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Monroe County currently is in the process of reassessing home and business values: Monroe County Reassessment Begins - Story | PAHomepage. Of course the final reassessment will not go into affect until 2019. Supposedly 1/3rd of the taxpayers will pay more, 1/3rd will pay less and the other 1/3rd will stay the same.
Of course many of us suspect that we will pay more. I get confused with all of the information on this whole process: State Tax Equalization Board (STEB). That is especially true when you look at the State wide market value to Assessed value ratio (you can down load that from the State Tax Equalization Board web site). That 'ratio' varies from 174% to the single digits in percentage - of course I really do not know the factors that go into those calculations. Our ratio, where we live, is 15.67% as of 2015. Many have it much worse.
Anyway, I really cannot complain right now; I have not seen the changes. I just wanted to post to let people know that we are in the process of change. Your reassessment is coming if you live in Monroe.
My taxes are now $5000 for the same decrepit, now 80 year old house, which is assessed at $103,000.
Do I think they'll go up? You betcha!
I would like to know how in God's name the reassessment can be "fair" when all they are doing is measuring property size and square footage of the house from the outside, and basing it on that alone.
So my craphole, if it was next to a nicely renovated house of similar size, these would be worth the same amount according to Monroe county- despite the fact my house could charitably be considered a "tear-down".
Yeah, sounds fair.
How they can determine what a home is worth without entering the premises is beyond my comprehension. This is like trying to determine what a used car is worth without looking under the hood...
What your home will be worth is entirely dependent on how much more money the local school board wants to suck out of you for their frivolous spending, and we all know it.
Last edited by mrsfixit99; 08-13-2016 at 04:28 PM..
Reason: grammar
My taxes are now $5000 for the same decrepit, now 80 year old house, which is assessed at $103,000.
Do I think they'll go up? You betcha!
I would like to know how in God's name the reassessment can be "fair" when all they are doing is measuring property size and square footage of the house from the outside, and basing it on that alone.
So my craphole, if it was next to a nicely renovated house of similar size, these would be worth the same amount according to Monroe county- despite the fact my house could charitably be considered a "tear-down".
Yeah, sounds fair.
How they can determine what a home is worth without entering the premises is beyond my comprehension. This is like trying to determine what a used car is worth without looking under the hood...
What your home will be worth is entirely dependent on how much more money the local school board wants to suck out of you for their frivolous spending, and we all know it.
Actually, by where we live; Pocono Township will probably approve the plans to grant a commercial variance for the old Brookdale property. There is an undisclosed rehabilitation center that has plans to operate a 110 person, long term, drug and alcohol at the old resort. According to research our property values could go down from 8% to 17% (Treatment Centers Can Impact Home Prices | Realtor Magazine). So, since we are currently having a reassessment; I think it is only fair, for the property values of residents close to this new facility, to reflect this change in net worth. Of course that will never happen.
By the way; there is no way to stop one of these facilities from coming into your backyard. They are protected under the American Disabilities Act and zoning must approve any request for a change in zoning!
Actually, by where we live; Pocono Township will probably approve the plans to grant a commercial variance for the old Brookdale property. There is an undisclosed rehabilitation center that has plans to operate a 110 person, long term, drug and alcohol at the old resort. According to research our property values could go down from 8% to 17% (Treatment Centers Can Impact Home Prices | Realtor Magazine). So, since we are currently having a reassessment; I think it is only fair, for the property values of residents close to this new facility, to reflect this change in net worth. Of course that will never happen.
By the way; there is no way to stop one of these facilities from coming into your backyard. They are protected under the American Disabilities Act and zoning must approve any request for a change in zoning!
I'm a couple of miles from that proposed facility, so I don't know how that would impact my assessment.
I don't want this here, doesn't sound like you're too keen on the idea either. The property could have been put to better use, like providing affordable housing for seniors.
Now we have to worry about junkies getting shipped here and doing God knows what.
I will also believe that this facility won't be getting tax breaks when I see it. Pocono Twp loves to give away the store at taxpayer expense.
