I can't believe my property taxes
When there's a reassessment, everyone's appraised value for tax purposes goes up.
Some go up more than others. That's why some people pay more, some pay less, afterwards.
The data for Maplewood, for the work completed in 2017:
The key is not the absolute increase in your appraised value. The key is the increase in your appraised value in relation to the overall increase of the revaluation.
A town-wide revaluation is a zero-sum process. It does not raise or lower the overall amount of taxes paid by the entire town. It changes everyone's value in relation to each other. Your piece of the pie will get smaller, bigger, or stay the same. As a result, some people's share of the tax bill will go up and some will go down.
We moved into Maplewood in 2003, and I estimated that our taxes would go up 5% a year, and I think they did. That's doubling every 14 years. I figured we would be able to stay ten years. We stayed ten years and moved out. Then in our new home, our taxes went up 13% in the first year! Ouch.
Towns like Maplewood are on their own and can't rely on state relief as much as it used to. They can't rely on state relief as much as other towns. The residents want good schools and streets and parks and police, so those are the priorities, and they cost money. It's a really nice place to live, nicer than most, so you have to pay for it. Expect no relief. Standards are going up, not down. I suggest you graph the anticipated taxes and make an estimate for when you have to move out. I think the demographics are getting much wealthier over time.
Am losing a neighbor whose taxes tripled in the last 15 years...
They very literally can’t afford to live here anymore.
I got around this by buying a large two family over three decades ago and used it as a one family for my blended brood.
Now that eveyone’s grown and out I reconverted back to two apartments with the income from renting out the larger unit going toward taxes, maintenance and such.
It was my plan to not have to age out.
Obviously one would need to time travel to use my system and my heart really goes out to all those who want to stay and can’t
Scully said:
Now that eveyone’s grown and out I reconverted back to two apartments with the income from renting out the larger unit going toward taxes, maintenance and such.
It was my plan to not have to age out.
Excellent idea. I wish we could do more of that kind of thing.
they are ridiculous but I guess there are other places that pay more for other things. For example, we looked at both condos and houses in the St Pete beach area. A house is lower priced and much, much lower taxes but then you pay astronomically for insurance. Like $10k a year.
There really is no relief in sight. And to make matters worse we will eventually have to pay the piper for the underfunded pension accounts, neglected infrastructure, and constantly decreasing aid to higher education. My days in NJ are approaching an end. And yes, they will get me one more time with the ‘don’t let the door hit you in the *** as you leave’ transfer tax.
Red_Barchetta said:
There really is no relief in sight. And to make matters worse we will eventually have to pay the piper for the underfunded pension accounts, neglected infrastructure, and constantly decreasing aid to higher education. My days in NJ are approaching an end. And yes, they will get me one more time with the ‘don’t let the door hit you in the *** as you leave’ transfer tax.
You're nowhere near 62? If I wait 16 months, I'll save about $4,000.
Shouldn't the taxes on the new apartments have reduced the bill for everyone?
Red_Barchetta said:
There really is no relief in sight. And to make matters worse we will eventually have to pay the piper for the underfunded pension accounts, neglected infrastructure, and constantly decreasing aid to higher education. My days in NJ are approaching an end. And yes, they will get me one more time with the ‘don’t let the door hit you in the *** as you leave’ transfer tax.
Some infrastructure has been addressed with the gas tax increase. There really needs to be a tax increase now in order to avoid a more extreme tax increase in future.
Present debt and future obligations are causing our borrowing to cost more. This needs to be addressed now.
I pointed this out in my letter to Star-Ledger that was printed in today's issue. Politicians choose only to focus on reducing expenses. All politicians that is, except Murphy who has a Christmas tree list of proposals for free education and no proposal to pay for them.
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
Shouldn't the taxes on the new apartments have reduced the bill for everyone?
You are assuming that the cost of providing municipal and school services to the new buildings did not offset the real property tax increase paid by the owners of these properties, assuming the assessed value increased at all.
The taxes on new buildings do help everyone, but what they do is slow the rate of increase. There is no magic bullet. Neither of our towns wastes much money, and the schools are scrambling to maintain a level of quality.
Dean, you may want to talk to someone about a tax appeal. Your assessment may be higher than it should be.
Towns should really be run like corporations, because the residents are in many ways shareholders. Instead, they are stuck in their old stodgy ways afraid of implementing change. Sure, Maplewood has given the impression they’re innovators with a few shared services with South Orange but those only have a minimal impact on the fringe. A full cost/benefit analysis needs to be done on each and every service and some tough decisions would need to be made (ie. does Maplewood really need a full time fire dept?). Cost efficiency is the only way to address the tax burden.
NJ will always be a high-cost and high-tax state. Too much stuff — like public-sector wages and pensions, strength of unions, and home rule — is just too entrenched.
Sure there might be marginal change here and there but it’s never enough to meaningfully change the dynamic.
IMO it’s something that people just have to accept as a negative aspect of living here, just like relatively high incomes are a positive. Or else, move south or west. I have different friends orig from NJ who moved to NC, SC, FL, and TX, at least partly due to high cost of living including taxes. Nobody has ever come back.
Smedley said:
NJ will always be a high-cost and high-tax state. Too much stuff — like public-sector wages and pensions, strength of unions, and home rule — is just too entrenched.
Sure there might be marginal change here and there but it’s never enough to meaningfully change the dynamic.
IMO it’s something that people just have to accept as a negative aspect of living here, just like relatively high incomes are a positive. Or else, move south or west. I have different friends orig from NJ who moved to NC, SC, FL, and TX, at least partly due to high cost of living including taxes. Nobody has ever come back.
