thinking about moving to waterville (Portland, Bangor: sales, apartments, crime)

[nilsad2006]

Thinking about moving to Waterville, ME in May of 2017. Any advice or information that anyone has is very much appreciated. I saw that it is 25 minutes away from Augusta, which is good... I would like to know more about the area though. I'm coming from PA, which is kind of pricey to live and kind of high in crime (Harrisburg). Are taxes high in Maine? In PA, we have to pay the county, the federal and the state. We also have to have licenses for our pets.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Maine requires dogs to be licensed and have rabies tags. You can find the tax rates for towns in Maine on line. You pay a sales tax on vehicles based on the manufacturer sticker price, not the price you paid. It's a huge scam. We don't pay county taxes directly. It is hidden in the town tax and the town pays the county.

[River Runner]

Waterville is a nice enough town. There is some effort by the town to work on the vitality (revitalization) of the little downtown. This includes Colby College (a small liberal arts college located in Waterville) buying a few buildings - one of which will be student/faculty housing. Having these residents will hopefully promote business and events in the downtown area. In recent decades new businesses to the town had been setting up shop on the other side of town where the regular chain stores like Staples and Walmart are now located. That side of town is kind of bland and generic in my opinion. And it diminished the number of shoppers/visitors to the downtown area. Additionally, there has been some progress on getting businesses set up in the former Hathaway factory building on the river downtown. Here are a few articles on the revitalization efforts.

Colby College buys fifth building as plans for The Concourse come together - Central Maine

Waterville takes steps toward revitalization - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

Waterville downtown businesses, residents pitch ideas for new retail stores - Central Maine

Waterville is on the Kennebec River and within easy drive to several lakes/ponds. And a little longer drive to many more. The coast is about 40 minutes drive as are the mountains in western Maine. A little longer drive to the northern western ones. Portland is an hour 20 minutes drive. Bangor is about an hour. As you mentioned Augusta is 25 minutes. Augusta is not my favor town. I don't find it particularly attractive or community oriented. But as the state capitol there are chain stores and some events that take place there (including those at the Civic Center). And I am sure there are those that like Augusta. Waterville is a bit more community oriented (again in my opinion).

I would be interested in what qualities attracted you to Waterville initially.

[nilsakate2017]

Thank you all so much for this information. I appreciate it. =)

[slyfox2]

One thing about taxes you will be wild about from PA(I lived in Carlisle for 15 years as a kid), is that your local taxes are a credit on your state taxes, not a lousy $90 deduction. And so unless you aren't paying any state tax, rising local taxes a actually a wash.

For the first 3 years, I couldn't believe it and I saved the money each year expecting to have to pay the "giant" state tax. But now I don't. Turns out it is about the same. Of course if you are on a pension, then you will have to pay state tax on that here, and you would not have to do so in PA.

Are you looking for a job or are you retiring. If you are looking for a job, then where you live will depend on where your job is. Remember that there are more people living in the local Philly area than there are in the huge whole state of Maine.

[SPLATT]

There really is nothing in Waterville. There are two colleges, several hospitals, tons of banks, fast food places and churches. That's about it. Moderator cut: edit Not much in the way of employment for professionals. Downtown is a ghost town. The few stores that have come in are dollar stores and things of that nature. Everything is closed by 11pm, except Wal Mart which stays open until midnight. Decent apartments are hard to find, even if you are willing to pay top pf the market prices. There are some groups that make an effort, but there really is no culture to speak of. The town decided that being paid once for trash removal was not good enough. So will pay for trash removal twice- first through taxes and than when you buy "special" town labeled bags at $2 a bag.

As you can probably tell, I'm not impressed with the place. If I had to think of something positive to say: they generally do a pretty good job with snow removal in the winter. Moderator cut: defamatory, off-topic

If you have specific questions I could answer them. In a general sense I would not recommend moving here. But I have no idea what you are looking for in a town, so you might love it here.

[nilsad2006]

I appreciate everything. After reading everyone's feedback here and after a bit of research of my own, I decided not to make the move. Once again, thank you all for your time.

[maineguy8888]

Moderator cut: edit
FYI, I'm not a huge fan of Waterville but it's okay.