The only way I would be semi ok with this is if the patients all had to wear electronic ankle bracelets so their whereabouts could be monitored at all times. You can't just have these people running loose on 230 acres of woodlands with no way to keep track of them.
And yes, I just posted the same thing over at the PR website in the thread re this project... ;-)
But of course, Monroe county will probably consider this place an asset, and we'll see our property assessments go UP because of it... :-/
Actually, by where we live; Pocono Township will probably approve the plans to grant a commercial variance for the old Brookdale property. There is an undisclosed rehabilitation center that has plans to operate a 110 person, long term, drug and alcohol at the old resort. According to research our property values could go down from 8% to 17% (Treatment Centers Can Impact Home Prices | Realtor Magazine). So, since we are currently having a reassessment; I think it is only fair, for the property values of residents close to this new facility, to reflect this change in net worth. Of course that will never happen.
By the way; there is no way to stop one of these facilities from coming into your backyard. They are protected under the American Disabilities Act and zoning must approve any request for a change in zoning!
I wouldn't be too concerned about that kind of facility. There was a place in Minisink Hills, near Shawnee and about 2 miles from my home, called Marworth that was a D&A rehab. They pulled out in the 90's and the place was bought by Wordsworth (out of Fort Washington PA) which was an RTF for troubled youth. They pulled out in the mid-2000's and the place was bought by the Kirkwoods of Shawnee and run as an RTF until they quit that business in 2009. The place sat vacant until a church congregation from Stroudsburg bought it a couple years ago.
So would you rather have a derelict resort, attracting squatters, arsonists, and graffitists or an enterprise that will fix it up and employ local people who will support local businesses?
So would you rather have a derelict resort, attracting squatters, arsonists, and graffitists or an enterprise that will fix it up and employ local people who will support local businesses?
I know; that is why I am torn on the issue. Yes; the current resort is quickly disintegrating and, if they stopped paying for security, the place would follow other resorts like Penn Hills. It amazes me that they have paid for security and lights all of these years.
By the way, the Hillside Inn in Canadensis was in the newspaper back in 2012 as being converted to one of these drug and rehab places - it now looks like it was abandoned. The same could happen to Brookdale.
I am not crazy about this American's Disability Act that labeled drug addicts as 'disabled'. Of course I realize that many people get addicted because they originally took pain killers. I just do not like the idea that the disability law forces our townships to circumvent long standing zoning laws. Let's say, that in this particular case of the new rehab; that it doesn't make it as a business and now we have one new commercially zoned property in the middle of a residential neighborhood that is large enough to operate a stone quarry (the property does have shale deposits).
By the way; is anything happening with Penn Hills? We do not get down there too often. Last time we went past we saw they were in the process of putting up a fence. It just looked as if the new owners were not that aggressive about ripping the place down. Perhaps they ran into hidden cost? At one time Penn Hills owed over $1,000,000 in back taxes - I always wondered why our County allowed that figure to build to that point. Had our County shut the operation down, before they owed so much, they could have possibly sold it to another resort that could have salvaged the business (maybe).
I'm a couple of miles from that proposed facility, so I don't know how that would impact my assessment.
I don't want this here, doesn't sound like you're too keen on the idea either. The property could have been put to better use, like providing affordable housing for seniors.
Now we have to worry about junkies getting shipped here and doing God knows what.
I will also believe that this facility won't be getting tax breaks when I see it. Pocono Twp loves to give away the store at taxpayer expense.
The only way I would be semi ok with this is if the patients all had to wear electronic ankle bracelets so their whereabouts could be monitored at all times. You can't just have these people running loose on 230 acres of woodlands with no way to keep track of them.
And yes, I just posted the same thing over at the PR website in the thread re this project... ;-)
But of course, Monroe county will probably consider this place an asset, and we'll see our property assessments go UP because of it... :-/
It isn't Pocono Township; it is our County that gives millions to businesses that do not provide the jobs they claim they will provide for the residents. Like the Irdium case in E. Stroudsburg that went out and hired illegal immigrants or the money given to the business that took over the old Roadway/Yellow terminal and they only hired one fraction of the workers that the old facility employed.
