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Try living in Texas where we have Independent School Districts (ISDs). One city might have 4-5 ISDs. I live in one town in one county but pay school taxes to another county's ISD b/c I am in their boundaries. It's fine by me as their ISD is better, which makes my property more valuable than if it were in my "home" county ISD>
Try living in Texas where we have Independent School Districts (ISDs). One city might have 4-5 ISDs. I live in one town in one county but pay school taxes to another county's ISD b/c I am in their boundaries. It's fine by me as their ISD is better, which makes my property more valuable than if it were in my "home" county ISD>
Where would your kids go to school, in the ISD where you pay taxes or in the County where you live? Not all school systems follow County boundaries across the US. PA, for example, has 67 Counties but 501 school systems.
As for voting, I can tell you that Oregon and California do vote on school bonds, at least. Interesting to learn that there are places that don't vote on those.
In California, it takes only 55% majority to pass school bond taxes, which I personally consider to be too low. I would prefer for the threshold to be something over 60% to pass school/special bonds and taxes, especially since I live in an area where there are larger families with numerous children and school taxes/bonds nearly always pass. (90% rate).
What % is it in Oregon and other places?
Edit: From the website posted, above, I can see that not all of the special taxes in California require the minimum of 55% (school bonds apparently do), but whenever there is a minimum of 55% required, there is a 90% pass rate.
The worst taxes are those that are a specific dollar amount per parcel, as opposed to a percentage of the value on a property. The people who own the largest, most expensive properties (and who often have more children) are not paying according to their usage.
Last edited by SFBayBoomer; 07-30-2016 at 04:16 PM..
Where would your kids go to school, in the ISD where you pay taxes or in the County where you live? Not all school systems follow County boundaries across the US. PA, for example, has 67 Counties but 501 school systems.
Where I pay taxes. I am within their boundary. ISD boundaries are ptactically written in stone.
Here in MA, schools are administered by individual cities and towns with a few regional school districts. In our town, we have a representative town meeting that has to approve borrowing for schools unless it requires a special tax increase. Then that is done via a town wide vote.
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Our city also has two different school districts, and at the borders you can have neighbors across the street sending their kids to a different school district. The bonds are associated with the school district, not the city.
SFBayBoomer, I too would like to see a higher majority required to pass school bonds (or any tax, frankly). I can't remember first-hand what percentage is required in Oregon, but this site is interesting: https://ballotpedia.org/School_bond_...ions_in_Oregon
Also, with many bond issues where the full faith and credit of the taxing jurisdiction is being pledged, the initial millage rate can usually be increased later on if it turns out to be insufficient to pay off the debt. Bond issues usually pass easily in my area because it seems that most people don't associate issuing bonds with going into debt. There seems to be a disconnect that bonds issues equal higher taxes.
Since only a simple majority vote is required in my area, oftentimes school districts (or other taxing entities) will continue to place bond issues on the ballot if they fail the first time around. They only need to be successful once to lock in a 30-year (or whatever) tax increase.
They only need to be successful once to lock in a 30-year (or whatever) tax increase.
30 years?? Our bond elections typically only last 3-4 years... The last one we had was from around 2010 and went thru 2014. Right now, they are trying to figure out the cost for 2 more elementary schools and 1 middle school that will go up for election this next year, that will probably go until 2020 as that's when they anticipate the schools opening. That's approximately 3 years.
How can a "bond" go for 30 years? I think you're talking about the actual, base school tax in your area, not a temporary bond tax.
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