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Being new here and trying to find out more. I have broken out my property taxes and did some comparing. When you take out the school district and the county and compare ourselves to say Whitefish Bay, you find that we pay city taxes almost 300% higher. In addition, we have our own Milwaukee. assessor and choose not to use the Milwaukee county tax assessors. What you will find is that our Milwaukee. assessor bring our property values up very close to the true value or in some case above true value. This value is also what we use as our assessment for county taxes. Meaning we pay even more county/school taxes than a comparatively priced home in another area.
Property taxes are extremely high in Milwaukee, it's the main reason we moved out of Milwaukee. We looked at several houses on the upper and lower east side but just you can afford to pay high taxes why would you want to?
Prime example, house for sale for $290,000, property taxes are $11,000, the house is still assessed at $369,000 but as home values continue to drop the assessment stays at $369,000. Now we could have bought this house but not with paying $11,000 in property taxes. You can buy the same value house in a Milwaukee suburb and only pay $4,000. That's $7,000 a year you save on property taxes, now multiply that by how many years you plan to live in that house, let's say 30 years, that's an extra $210,000 you paid just to live in that house vs another house out in the suburbs. Even if the property tax difference is only $3,000 which I argue is a big difference that adds up over time to a huge sum of money.
I emailed the alderman about how high taxes are and he replied with a snarky "Well if you want to live in a city with all these amenities you have to pay for it". So we bought a house in Mequon and our property taxes are under $3,000
Most of the time in Milwaukee the city will assess a house for well more than it's really worth since the high the assessment the higher taxes they can charge. Meanwhile in the burbs houses are often assessed lower than the market rate sometimes lower than $20,000 than what houses are going for.
I love Milwaukee and miss it everyday but who want's to pay $6,000 or $9,000 or even $11,000 for horrible roads, bad schools and city leadership that is hell bent on spending 125 Million to move white yuppies around in a 2.1 mile circle.
Property taxes are extremely high in Milwaukee, it's the main reason we moved out of Milwaukee. We looked at several houses on the upper and lower east side but just you can afford to pay high taxes why would you want to?
Prime example, house for sale for $290,000, property taxes are $11,000, the house is still assessed at $369,000 but as home values continue to drop the assessment stays at $369,000. Now we could have bought this house but not with paying $11,000 in property taxes. You can buy the same value house in a Milwaukee suburb and only pay $4,000. That's $7,000 a year you save on property taxes, now multiply that by how many years you plan to live in that house, let's say 30 years, that's an extra $210,000 you paid just to live in that house vs another house out in the suburbs. Even if the property tax difference is only $3,000 which I argue is a big difference that adds up over time to a huge sum of money.
I emailed the alderman about how high taxes are and he replied with a snarky "Well if you want to live in a city with all these amenities you have to pay for it". So we bought a house in Mequon and our property taxes are under $3,000
Most of the time in Milwaukee the city will assess a house for well more than it's really worth since the high the assessment the higher taxes they can charge. Meanwhile in the burbs houses are often assessed lower than the market rate sometimes lower than $20,000 than what houses are going for.
I love Milwaukee and miss it everyday but who want's to pay $6,000 or $9,000 or even $11,000 for horrible roads, bad schools and city leadership that is hell bent on spending 125 Million to move white yuppies around in a 2.1 mile circle.
The alderman's response is a total joke. What a moron... As if Milwaukee is the only city with amenities. Maybe if the Wis DOT would design and build their highways correctly THE FIRST TIME, the state wouldn't need to soak up so much tax money.
The insanely high property taxes is one of the reasons I left the state. On a $140k house, I was paying $4,000 in property tax a year... My wife and I bought a MUCH nicer house, only three years old in a gated community... And now we only pay $1500 a year in property tax... In a city with more amenities than Milwaukee could ever dream of.
So yeah... That alderman can get his head out of his ***** any day now.
Property taxes are extremely high in Milwaukee, it's the main reason we moved out of Milwaukee. We looked at several houses on the upper and lower east side but just you can afford to pay high taxes why would you want to?
Prime example, house for sale for $290,000, property taxes are $11,000, the house is still assessed at $369,000 but as home values continue to drop the assessment stays at $369,000. Now we could have bought this house but not with paying $11,000 in property taxes. You can buy the same value house in a Milwaukee suburb and only pay $4,000. That's $7,000 a year you save on property taxes, now multiply that by how many years you plan to live in that house, let's say 30 years, that's an extra $210,000 you paid just to live in that house vs another house out in the suburbs. Even if the property tax difference is only $3,000 which I argue is a big difference that adds up over time to a huge sum of money.
I emailed the alderman about how high taxes are and he replied with a snarky "Well if you want to live in a city with all these amenities you have to pay for it". So we bought a house in Mequon and our property taxes are under $3,000
Most of the time in Milwaukee the city will assess a house for well more than it's really worth since the high the assessment the higher taxes they can charge. Meanwhile in the burbs houses are often assessed lower than the market rate sometimes lower than $20,000 than what houses are going for.
