Illinois sky high property taxes 2nd-highest in nation (Chicago, Peoria: rental, HOA)

[linicx]

Zones,

I don't know of which roads you speak? If you are on Galena Road it is not in the City of Peoria. All of the roads in Illinois north of SoIL suffer the same fate: freeze and thaw. The freeze line is not the same in every county or on every road. IL also suffers from tons of through traffic on major routes and major streets. Unless a sinkhole develops road repair won't begin much before late Spring; most road repair is started and finished in the summer.

Originally Posted by Zoness

Thanks for clarifying; I wonder if living near the nature reserve affects my rent rates. It's pretty low overall though.

Really though, I wish Peoria would spend some money to fix the atrocious roads...

[Zoness]

Originally Posted by Big TR

The state parks in Tennessee are outstanding. The county and city parks where I live are very good as well.

The schools where I live are great.

What qualifies as great?

I am legitimately curious because I said the same thing for Indiana; I fear lots of other states with low taxes take a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach to cutting and I fear that schools are the first thing to go; my SO is in music education so these things would be important to us in the case of relocation. It seems a lot of Southern states are very unfriendly to the arts, but of course that depends on where the money is.

[Zoness]

Originally Posted by linicx

Zones,

I don't know of which roads you speak? If you are on Galena Road it is not in the City of Peoria. All of the roads in Illinois north of SoIL suffer the same fate: freeze and thaw. The freeze line is not the same in every county or on every road. IL also suffers from tons of through traffic on major routes and major streets. Unless a sinkhole develops road repair won't begin much before late Spring; most road repair is started and finished in the summer.

I hit a pothole that messed up my alignment yesterday on Knoxville. I hit two on Sheridan on approach to the bridge over I-74 southbound to Main Street. E. Glen Ave. is bad shape on approach to Peoria Heights though not as bad as the aforementioned. Nebraska is trashed and that's usually how I cut over from Sheridan to Knoxville to head towards work in the heights, I might need to find a different route that just seems to be the fastest.

I know the roads are subject to this brutal weather but these things are starting to mess with my car which is already on its last legs (not that I expected much from a Ford Taurus LOL). Still, I hit 4 in one day. I hope they fill them soon.

[cubssoxfan]

Originally Posted by Zoness

What qualifies as great?

I am legitimately curious because I said the same thing for Indiana; I fear lots of other states with low taxes take a "shoot first, ask questions later" approach to cutting and I fear that schools are the first thing to go; my SO is in music education so these things would be important to us in the case of relocation. It seems a lot of Southern states are very unfriendly to the arts, but of course that depends on where the money is.

I looked at US News High SChool rankings.
Fred Page HS in Franklin is ranked 14th best in TN. #1820 nationally.
Riverside-Brookfield is ranked #14 in Illinois and is ranked #367 nationally and is just a few spots behind New Trier.
My local HS, Wheeling is ranked #42 in Illinois and #996 nationally. I am always skeptical of school quality truly being "equal" in lower tax areas.

[Big TR]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

I looked at US News High SChool rankings.
Fred Page HS in Franklin is ranked 14th best in TN. #1820 nationally.
Riverside-Brookfield is ranked #14 in Illinois and is ranked #367 nationally and is just a few spots behind New Trier.
My local HS, Wheeling is ranked #42 in Illinois and #996 nationally. I am always skeptical of school quality truly being "equal" in lower tax areas.

Page is maybe the 4th best High School in Williamson County. These rankings appear to be quite horrible. But I'm not going to argue with you over these rankings.

My 4th grade son is getting a good education and is a smart kid. The schools are very well funded. Upon graduation he will be ready and able to attend any good college in the country.

My wife and I are extremely happy we left Illinois for Tennessee. Less traffic, substantially better weather, significantly lower taxes and a more laid back atmosphere all make it a much better place for us.

[linicx]

Zones, one of my repair persons is 8200 N. Knoxville. I cross on Forest Hill with little traffic to Prospect and then N. to Knoxville.

Knoxville is an IL route and a major carrier. As far as I am concerned, Sheridan and Nebraska have never been car friendly streets. Glen is no prize either. Try University to Lake if you don't like Forest Hill. You can pick up 474 to Morton on Sterling by the mall.

There are only five streets with access to PH. Prospect, War Mamorial, Lake, Glen and Knoxville. University has two lights before Forest Hill: Nebraska and McClure.

[Broadrippleguy]

Originally Posted by chicagobears

did you see this ? we are now the 2nd highest for property tax

Illinois Policy Institute - Blog - Illinois sky high property taxes 2nd-highest in nation

I was looking at homes today in all the counties in Northern IL. and I cant believe how high the tax is,
homes are worth less money but the taxes go up and up .

I think this is a major cause for the Exodus to other states .

Thats a no brainer.
jump across the border to Indiana and you have in our state constitution a 1% cap on property taxes for homeowners.

[Vlajos]

Originally Posted by cubssoxfan

I looked at US News High SChool rankings.
Fred Page HS in Franklin is ranked 14th best in TN. #1820 nationally.
Riverside-Brookfield is ranked #14 in Illinois and is ranked #367 nationally and is just a few spots behind New Trier.
My local HS, Wheeling is ranked #42 in Illinois and #996 nationally. I am always skeptical of school quality truly being "equal" in lower tax areas.

This is not surprising. Southern states are not known for good public education.

[cubssoxfan]

Williamson County: Williamson County | Tennessee | Best High Schools | US News

I like TN; but I also believe that there is no "free lunch" and that if someone says "Look at the unbelievably low taxes I pay and the phenomenal schools my kids go to" I am highly skeptical.

[ccjarider]

Juast an observation on schools and ratings.
I have hired probably 60-70 people thruoghout my career in states such as WI, IL and now OR.

These people all came from many different backgrounds, schooling and families.

I no longer beleive the quality of the public school they came from, had more than a 20% allocation to their success/failure as an adult or in their career. There are so many other factors that come into play.

I am starting to believe that, as a nation, we are played as fools by the huge Public Education industry. It is time to start talking in terms of how we are being taken advantage of by "Big Education" industry, just as the media likes to talk about "Big Oil."

I am sure Big TR's children have an equal change of succeeding in life coming out of a public school in TN as a kid coming out of the uber rich New Trier schooling system.

There is too much propoganda promoted by "Big Education" to understand the truth.


On another point, I am very glad we no longer pay the high IL prop. taxes!
I think they went up 30 % in the 3 yrs we owned a home in Arlington Heights.
The home also lost 60K value in those same 3 yrs. I was just happy we were able to sell and get out.
Taxes higher - value lower: bad recipe for success.