I don't mean to rain on your parade, but...... have seen the tax rates?
Yeah, property taxes are a bit ridiculous. What could it all go toward? I pulled county records on half a dozen properties we're interested in and looking at all of the components of your mill levies is nuts. There needs to be some taxpayer education on the proper roll of local government. Here's a levy example:
Fund Description Levy 1 COUNTY LEVY 0.296264
127 PAPILLION SCHOOL 1.057455
128 PAPILLION SPEC SCH 0.015858
180 SCHL DIST 27 BOND 1 0.013472
183 SCHL DIST 27 BOND 2 0.018719
185 SCHL DIST 27 BOND 3 0.094597
186 SCHL DIST 27 BOND 4 0.027892
305 PAPILLION RURAL FIRE 0.085893
313 PAPILLION FIRE BOND 0.016
501 PAPIO NATURAL RESRCE 0.03375
701 MUD 0
801 METRO COMMUNITY COLL 0.0674
901 AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 0.001092
1003 ED SERVICE UNIT 3 0.01624
2180 SID 180 0.4
4001 COMMUNICATIONS BOND 0.003636
23180 SID 180 BOND 0.35 Total Levy 2008 2.498268An effing 2.5% Property Tax?!?! Per year??? What the hell is a SID 180 at 0.4% lefy rate anyway? I'm no government bureaucrat, but I reckon that if the County and City ledgers were put online where the taxpayers could monitor frivolous spending from bonded initiatives, a number of initiatives would be rejected by taxpayers and there wouldn't be such high property taxes. Somehow, out here in Colorado, we get by just fine with about a 0.5% Property Tax. Though each year during the special elections some special interest group is whining that we need another 0.02% levy... you know, for the children. Add up enough of those subsidy handouts and before you know it, you're paying $6K/year on a $250K house. Damn Looters.