I love Milwaukee and miss it everyday but who want's to pay $6,000 or $9,000 or even $11,000 for horrible roads, bad schools and city leadership that is hell bent on spending 125 Million to move white yuppies around in a 2.1 mile circle.
Unfortunately, it's partly a legacy of white flight, segregation by race and class, and the growth of the suburbs.
Mequon and other communities can get away with lower taxes (that is, lower tax rates), because properties on average are assessed at higher values, and thus the yield is uniformly high per capita and in relation to basic services. This structure also keeps out poor people and other folks who require/utilize city services more. Many properties in Milwaukee are valued at under $100,000, which doesn't yield much tax revenue per property if Mequon rates apply. The lower cost of housing (in spite of taxes) means more poor people and people with special needs in the city, and that's costly. The poorest and neediest people don't have many options in Mequon and many other communities. Milwaukee's higher tax rates try to compensate a bit for the fact that it's expensive to run a large, heavily urbanized city with a wide economic and demographic range of people, especially when more exclusive communities right nearby don't have the same scale of costs. In the city, the richer people do help subsidize services for the poorer people.
It's hard to say how to "solve" these problems. I suppose the wealthiest city districts like the East Side and Bay View could secede and keep their own tax money, and let the poorer neighborhoods fend for themselves. The suburbs have pretty much already done that, but turning rich city districts into rich suburbs would be even more devastating for the poor people in the city.
The city and county could be consolidated into one entity, but then that would just send more tax-averse folks with money out to Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha Counties.
A while back some city leaders were floating the idea of creating three or four school districts within the city. That might work, but it also has the potential of creating two tiers of education in the city (though that happens already with the handful of great schools like Reagan and King, and most of the rest which underperform).
Though I loathe gated communities, perhaps the city should try to compete with suburbs by encouraging developments of gated communities in some areas-- perhaps even giving tax breaks to match rates in the nearest suburbs.
Another possibility (that will never happen) is to assess a tax on suburbanites. They left the city and built their own exclusive schools, roads, and speed-trap police systems; perhaps a cost of such privilege should be paying some money to ensure the vitality of the city they left behind.
Another possibility (also never going to happen) is to force Mequon and other suburbs to have more affordable housing for poor people. Perhaps that would give suburbanites more perspective on the issues that Milwaukee and some of the less wealthy suburbs face, and could lead to greater cooperation. It could also help with the hypersegregation in the area. But this level of integration would require more mass transit and other infrastructure efforts in places like Mequon, but there's a lot of NIMBYism and resistance to inclusion in such places.
Solutions are hard to come by.... I'm skeptical about the streetcar thing, but the proponents are simply trying to find a way to make the city more attractive and unique to higher-income people who might set down roots and contribute to the tax roll. That's perfectly understandable.
The alderman's response is a total joke. What a moron... As if Milwaukee is the only city with amenities. Maybe if the Wis DOT would design and build their highways correctly THE FIRST TIME, the state wouldn't need to soak up so much tax money.
The insanely high property taxes is one of the reasons I left the state. On a $140k house, I was paying $4,000 in property tax a year... My wife and I bought a MUCH nicer house, only three years old in a gated community... And now we only pay $1500 a year in property tax... In a city with more amenities than Milwaukee could ever dream of.
So yeah... That alderman can get his head out of his ***** any day now.
It's a pretty blunt statement, but it sounds like he meant "if you want to live in a city in this region" with so many amenities you have to pay for it. Las Vegas, with all of its problems and charms, doesn't come into play a whole lot.
In some ways, depending on what you value, it's true: most of the desirable parts of Milwaukee are moderate- or high-density neighborhoods that are very walkable. Milwaukee has the lion's share of entertainment and arts districts in the metro region. Milwaukee has the densest and most travelled downtown in the region, and that brings up all sorts of costs and benefits that strip malls and suburban shopping centers don't have. Milwaukee is home to the two largest universities in the region, which, again, involves tremendous costs and benefits that you don't have with spacious suburban campuses. Milwaukee is home to the largest festivals and other outdoor celebratory events in the region, all of which bring people into the city and generate revenue, but all of which involve significant police costs, road wear, etc.
Milwaukee's diverse population does lead to a lot of costs in social services, etc., but the benefits include the region's greatest concentrations of ethnic businesses, high-end as well as bargain shopping, and all manner of other ventures that involve a mix of people not really seen elsewhere in the region: the rich and poor, people of all races and ethnicities, students and businesspeople, tourists and oldtimers, gays and straights, and so on.
Not that other places don't have some of this, too, but Milwaukee is ground zero for the pageant of life in the region. Milwaukee is the main regional destination for people interested in serious museums, galleries, orchestras, bands, opera companies, dance troupes, and so on. No, Milwaukee doesn't have a monopoly on these things-- the suburbs have more and better chains, better shopping malls, better parades, more open space, wider roads, and so on.
