debate the assessor about the taxes that they are charging you is no longer a valid argument.

Here's an example of what's going on all over the Country:
The decision facing council members is whether to have property owners face the brunt of the rate increase in 2011 and a small increase in 2012 or spread the increase over two years.

No one from the public spoke at a hearing for the proposed 2011 city budget at the council’s regular meeting Aug. 2. The budget the council decided to move forward with at a work session Monday proposes a 4.5 mill levy increase in the property tax rate, which will average between $5 and $12 per month, per residential household in property taxes.

Tax increase inevitable with proposed city budget | Gardneredge.com

As I said, the Mill rate will increase every year or two as the number of homeowners left in Washington County continue to evaporate (check out the number of repossessions that appear on the Spectrum's back 10-12 pages every Friday to get an idea of how bad things are getting).

This means that you will continue to pay more in property taxes every year even as your home value falls like a rock.

Our local "leaders" thought the bubble was for real and that local growth would be never ending. They were wrong.

Now, we get to pay for their mistakes.

[Kurvinek]

I am starting to get really p***** at Washington county.
I bought a small house under 1200 sq.ft in St.George just a year ago.
I started to relocate my family from Arizona(400 miles one way) in January 2010.
In May the house was flooded by old water heater which was estimated to last another 5 years by the local home inspector who has a franchise called Pillar to Post home inspection.
I have specifically asked this inspector to inspect the plumbing because the seller had disclosed that the water heater flooded in 2000.
Saint George has a hard water problem and thousands of homes have polybutylene plumbing which was installed until 1996 and that is another "time bomb" waiting to happen in St. George house market.
Anyway,I have spent the whole summer of 2010 to repair the water damage to the house while the values in Saint George dropped.
The insurance covered about a third of the damages and the Pillar to post home inspector denies any wrong doing because his contract relieves him of any responsibility even his website says that he is fully insured.
My taxes for this small house are almost $1500. That is because Washington county discriminates against all "foreigners" including Arizonans. I have refused to get Utah driver license because I was not able to relocate my family to Utah on "time".
They will charge You a "Foreigner" rate which is around 45% higher then for people who become "local".
I am not sure if further discounts are available for members of certain religions.
At this time the house In St. George is a big question mark because I have a problem to convince my wife and children to move there.
My children are high school age and I pay taxes in both Arizona and Utah and can be only at one place at one time. Something is not right in Washington county,Utah ...Is Glen Beck responsible again?Do I school my children in Arizona and Utah at the same time.
Who's going to bus them....?