I see many problem with the new rehab facility. Many of these patients cannot drive and will have to take a bus or be brought in by ambulance or family members. If they do not have bus service; these addicts might have to walk the length of Brookdale Road to Route 611 (right past many residential houses that might be a 'target' for drug abusers). I also do not think that other bus riders will be that happy about sharing the bus with drug addicts. Brookdale has it's own sewage treatment facility. Sometimes, when the old resort was busy, that treatment plant would reek. If the new facility is busy; I do not think that the old treatment plant can handle the waste. If it doesn't; does that mean that the Township will consider running the new central sewage line to the resort and, if they do, will they force the other residential properties to connect?
Like jtab4994 points out; we could be worse off without this facility. I just wish that it was another prosperous resort that took over - I would love to see the place restored to it's former glory (I do know that will never happen). There is something about our area turning away from resorts and heading in the direction of water parks with the plastic facades and rehab centers - it doesn't make my day. I would rather see our area embrace secure jobs - I just know (with only a few exceptions) that will never happen.
It isn't Pocono Township; it is our County that gives millions to businesses that do not provide the jobs they claim they will provide for the residents.
I would love to see the place restored to it's former glory (I do know that will never happen). There is something about our area turning away from resorts and heading in the direction of water parks with the plastic facades and rehab centers - it doesn't make my day. I would rather see our area embrace secure jobs - I just know (with only a few exceptions) that will never happen.
Baloney.
Pocono Township loves to hand out millions to big businesses. It isn't just the county.
And I don't want another damned resort- I would like to see it turned into 55+ housing. There is enough space there to have 55+ apartments, and perhaps a community of small houses.
The recreation facilities already there will be an attraction for active seniors, so that's a bonus.
Senior housing is desperately needed, nobody objects to it, and it will bring a whole lot more in tax revenues without dumping a bunch of kids in our school system.
If this drug rehab goes through- what's next- sex offenders?
I would rather see our area embrace secure jobs - I just know (with only a few exceptions) that will never happen.
So would I.
I would like to see our area attract high tech companies, which will provide better jobs and have less of an impact on our environment.
But guess what? That will never happen as long as we refuse to upgrade to 21st century broadband technology.
Blue Ridge Cable has a stranglehold on this area for internet access. It is a monopoly. The only other "choice" (and I use that term loosely) is slooooooooooow overpriced DSL.
The ISP's have paid the PA politicians to enact protectionist laws against municipal broadband, which if implemented could provide Monroe county with much faster speeds at much lower prices.
But it won't happen until these unfair laws are repealed. Blue Ridge doesn't want the competition.
Do you think any tech company is going to locate here with our overpriced and antiquated broadband when they could locate to an area with Google fiber instead?
They hand out $6 million dollars a year of gaming money that was supposed to go for tax relief to the racket known as the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau. The PMVB wants to turn this area into the water park capitol of the world.
That $6 million dollars essentially pays for advertising for the likes of Kalahari, Great Wolf, Camelback, Mt. Airy, etc, etc. These resorts are raking in hundreds of millions a year in profits. let them pay for their own damn advertising. Six million is chump change for them, while it could do a LOT of good for us residents.
We residents get NOTHING in return from all this tourism, not even the tax relief we were promised.
With $6 million, we could wire the ENTIRE county with fiber. Everywhere that has electricity could have fiber, using the existing poles.
That would be a win-win for everyone, business AND residents alike.
fisheye,
I regularly scan the meeting minutes of the Pocono Twp board of commissioners.
I noticed a recent one alluded to something coming at Brookdale, and another project on Warner Rd. Well, we know what Brookdale is all about now.
However, I can no further info about it. Warner Rd is a lot closer to home for me.
Have you heard about anything in that area?
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It's meant to be confusing...
