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Here is some more good info: Property taxes in West Orange are absolutely CONFISCATORY. I just did an appraisal and ran into a 20 year old Bi-Level in the unremarkable St. Cloud section with taxes of $16,103!! For a Bi-Level! No basement. No pool. No tennis courts. No land. Vinyl siding. $16,103 bloody dollars every year and for what? WHERE ON EARTH IS THAT MONEY GOING? Who is getting it? What are they doing with it?
If you are not doubled over yet with your sandals awash in vomit, we can try a stronger emetic: The same house in Saddle River, only much larger and on 2 full acres which sold for just under $1,000,000 dollars. The taxes must be $25,000 or $30,000 to live in a bigger Bi-Level on 2 full acres in a truly prestigious location. Right?
The taxes are $5,882.
$5,882! You'd have to be an idiot to move into West Orange where the local government is just going to throw you over a table and have you to the tune of $16,103 this year, and probably $20,000 in 4 or 5 years. That's $100,000 EVERY 5 YEARS just handed over to a local government. So that you can live like the Gates in a vinyl sided Bi-Level on a postage stamp lot with no basement and only slightly more panache that a double-wide.
It's frankly obscene. But it's more that that: it's unbridled tyranny and y'all better wake up because if you are peachy with paying $16,103 damnable dollars every stinking year in property taxes to live in a bloody West Orange Bi-Level, your freedom has been stripped and it's only a few more dots to connect before you awaken one fine morning to Greek citizenship.
Last edited by Marc Paolella; 05-16-2016 at 06:07 PM..
I believe the school district is taking most of it and burning it in an incinerator in the basement of the high school. Most of the rest is being used to buy cigars for the Mayor and 4/5ths of the city council (the last guy is upset because they refuse to buy his brand). Anything left over is simply tossed into the reservoir by the county.
Greek citizenship might be superior; I'm pretty sure very few actually pay their taxes there.
west orange is in Essex county, from what I know all of Essex county has high property taxes, from what I hear it's because they have to support Newark, not sure if that's the case but obviously if the taxes are too high you do not need to move there, taxes are not going to go down like it or not.
From what I understand West Orange taxes are among the worst in the state and the state is among the worst in the country for taxes. Meaning West Orange has some of the highest taxes in the whole US. Honestly while there are some perks to living there, it is ludicrous to pay more in taxes than a mortgage. Which I imagine is a common situation there. Might as well just keep renting imo.
It's the type of tax that blocks the poorer people out of the area from the well to do. There are lots of nice homes there and people that live there appears to conform to what I describe.
west orange is in Essex county, from what I know all of Essex county has high property taxes, from what I hear it's because they have to support Newark, not sure if that's the case but obviously if the taxes are too high you do not need to move there, taxes are not going to go down like it or not.
It has nothing to do with supporting Newark. The County portion of the tax bill is only about 15%. The school budget is a whopping 65% so there's your answer. The issue in WO is that the school board approves everything that comes their way. Nothing is ever voted down. They approve ridiculous things like 75K to improve lighting at the high school football field.
from what I hear it's because they have to support Newark,
It kind of sounds like they're buying 2,000 laptops for students between 7th and 12th grade. That's going to drive up costs. And the fact that their per pupil costs are about 5K more than the state average.
People love to blame the bigger NJ cities such as Newark and Elizabeth for their town's own wasteful spending when in reality the amount that goes to the Abbott districts is minimal in comparison to the amount that is spent locally. I feel like some in NJ just resent any of their money going to needier children at all. It is ridiculous and a very common point I used to hear brought up when I lived in Bayonne.
Here is some more good info: Property taxes in West Orange are absolutely CONFISCATORY. I just did an appraisal and ran into a 20 year old Bi-Level in the unremarkable St. Cloud section with taxes of $16,103!! For a Bi-Level! No basement. No pool. No tennis courts. No land. Vinyl siding. $16,103 bloody dollars every year and for what? WHERE ON EARTH IS THAT MONEY GOING? Who is getting it? What are they doing with it?
If you are not doubled over yet with your sandals awash in vomit, we can try a stronger emetic: The same house in Saddle River, only much larger and on 2 full acres which sold for just under $1,000,000 dollars. The taxes must be $25,000 or $30,000 to live in a bigger Bi-Level on 2 full acres in a truly prestigious location. Right?
The taxes are $5,882.
$5,882! You'd have to be an idiot to move into West Orange where the local government is just going to throw you over a table and have you to the tune of $16,103 this year, and probably $20,000 in 4 or 5 years. That's $100,000 EVERY 5 YEARS just handed over to a local government. So that you can live like the Gates in a vinyl sided Bi-Level on a postage stamp lot with no basement and only slightly more panache that a double-wide.
It's frankly obscene. But it's more that that: it's unbridled tyranny and y'all better wake up because if you are peachy with paying $16,103 damnable dollars every stinking year in property taxes to live in a bloody West Orange Bi-Level, your freedom has been stripped and it's only a few more dots to connect before you awaken one fine morning to Greek citizenship.
No doubt that West Orange taxes are extraordinarily high, even for Essex County, however, Saddle River is a bit of an outlier to be a fair comparison, especially that specific property?
First, Saddle River has zoning which requires a minimum of 2 acres per property. And, the town is less than 5 square miles in size. That means it has only a fraction of the population of West Orange (which is more than double the size to begin with in square mileage), due to the fact that the number of households in Saddle River is naturally going to be a lot smaller with that kind of zoning (West Orange has a population of 45,000+, while Saddle River has a population of 3,500+). That means fewer municipal resources in terms of both municipal employees and infrastructure. I don't even think that Saddle River has a DPW, and their small fire department is 100% volunteer. West Orange has 4 different fire stations. As far as school goes, there is exactly ONE (elementary) school in Saddle River, and it is tiny. West Orange has 11 schools (7 elementary, 3 middle, 1 high school).
As for the specific property that you mention...something does not compute. The property tax rate in Saddle River is 0.987% (very low for all the reasons I already mentioned above). If the taxes are $5,882, that means the assessed value is only ~$600,000. Not doubting the figures you posted, I just think it's curious. In Saddle River a sales price of just under a million will often get you just land, without a house.
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