Smedley said:
NJ will always be a high-cost and high-tax state. Too much stuff — like public-sector wages and pensions, strength of unions, and home rule — is just too entrenched.
Sure there might be marginal change here and there but it’s never enough to meaningfully change the dynamic.
IMO it’s something that people just have to accept as a negative aspect of living here, just like relatively high incomes are a positive. Or else, move south or west. I have different friends orig from NJ who moved to NC, SC, FL, and TX, at least partly due to high cost of living including taxes. Nobody has ever come back.
Wait, so public sector wages are bad, but relatively high income for private sector is good? Public sector employees have to be able to afford to live here too
Scully said:
Am losing a neighbor whose taxes tripled in the last 15 years...
They very literally can’t afford to live here anymore.
A neighbor? Like you barely know me 
We love MW and after living here for 42 years we are leaving. We would be happy spending our retirement years in our home but the prospect of spending $17,000 a year on taxes, which I'm sure will continue to rise, in addition to the added cost of garbage, sewer, etc., leaves us with no choice but to relocate. Our taxes will be under $3500 in S.C. Adios N.J.
spontaneous said:
Smedley said:Wait, so public sector wages are bad, but relatively high income for private sector is good? Public sector employees have to be able to afford to live here too
NJ will always be a high-cost and high-tax state. Too much stuff — like public-sector wages and pensions, strength of unions, and home rule — is just too entrenched.
Sure there might be marginal change here and there but it’s never enough to meaningfully change the dynamic.
IMO it’s something that people just have to accept as a negative aspect of living here, just like relatively high incomes are a positive. Or else, move south or west. I have different friends orig from NJ who moved to NC, SC, FL, and TX, at least partly due to high cost of living including taxes. Nobody has ever come back.
Where did I say that the positive aspect of relatively high incomes applied to private sector only? I meant earning potential is high generally which spans sectors. But if you’re not earning relatively high income, whether from being retired or whatever, the high cost of living here sucks.
And yes, public sector employees have to be able to afford to live here. But they don’t need to get $300k retirement payouts for unused sick days, nor does there need to be 556 municipal fiefdoms each with their own payroll and overhead, nor should there be pension double-dipping, etc. Stuff like that.
And now Murphy wants to give away the store.
Among other reasons, taxes are high in SOMA because residents like the services provided and are willing to pay for them. You want lower taxes? Try going to a BOT or TC or BOE meeting and suggest that any service - you pick it - be cut back. Watch the backlash from the public.
cramer said:
Among other reasons, taxes are high in SOMA because residents like the services provided and are willing to pay for them. You want lower taxes? Try going to a BOT or TC or BOE meeting and suggest that any service - you pick it - be cut back. Watch the backlash from the public.
I understand what you’re saying in theory, but I can’t think of a single service we have here that is not a necessity or is unique to a high tax town. Shared FD services is coming. We have well paid teachers here and regardless of how many of us want to change that it’s not going to happen.
Amstel said:
Towns should really be run like corporations, because the residents are in many ways shareholders. Instead, they are stuck in their old stodgy ways afraid of implementing change. Sure, Maplewood has given the impression they’re innovators with a few shared services with South Orange but those only have a minimal impact on the fringe. A full cost/benefit analysis needs to be done on each and every service and some tough decisions would need to be made (ie. does Maplewood really need a full time fire dept?). Cost efficiency is the only way to address the tax burden.
You really have no idea what you’re talking about.
sbenois said:
Can't believe that this topic has never come up before.
Right?! Taxes are the dirty little secret of SOMA.
Annual cost/benefit analysis is what the CBAC did. Perhaps we need to bring it back. Until then, proposed budget is public information and readily available, budget hearings are open to the public and broadcast on You Tube. TC members are readily available for comments and questions on budget entries. Process is pretty transparent and open to input.
yahooyahoo said:
sbenois said:Right?! Taxes are the dirty little secret of SOMA.
Can't believe that this topic has never come up before.
More than two dozen comments in less than 20 hours. And none of them talking about what I want to talk about, which is Columbia High baseball.
Looks like deanielsen is relatively new here. Give him time to realize that MOL has already figured it all out.
cramer said:
Among other reasons, taxes are high in SOMA because residents like the services provided and are willing to pay for them. You want lower taxes? Try going to a BOT or TC or BOE meeting and suggest that any service - you pick it - be cut back. Watch the backlash from the public.
There are plenty of other towns outside of NJ who have great (even better) public services and schools and the taxes aren’t even close to as high (maybe about 30- 50 percent lower. In decent proximity to NYC. And then many other places far away from NYC who also have great services/ good schools where taxes on much larger homes/ lots are literally 10-20% of what we pay.
Something’s far out of whack in NJ and it’s not because there are far superior services/ schools.
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I know I'm not alone. My estimated 2018 property taxes are now almost twice my mortgage payment (whereas a few years ago they were about the same). They have increased by 38% since 2016, partly, I assume based on an appraisal that went up by 39% between 2016/17 and 2018. No wonder so many houses are for sale now.
I keep hearing that the town wants to bring tax relief, but it seems that we taxpayers are bringing the town relief.
Can anyone explain why this explosion is happening, and what we can do to start turning it back? I would lodge an appeal but it would be pointless since I know everyone is in the same boat. Next year will presumably be even worse given the new federal tax law limits on property tax deductions. Oi Weh!
WHAT CAN WE DO? Is it Maplewood, au revoir!