Ultimately, yes, Milwaukee has a great proportion of amenities, and operating such a city with such things is costly. That doesn't mean Greenfield, Wauwatosa, Brookfield, and Germantown don't have great things going on, but in many respects it just isn't at the same scale as Milwaukee.
No, Milwaukee doesn't have a monopoly on these things-- the suburbs have more and better chains, better shopping malls, better parades, more open space, wider roads, and so on.
True, if you want to live in Appleton, you can live in the Milwaukee suburbs for a similar exciting experience
If I'm going to be surrounded by neighbors, give me actual amenities. I don't want to live in an endless subdivision where you have to jump in your car just to grab some lunch, and when you do drive over for that lunch, your "options" are the same bland choices that everyone in Wausau/Beloit/Superior/Oshkosh have. I'll take my short walk over to Guanajuato's, Lulu, Odd Duck, Vanguard, or a good dozen more independant local spots that have more character and quality than every Chili's/Applebees/Wendy's in the world combined, at the same basic price point. On the way over I can stop at a record store or hit up a coffee shop on the way home. If I'm going to put up with people everywhere, at least give me something that makes it worthwhile - the suburbs have congestion with none of the upside.
Obviously taxes in Milwaukee are too high, and obviously the alderman cannot discuss some of the other, underlying issues of why (some of which were detailed very nicely above), but it's ridiculous to discount "amenities," because that's exactly why people with money are moving back into Milwaukee. That's why I moved to the city. That's why I moved where I moved. I know lots and lots of people who did and continue to do the same, regardless of high taxes. Because when you see malls posing as fake downtowns (see: Bayshore), chains building shops that are supposed to look local, and so on, it's people in the suburbs desperately trying to recreate the exact same "old city center downtown" that only exists in a handful of cities in the state + a few (mostly Milwaukee, a few Madison) urban neighborhoods.
I'll take the grit and extra $$$ in order to live in an area that provides true urban amenities. I will never, ever live in a suburb or small city again. Middle of somewhere or middle of nowhere. Everything else is a fool's compromise for me, lots of people I know and a steadily growing number of young professionals.
True, if you want to live in Appleton, you can live in the Milwaukee suburbs for a similar exciting experience
If I'm going to be surrounded by neighbors, give me actual amenities. I don't want to live in an endless subdivision where you have to jump in your car just to grab some lunch, and when you do drive over for that lunch, your "options" are the same bland choices that everyone in Wausau/Beloit/Superior/Oshkosh have. I'll take my short walk over to Guanajuato's, Lulu, Odd Duck, Vanguard, or a good dozen more independant local spots that have more character and quality than every Chili's/Applebees/Wendy's in the world combined, at the same basic price point. On the way over I can stop at a record store or hit up a coffee shop on the way home. If I'm going to put up with people everywhere, at least give me something that makes it worthwhile - the suburbs have congestion with none of the upside.
Obviously taxes in Milwaukee are too high, and obviously the alderman cannot discuss some of the other, underlying issues of why (some of which were detailed very nicely above), but it's ridiculous to discount "amenities," because that's exactly why people with money are moving back into Milwaukee. That's why I moved to the city. That's why I moved where I moved. I know lots and lots of people who did and continue to do the same, regardless of high taxes....
And that describes me very well, too. I lived in a suburb here for several years, and though I enjoyed the lush lawns and woods adjacent to my quiet condo, and though I enjoyed a few other features of the area, moving back to the city and being only minutes from work, the parks, the arts, the restaurants, and other things has really made a difference. No one bothered me and my husband (then partner) in the burbs, but now that we're married we feel more at ease being in a more diverse and accepting area. On crappy weather days or whenever else I don't feel like driving, I can take the bus to work--something I could never do in the burbs. Yeah, the taxes on my house are high, but the same house would have cost more in the burbs, so I'd probably be paying nearly the same taxes anyhow. Even so, I'm finding that I fill up my gas tank every two weeks or so, rather than every week--I'm sure that significantly offsets some of the higher cost in taxes. The city does have its problems, but it's remarkably engaging and I enjoy seeing it evolve on a daily basis.
Milwaukee is never going to fix their property tax problems until the city hits rock bottom. Probably 20-30 years down the road when the pension burden becomes untenable my estimation. The city must come to grips with the fact you can't tax your way to prosperity! It's sad that the beautiful homes on Lake Drive will be left to rot similar to those lovely areas of Detroit that suffered the same fate. It would take tremendous leadership to right the ship - but its unlikely to happen and will probably result in bankruptcy.
Milwaukee is never going to fix their property tax problems until the city hits rock bottom. Probably 20-30 years down the road when the pension burden becomes untenable my estimation. The city must come to grips with the fact you can't tax your way to prosperity! It's sad that the beautiful homes on Lake Drive will be left to rot similar to those lovely areas of Detroit that suffered the same fate. It would take tremendous leadership to right the ship - but its unlikely to happen and will probably result in bankruptcy.
Was PCP on sale this evening? LOL
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