Right there with ya, MarielG. $10,000+/year for a 1600 sq. Ft 60+ y.o. house.
It's a lot, but we're pretty happy with what we get in return -lots of great public parks, excellent public schools and libraries, responsive local government and outstanding fire, police and EMS services. All within a friendly, walkable, safe mid-sized town biking distance to the beach and with fantastic weather year-round. My kids will attend a nationally ranked public high school and the community norm is for everyone to go to public school.
Glad that you are happy with your quality of life. That is very important.
Our fire department is excellent, they are volunteers. EMS, they respond for free, but of course, if we get on an ambulance to travel to the hospital, the bill is HUGE. Police Department is great at handing out parking tickets: quotas. I got a ticket due to the placement of my GPS. There are additional assessment County fees on tickets. The police were called by one of our neighbors for a large rowdy group of high school kids, and wouldn't follow them into the woods, said it was out of their jurisdiction. After the high school kids ran down the block breaking the windshields on the majority of cars parked on the street, we eventually got a camera installed. Another neighbor was burglarized, the thieves were not caught.
I will say that the police in the neighborhood where I used to work, caught the bank robber on the block where my office was located. Third time was the charm. He kept coming back.
We have taxes, on top of assessments on top of fees. But the vast majority of the taxes based on home ownership goes to the schools, for the payment of salaries, benefits and pensions. (Of course it costs the school employees a lot to live here.)
Our roads congested, and there seems to be constant work, and constant lane closures resulting in miserable commutes. That notwithstanding, the roads are in poor shape (potholes).
We also pay high state income tax, and high sales tax. If we need to commute into the City for work, we are gouged. One of the bridges into Staten Island just obtained the dubious distinction of being the most expensive in the Country - up to $19 if you do not have a discount. I will be crossing it twice next week.
Services are also funded by State income tax, but many of the services for which we are paying, we don't qualify. Public transportation is slow, late, and expensive. On the bright side, they have very entertaining excuses as to why they are slow, late and expensive. Now NYC which itself causes a great deal of congestion, is going to be charging a congestion tax.
Car insurance is expensive, home owners insurance is expensive, and utilities are expensive.
Weather varies. Sometimes nice, sometimes not so nice. The local library is fine. We have nice parks. We can drive to the beach: and can swim three months a year. (Of course we are working 6-7 days a week to pay our bills and taxes, which doesn't leave much time for the beach.) Our neighborhood is a cute blue collar neighborhood (barring the pot holes).