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If you're going to quote someone, get it RIGHT! I didn't post everything you quoted!
And a few weeks of snow removal? It's far from a few weeks! You have to pay for the trucks and their maintenance which is far from cheap. The trucks have to be set up weeks before winter gets here. It's not something done overnight. The employees aren't paid $8 an hour. Their benefits aren't free either. Many are paid overtime because it always seems to snow at night or on a weekend or a holiday which is like double time or more. Salt isn't free either. Neither is the storage of it. Putting it down requires employees and specialized trucks.
If you don't like it here, the borders are open! Feel free to leave! No one is forcing you to stay. I wasn't happy in the Albany area and left. HATED living in SC. Moved back to NY to the FLX and I'm happier than I've been in over a decade. I know what I gave up moving away and I missed so much of it. It was worth it to me to pay more in taxes. My water bill here is less than half of what it was living in SC so not everything is cheaper! Oh and the water tastes like crap there.
You could always run for the legislature if you're so unhappy with how things are being run.
Funny, I said a few days ago nobody up North ever says "Leave if you don't like it" because it's so rude. But it's common in the South. I guess I was wrong.
Last I looked for taxes, that app wasn't available. So I looked up taxes on the house I used to own. They are more than double what I paid nearly twenty years ago. If my current Raleigh house were up in Rochester, I'd probably be paying four times or more what I'm paying here.
I can't believe Maggie Brooks has her name all over everything. When she is no longer county executive, it will take someone some time to make all the changes to the web pages -- more taxes wasted. It's a bit egotistical.
I don't think high taxes are justified by snow removal costs or higher teacher costs when multiplied by all the residents of the Rochester area. But the population has decreased substantially up there. I guess they moved South...they did leave because they didn't like it.
It's sad. Rochester has a lot going for it. Among other things, I miss the lake, river, Finger Lakes, and proximity to Canada, home of my ancestors. Even if I wanted to return some day, I can't imagine paying those painful taxes ever again.
I wonder, if decades from now, as weather patterns change, if winters will become quite mild in Rochester and summers will become unbearable in Raleigh -- and people will move back? Would Rochester taxes plummet? Hah. No.
Last edited by lovebrentwood; 01-11-2013 at 08:00 AM..
Funny, I said a few days ago nobody up North ever says "Leave if you don't like it" because it's so rude. But it's common in the South. I guess I was wrong.
Last I looked for taxes, that app wasn't available. So I looked up taxes on the house I used to own. They are more than double what I paid nearly twenty years ago. If my current Raleigh house were up in Rochester, I'd probably be paying four times or more what I'm paying here.
I can't believe Maggie Brooks has her name all over everything. When she is no longer county executive, it will take someone some time to make all the changes to the web pages -- more taxes wasted. It's a bit egotistical.
I don't think high taxes are justified by snow removal costs or higher teacher costs when multiplied by all the residents of the Rochester area. But the population has decreased substantially up there. I guess they moved South...they did leave because they didn't like it.
It's sad. Rochester has a lot going for it. Among other things, I miss the lake, river, Finger Lakes, and proximity to Canada, home of my ancestors. Even if I wanted to return some day, I can't imagine paying those painful taxes ever again.
I wonder, if decades from now, as weather patterns change, if winters will become quite mild in Rochester and summers will become unbearable in Raleigh -- and people will move back? Would Rochester taxes plummet? Hah. No.
Actually, the Rochester metro area had a modest gain in population during the last census and Monroe County has lost people in only 1 census(1980): US2010
I believe that Genesee County was a part of the metro population in previous census counts. Employment interchange into Rochester wasn't high enough is usually why a county leaves. So, that skews things a bit when comparing.
Funny, I said a few days ago nobody up North ever says "Leave if you don't like it" because it's so rude. But it's common in the South. I guess I was wrong.
It's sad. Rochester has a lot going for it. Among other things, I miss the lake, river, Finger Lakes, and proximity to Canada, home of my ancestors. Even if I wanted to return some day, I can't imagine paying those painful taxes ever again.
I wonder, if decades from now, as weather patterns change, if winters will become quite mild in Rochester and summers will become unbearable in Raleigh -- and people will move back? Would Rochester taxes plummet? Hah. No.
People all over tell people to leave if they're miserable or want a change. If one isn't happy, what's the point in staying where you're miserable? Life's too short to be miserable.
I did move south and I moved back north 2 1/2 years later. A lot of people don't stay in the South. Lots of people don't stay and relocate elsewhere or move back north. Some move around because of jobs. Some because they feel the grass will be greener (that was me) or the cheap taxes (I had a little bit of that).
