Property Taxes (Milwaukee, Racine, Waukesha: cost of living, price, moving)

[Onewolfe]

Why are the taxes so high there?
What do you get for the money?
My wife and I would love to move to milwaukee, cudahy, west allis, or like areas to be near our daughter but the taxes???????????????
we pay $1000 r/e taxes a year on a three bedroom two bath brick ranch with attached garage, a huge fenced in backyard in the best schoold district in the Lima Ohio area.
I have already discovered I cannot afford the same things there in part because of the taxes.
Are your services and school systems top notch, no pot holes, immediate response by fire and police?
Or is the money sucked up by the areas lazier citizens?
thanks....

[adam76]

I'm familiar with the general Lima area. In general the cost of living is lower than in much of the upper Midwest. You'll have price increases in many areas other than just taxes.

I think your sticker shock is more due to moving from a rural area to an urban one. People who live in Fond du Lac, a mere 60 miles from Milwaukee, would also experience the sticker shock as you.

Also I think, especially in Milwaukee County, many things are included in the property tax that other areas instead break out and charge fees for instead, like garbage collection. There are areas around SE Wisconsin with much lower rates than within Milwaukee County. Check out rural areas of Waukesha, Walworth or Racine counties. It'll still be higher but less than Milwaukee proper.

[Drover]

This topic has already been discussed at some length in this thread and at great length in this thread. I don't know that we need to keep rehashing the same subject over and over.

[Onewolfe]

Thank you! Your info makes sense. We are heading that way regardless it is just a cost of being close to family. She (our daughter) loves milwaukee and we have visited several times and enjoyed the town. You aptly describe the "sticker shock" we experienced when we started looking into re-locating.
Again, thank you!