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It the perfect world, these property taxes improve roads, fix those persistently irritating issues, improve safety. puts in some new sidewalks, improves city beach, and pays for things used by locals.
In the real world, budgets will get pushed out and new needs are discovered, "merit" pay bonus are paid those with the last remaining pensions, and some monument to greed is erected. And the case for larger budgets from now are on is made by a beneficiary of the highway robbery.
I wish I could say Idaho and North Idaho is immune from this, but they are not.
S.
That said, my property tax bill was pretty much unchanged from 2018 to 2019, despite a large increase in the school levy. Our Bonner county commissioners deserve some credit for holding the line on spending.
Guess I'm glad there are more seniors in my county then kids in some ways. No school bonds to have to stomach Our taxes went up a couple hundred this last year however. Hope that levels off. We shot down a new jail bond (let those pukes sleep in a tent for all I care they are criminals). A few other absurd bonds didn't make it. For crying out loud we're on fixed incomes. They'd better wake up to that fact or we'll keep voting accordingly.
Guess I'm glad there are more seniors in my county then kids in some ways. No school bonds to have to stomach Our taxes went up a couple hundred this last year however. Hope that levels off. We shot down a new jail bond (let those pukes sleep in a tent for all I care they are criminals). A few other absurd bonds didn't make it. For crying out loud we're on fixed incomes. They'd better wake up to that fact or we'll keep voting accordingly.
I'm on fixed income too, but I take a different view on school bonds.
School bonds might pinch me some, but if a better school is going to keep the kids where I am living here in Idaho when they're grown and paying taxes. that's a better deal in the long run for me. My income will be fixed for the rest of my life, but theirs won't. They will take some of my burden off later on if they stay here to live.
And that's one of the state's biggest problems now. Because our schools have been under-funded for so long, we're losing our brightest kids, the ones who will eventually pay the most taxes, to colleges in other states, and then they're gone, off to live in other states.
And we are losing our best teachers to our neighbors Wyoming, Washington, and Utah because they can make more money teaching in those states than here in their home. Wyoming is actively sniping some of our best young teachers especially.
This creates a double whammy for us all. Our best kids are going to college less well prepared, and the very best leave and don't return. When our young can't qualify for more than minimum-wage jobs, that means they are paying minimum-wage taxes.
...and that places the burden more on us seniors. We are caught between having enough to get by, a fixed income that might not be enough in the future due to rising costs of living, and an increased risk to our income for future tax increases.
Someone has to pay the taxes. I look pretty good on paper right now, but only on paper. If something unexpected and expensive happens suddenly to me, I'll be in trouble, and while I'm probably still fit to work a few of my former jobs, I don't know how long that fitness will last anymore.
I see less future risk in the few mills I might pay extra with the passage of a school bond, so to me, it's a better choice than just hoping our education system will turn around by some legislative miracle.
Even so, I have never always voted for the passage of a school bond. There have been some that simply wanted too much too soon, and I've voted no on them more than once. But more often, I vote yes on them. I want our kids to stay here to raise families of their own.
I figure it is to my benefit to have all the young hooligans in school instead of wandering the streets with nothing constructive to do. So, I am in favor of schools.
What I have seen on several occasions though is that a school bond is for much more money than it will take to construct a school and then all the extra goes into the general fund. It's a way to get lots of extra tax money that isn't earmarked for a specific project.
I guess I got stung for far too many years living in Utah. They yanked up the taxes each and every year I owned a home........almost exclusively for MORE schools as they have babies down there like popcorn at the movie theater. Not my cup of tea. So I guess I got programmed to NOT approve of such activities. Now I'm on SS it's double negative in my life. Things are tight enough as it is. I don't need another hit. We can agree to disagree.
All of that is not really the long term potential problem. It is not what has got states like IL, NJ, CT, KY (and so on down the line) in deep long-term financial trouble, where each taxpayer owes an average long term debt of over $20k each. It is the state employee pension and retiree health care expenses, along with policies like paying prevailing union wages on all state projects.
How to see if this is happening locally, IDK. But beware... In a few cases like KY, it was seen 2 decades or more ago that the state employee pension system was not being anything close to funded. It was a state topic for years... but nothing ever happened to fix it. The bleeding has finally been stopped, but where each KY taxpayer owes $27k in long term debt. That is massive in a not-highly-prosperous state like KY. But others are worse... per taxpayer debt at the state level is over $50k in IL and CT, and over $60k in NJ.
The one plus over things as the are in ID, UT, OR, and WY right now, is that the states are doinga good job of paying-as-you-go, and not building up long term debt. So that is the + part of the current tax situation there.
Here you go for where the states are in relation to long term and and overall fiscal situations. This is a worthwhile report to dig into IMHO
That said, my property tax bill was pretty much unchanged from 2018 to 2019, despite a large increase in the school levy. Our Bonner county commissioners deserve some credit for holding the line on spending.
Dave
Dave, that may have been anecdotal. My taxes went up 20%.
Economist: Treasure Valley housing boom to continue; no threat of housing bubble
Gardner predicted housing prices would grow roughly 9% in both Ada and Canyon counties by the end of 2020, continuing the trend of booming housing costs.
Although the housing costs are rising, he said there is no indication of a bubble like the one that caused the Great Recession in 2008. Because mortgages are now harder to qualify for, only 2% to 3% of Boiseans are underwater on their mortgages; 35% of Boise homeowners have over 50% equity in their homes. However, the market will remain competitive, stemming from the influx of new residents and high construction costs due to regulation, land and material costs, and labor shortages in the construction industry.
Quote:
Boise’s unemployment rate remains below 3%, and Gardner predicts 12,600 jobs will be added in the area by the end of 2020. He said this should result in wage growth throughout the Valley this year due to employees being able to easily find work that pays them higher rates if they are not compensated more.
“Heads up employers, pay your employees a lot more if you want to keep them, because if you don’t they will find a job down the street,” he said.
Interesting but here is how these items have anything to do with a housing bubble:
"Because mortgages are now harder to qualify for": That would help avoid shaky financing, and may lower demand some, but it only is one factor in future prices.
"only 2% to 3% of Boiseans are underwater on their mortgages": This has no relationship to whether a bubble will or can happen; it is just a reflection of the run-up in value on paper
" 35% of Boise homeowners have over 50% equity in their homes." Again, no relationship to whether a bubble will occur or not. It just says that the run-up in house value on paper belongs to the homeowners, not to the mortgage holder. If a bubble bursts, then the 35% number will drop.... a lot.
Not trying to be gratuitously critical or cynical, but this is the usual real-estate mumbo-jumbo that sounds good, but does not hold up when you really think about it.
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Our taxes went up a couple hundred this last year however. Hope that levels off. We shot down a new jail bond (let those pukes sleep in a tent for all I care they are criminals). A few other absurd bonds didn't make it. For crying out loud we're on fixed incomes. They'd better wake up to that fact or we'll keep voting accordingly.