I had ZERO intentions on ever moving back to NY when I left. I was incredibly home sick within 3 months and it never got better. It just kept getting worse. It got so bad that I was on the verge of having a breakdown. Not good. So we moved back to NY. We didn't move to where we were originally from, but we LOVE being back in NY!
Yes, I had cheap taxes in SC, but wow what an eye opener! You get what you pay for.....paved roads (there were numerous dirt roads and many paved roads were crumbling), good schools (wouldn't send my dog to the schools there), etc.
There's something to be said about 4 actual seasons and water. Didn't have either one in SC. I used to hate snow and I am embracing it this winter. The climate up here has changed a lot! There used to be snowbanks taller than me at the end of my parents' driveway and now they're lucky if they get to be 2 feet high. Last year, the snow never came. Even this winter we haven't had squat for snow. Today it's 50 something degrees out!
I think people just always find something wrong in Rochester & the taxes are an easy "target". We have lived in the mid-Atlantic, some parts where our property taxes were much lower than Rochester and where we are now, they are about the same.
You have to look at the whole picture & today,yesterday,you get much more for your money as far as housing in Rochester.
A $400k house in Rochester gets you a beautiful home with many of the wanted upgrades, a $400k home here gets you an older home (15yrs) with no upgrades, or the bare minimum.
So, it is a toss up.
Rochester has so many positives and it is always the taxes people have to talk about, they're high yes, but go to Jersey or parts of Long Island, parts of the mid-Atlantic, they're not much better......
A related question to the OP's is why is the state income tax so high?
The local taxes are mostly schools and we know for the most part what those dollars buy. But what do the state dollars provide? Given the high property taxes I assume the state does not spend much on education? I just moved here from IL and have yet to look at the state budget. Anyone out there know where the state spends its money?
I was just looking at my first county/town property tax bill and noticed that 34% of it is for Medicaid. I thought Medicaid was funded by fed grants and state revenues.
I was just looking at my first county/town property tax bill and noticed that 34% of it is for Medicaid. I thought Medicaid was funded by fed grants and state revenues.
I believe that the economic downturn has increased caseloads, I may be wrong.. I don't think that school funding is not important, but I think aspects like the administrative and teacher pay in comparison to other states given educational attainment requirements here in NY, as well as layers of government. This website may help answer some questions in your first post: New York State Division of the Budget: Home Page
Does the required educational attainment to be a teacher in NY have something to do with this too? Meaning, are teachers in NC required to have a Master's to teach? I think people forget about this, as you aren't required to have a Master's to teach in many others states. In turn, the pay for teachers may be lower in those states due to a lower educational attainment requirement. You would think it makes sense for someone with a Master's degree would get paid more than someone with a Bachelor's degree in the same field, right? Then, who is going to pay for that? So, that is something that people have to factor in the equation when making such comparisons.
In NC you needed a masters to teach high school only. You could get a bachelor's degree for elementary or middle school teaching. Again, I do not think that NY teachers are overpaid; as a matter of fact I think that NC teachers are grossly underpaid. I think the waste in NY comes from administrators for every district. They all make well into the six figures and there are so many of them per district; add to the fact that there are so many districts and you get a fairly large amount of redundant administrators with very high salaries that get paid with tax dollars. SOME consolidation would be something to consider. I would definitely not favor a county-wide system like they have in NC...but there's no reason why say Greece, Spencerport, and Hilton could all merge into one school district. Pittsford, Brighton and Fairport....Webster and Penfield...same thing. West and East Irondequoit could unite as one as well. The City schools could cut up by "Quadrants" and join the respective suburban districts that they border.
In NC you needed a masters to teach high school only. You could get a bachelor's degree for elementary or middle school teaching. Again, I do not think that NY teachers are overpaid; as a matter of fact I think that NC teachers are grossly underpaid. I think the waste in NY comes from administrators for every district. They all make well into the six figures and there are so many of them per district; add to the fact that there are so many districts and you get a fairly large amount of redundant administrators with very high salaries that get paid with tax dollars. SOME consolidation would be something to consider. I would definitely not favor a county-wide system like they have in NC...but there's no reason why say Greece, Spencerport, and Hilton could all merge into one school district. Pittsford, Brighton and Fairport....Webster and Penfield...same thing. West and East Irondequoit could unite as one as well. The City schools could cut up by "Quadrants" and join the respective suburban districts that they border.
I agree and I posted that way to try to bring a general perspective in regards to educational attainment and compensation. Many on the NY forums have mentioned the school consolidation subject and the many that it could be done. Now, will the districts listen(some are considering it) and will people in communities across the state look at it for the general good. I think those things are the key to school consolidation.
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