Thinking about moving to WVA (Huntington, Parkersburg: property taxes, apartment, income)

[taw1955]

What do you guys consider high taxes? How is the health care? In minnesota we have very high taxes and I pay 1200 for a 2 bedroom apartment. Can it be higher rent then that? Any input?

[AliceT]

Just like everywhere else, it depends on your tastes, which part, what you are accustomed to, what you do. You won't pay much in an isolated mountain hollow where unemployment has all but ravaged the area. You'll pay more toward larger cities. Taxes are a matter of what you are accustomed to paying. And what kind of taxes are you talking about exactly? Property tax, income tax, sales tax? Property taxes are far lower here than they were in Florida.

[tbailey1138]

The biggest burden that most people talk about with regards to taxes are the ones that the state has implemented. There are personal property taxes which you pay on your cars, boats, houses, that you may not pay in other areas but in my opinion, they aren't that bad. The state used to tax all of these things as soon as you moved here but this has been repealed. The food tax is also slowly being repealed and is currently at 4%. When you consider how much lower the cost of living is here, it really offsets these taxes.

With regards to healthcare, I can vouch for the quality of care in the Huntington area as I work at one of the local hospitals. People come from all over the state for the healthcare here and even other states as well. A man just came here from Alaska recently for prostate surgery as the surgeon here was one of the most experienced in the nation. Another lady just came from Florida for back surgery because one of the neurosurgeons here was the most experienced for the procedure she needed and the doctors there wouldn't touch her. Cabell Huntington Hospital was also just named as a Hospital of Choice by the AAHCP and was the only one in WV to make the list this year. St. Mary's is also frequently recognized for it's cardiac and oncology programs and as one of the best places for working mothers and those over 50 to be employed. Orthopedics here is also great and the joint replacement center at CHH was just listed as one of the top 5% in the nation and the best in the state of WV. So healthcare here is more than adequate. Here are some links about this.
Cabell Huntington is Hospital of Choice - Huntington, WV -- The Herald-Dispatch
Cabell Huntington Hospital - News - What's New - Cabell Huntington Hospital nationally recognized by HealthGrades® for joint replacement excellence - Huntington, WV
Cabell Huntington Hospital - News & Events - Newsbreaks - Huntington, WV
St. Mary's Medical Center | Huntington, WV
St. Mary's Medical Center | Huntington, WV | News

In addition to the other links that I gave you earlier in another post, here's the link to Forbes where they list Huntington as having the best cost of living in the nation. #100 Huntington WV - Forbes.com
With all that the area offers in terms of things to do, inexpensive housing, quality healthcare, etc., I highly recommend that you check out Huntington. If you want to see the city first, go rent "We are Marshall" as most of the movie was filmed here. You can also check out these short videos as well.
Huntington, WV Online
Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Tim

[WVUPharm2007]

And Cabell isn't even one of the top two hospitals in the state. Ruby is is national class with people coming from every continent except for Antarctica for treatment and CAMC is also very highly regarded. St. Joseph's in Parkersburg isn't bad for a small city hospital. You can get some great healthcare in the bigger cities in WV. Out in the holler....well, God help you. All you get are "critical access" hospitals.

The best hospitals are always in weird places.....Cleveland Clinic....Johns Hopkins in Baltimore of all places....UPMC in Pittsburgh. Strange.

[David Kennedy]

Out in these 'hollers we treat ourselves with 'erbs and sassafras tea...a little moonshine on a Sunday afternoon and a person will live to be 100 or more...that's enough, ain't nobody gittin' out of here alive anyway....it's how we pass through on the journey that counts...

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by WVUPharm2007

And Cabell isn't even one of the top two hospitals in the state.

As proven above, that depends on what you are talking about. In some fields it is the top hospital. And the services provided there just keep on growing thanks in large part to the Marshall University School of Medicine.

[GottaHerdOn]

Originally Posted by WVUPharm2007

And Cabell isn't even one of the top two hospitals in the state. Ruby is is national class with people coming from every continent except for Antarctica for treatment and CAMC is also very highly regarded. St. Joseph's in Parkersburg isn't bad for a small city hospital. You can get some great healthcare in the bigger cities in WV. Out in the holler....well, God help you. All you get are "critical access" hospitals.

The best hospitals are always in weird places.....Cleveland Clinic....Johns Hopkins in Baltimore of all places....UPMC in Pittsburgh. Strange.

Maybe not but it has the only burn treatment center in the state.

[GottaHerdOn]

Taxes in WV are really cheap. As Bailey mentioned the food tax is at 4%, which goes down to 3% in July is being phased out, as well as several other business taxes. The people that whine and complain about taxes just hate paying any fee's or taxes at all. They want everything for free basically. I don't mind paying a little for the services I use, it only seems fair. WV is in the top 5 cheapest states to live in.

[tbailey1138]

Originally Posted by GottaHerdOn

The people that whine and complain about taxes just hate paying any fee's or taxes at all. They want everything for free basically.

Amen to that! Think of how much better Huntington, other cities and this state in general would be if people would pitch in and fix things rather than complaining about them. In the time people spend complaining about things, they could have already had them fixed. I think we've had this discussion before though.

[Thunder41]

Hi folks, new here, I live in Raleigh Co, and couldn't be more pleased. I will say Beckley has the largest ratio of Banks and Drug stores in the southern part of the state.. LOL! I have raised a son and daughter, our son enlisted into the Army right after he graduated from High school, spent 4 and half yrs in Germany, came home to go to college for 4 yrs and graduated with a Engineering degree, then was deployed to the Middle East for a year and now is back home looking for work, our daughter will be senior this fall and has kept a 3.94 grade average and is planning on attending college to be a Chef..

btw: Did anyone here the comments of our Vice president concerning his family tree, stating that both sides of his family are Cheney's and they aren't even from WV!!