Greenwich or Rye

[havoc315]

The point about commuter taxes, and other taxes, is that you need to fully compare how the taxes of each location would affect you, not just property taxes. Overall, you probably would still find Rye taxes higher, but not 15k higher. For example, in CT, you pay a tax on your car ownership. I also believe state income tax is slightly higher in CT, but I am not sure.

Also, even just in property tax, I think you are exagerating the difference in taxes. A $1 million home in Rye Brook, for example, has a property tax bill of $20,000. I would have to check, but I would think the comparable Greenwich residence still is more than 5k in taxes.

[bmwguydc]

In terms of the communities, Greenwich is much larger with more distinct areas than the City of Rye and Town of Rye combined. Greenwich is legally a town, but the population is closer to that of a small city, as is the administration of the schools. Both have similar amenities including beaches on Long Island Sound. Greenwich also has much more of a downtown business district on Putnam Avenue, with offices, commercial properties, car dealerships, etc.

With any property tax comparison, you have to look to the assessed value of the property and whether or not it is an anomaly, as in it has not been updated in a while. Sometimes you will find a property that is assessed far below market price, yet other nearby properties that have sold more recently will have a higher assessment. The assessed value can be adjusted on a sale, so at the next tax year, you could have substantially higher taxes than you thought when purchasing the house.

Check with the town assessor for information on specific properties and whether or not a purchase will have influence the assessed value. Don't go by the real estate listing information sheet alone, since that indicates what the current owners have paid in tax, but does not guarantee that is what you are going to pay. Talking to the assessor's office may help you gauge what the taxes are going to be should you buy that property.

The property tax rate is the same mill rate for the town on personal property in Connecticut: autos, motorcycles, etc. Depending upon the assessed value of the personal property, this could be a couple of hundred dollars in Greenwich, but can easily be higher in other towns that do not have as low a tax rate. The same rate is used for real property as well.

Between the City of Rye and Greenwich, there's not a substantial difference in what $900k-1M will buy as that's below the median for both areas. In the Town, however, it can be a noticeable difference as your housing dollar will go further in Rye Brook, for example.

To get demographic data for the City of Rye, use zip code 10580, which is the Rye City School District. Rye Brook is zip code 10573, but here on C-D, use Rye Brook as the search, because that zip code also includes Port Chester which is vastly different in terms of schools and demographics. Blind Brook Schools serve the Rye Brook area. Port Chester has its own school district as well. Rye Neck is within the Town of Rye, but has a Mamaroneck zip code, 10543, served by the Rye Neck Union Free School District.

Here are links to C-D information on Rye:

City of Rye (10580): http://www.city-data.com/zips/10580.html

Rye Brook: http://www.city-data.com/city/Rye-Brook-New-York.html

Part of the reason why the Westchester schools tend to score better than other areas is because they have smaller districts. That's also a key reason why the property taxes tend to be higher, comparatively, because the smaller school districts all have superintendents and other administators who would be absorbed by a district-level budget in a larger school system like Greenwich. The other factor which adds to the tax bill is redundancies in municipal expenditures. Greenwich is an amalgamated town, but if it were split into Riverside, Greenwich, Old Greenwich, Cos Cob, Mianus, there would be five entities, each needing tax revenue to support its school and municipal expenditures as is the case with Rye. Rye is that segmented with the Town of Rye: Blind Brook, Port Chester, and Rye Neck Schools, and the City of Rye, each with their own expenditures.

Here are some links to the school districts in the Rye area:

City of Rye: Rye City School District

Blind Brook (Rye Brook): Blind Brook School District

Rye Neck: Rye Neck Union Free School District

As to the value for the dollar, between Greenwich and Rye, it literally depends upon neighborhood, since some in Rye are similar to Greenwich prices, but others are significantly less expensive. Perhaps it's best to determine in which town you find the best fit for your family as that's the best indicator as to whether or not you will enjoy a community. As others have said, there are not vast performance gaps in the Rye schools compared to Greenwich, especially for a motivated student, but if you prefer the feel of a particular community, that can make a more of a difference on a daily basis.

[fatmamasuzy]

OMG -- whatever you do, don't pick the town you will live in and raise your children by a school's SAT scores. We had the same lofty goals and ended up miserable in Westchester. I believe you do get more house for your money in NY (vs CT). Make a checklist of what is important to you and walk around. Talk to people. Talk to shop owners. Don't listen to anyone trying to sell you something. Trust the little voice in your head and go with your gut. We were unhappy in Armonk for years, but my husband worked for IBM and wanted a short commute. Now, we live in Ridgefield, CT. He has a little longer commute, but our quality of life has much improved. We feel the residents here are much more relaxed and much nicer. The village is beautiful even in the dead of winter. The school is great, and we are very happy here. Finally.

[Ekulu]

Originally Posted by bmwguydc

As to the value for the dollar, between Greenwich and Rye, it literally depends upon neighborhood, since some in Rye are similar to Greenwich prices, but others are significantly less expensive. Perhaps it's best to determine in which town you find the best fit for your family as that's the best indicator as to whether or not you will enjoy a community. As others have said, there are not vast performance gaps in the Rye schools compared to Greenwich, especially for a motivated student, but if you prefer the feel of a particular community, that can make a more of a difference on a daily basis.

Nice to see some one mention this, it depends on the neighborhood. Every town including Rye, Greenwich and the like has different neighborhoods and some are not as good as others. I agree that there is little or no difference between these schools for the smart or self-motivated student. Read people's comments on this board by all means , but visit both and see which one you and your children will be more comfortable in.

[Ekulu]

Originally Posted by fatmamasuzy

OMG -- whatever you do, don't pick the town you will live in and raise your children by a school's SAT scores. We had the same lofty goals and ended up miserable in Westchester. I believe you do get more house for your money in NY (vs CT). Make a checklist of what is important to you and walk around. Talk to people. Talk to shop owners. Don't listen to anyone trying to sell you something. Trust the little voice in your head and go with your gut. We were unhappy in Armonk for years, but my husband worked for IBM and wanted a short commute. Now, we live in Ridgefield, CT. He has a little longer commute, but our quality of life has much improved. We feel the residents here are much more relaxed and much nicer. The village is beautiful even in the dead of winter. The school is great, and we are very happy here. Finally.

I couldn't agree more!! No point you or your children being miserable, get a feel for the towns yourself.

[7 Wishes]

A couple of points:

I know I say this a lot about these Westchester forums, but things like comparing Rye to Greenwich for schools is like comparing a Big Mac to a Quarter Pounder for taste and how filling they are. They are not exactly similar, but close enough so that (assuming it's the only factor), I'd go for the much lower taxes of Greenwich (which honestly is how much of Fairfield County grew from the 1960's to now anyway......upper middle class and beyond New Yorkers looking for lower taxes). While I won't say live in the Bronx vs. Rye/Greenwich in terms of schools, I think what's a lot more important is how your kids are in generally academically and what environment they'd be more comfortable in, not a town's SAT scores (living in a given town doesn't mean YOUR kids will get those scores, they may do better, they may not.....growing up in Mt. Vernon didn't keep me from getting a high SAT score).

From 1999 to 2006 my wife worked in CT while we lived in NY, we filled out tax forms for both. Now while my working in NY factored into the equation, what generally happened is we got a NY refund of roughly the amount that we owed CT in tax. A lot of it depends on how your employer witholds.