Property taxes...whats not included?

[farmerEd]

Question for you guys.

I am curious what some of you other guys pay for water bills and sewer bills (if anything).

I am trying to make myself feel better my relatively high property taxes by taking into the account that that includes sewer and water costs (because I have a well and private septic). And my water is GREAT so I don't buy bottled water like a lot of people do.

The town next to me has similaryly high tax rates, but also has to pay sewer and water bills. (and buy drinking water because the "town" water tastes like crap).

How much does one pay for sewer and water in some of your communities?

My guess is that you could easily eat up $1000-$1500 per year on water bills, sewerage bills and buying spring water if you needed to...but not sure if I am way off base or not?

 

[John Galt]

Yeah, farmer Ed, I've wondered about this too. We have well and septic now, and our water is great here also. I used bottled water where I lived before. Nice not to have that expense.

John Galt

 

[AGuest]

I am curious what some of you other guys pay for water bills and sewer bills (if anything).

My guess is that you could easily eat up $1000-$1500 per year on water bills, sewerage bills and buying spring water if you needed to...but not sure if I am way off base or not?

My water bill which includes sewer in Florida is about $20/month. Property tax is about 1% of assessed value which right now is much less than current market value.
In Texas, my bill for water/sewer/garbage service is about $85/month. Property tax was about 2% of assessed value which was about $5000 more than market value.

 

[KB]

My water bill is 31.00 a month for unmetered water and the sewer residential fee is 14.55 a month. I also have a regional sanitation fee of 15.40 which may go with the garbage fee which is 22.50 for a 90 gallon can. I don't know if the 15.40 is a sewer fee or not.

 

[Hyperborea]

$46 / month for water, sewage, and garbage
1.25% property tax based on purchase price

 

[ESRBob]

We pay about $120 per quarter for water. Sewer is just over $1,000 per year.

Thinking about installing an out-house!

ESRBob

 

[Calgary_Girl]

$45/month for water, sewer and garbage combined.

Property taxes are 0.8% of assessed market value.

 

[charlie]

Hey ESRbob,

In Dallas, the sewer tax is based on your water
consumption. You can't win!

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[Ol_Rancher]

Just before I left Travis County just outside of Austin, Texas my neighborhood (incorporated town within west Austin ... had a sewer system installed. $2000 for initial hook up and a beginning $50/ mo. fee to change when system was complete. They charges will be based on water consumption.

I well remember water bills in some summer months over $120. Property taxes as in most towns in Texas were about 2%. (no income tax, however)

Now on a small ranch I pay $2/acre preperty taxes because I have an agricultural exemption. One acre that the house, guest cabin, and pole barn are on costs me just over $1100/year. I am on well water and septic. My electirc bills fall between $71 - $96.

My electric bills back in Austin were $120 - $230 per month.

I figure that it costs me about $1400/mo. less per month to have this ranch rather than the oversized home in an upscale neighborhood.

 

[Ol_Rancher]

Oh, I almost forgot .. residents of the city of Austin have around 6 fees tacked on their electric bills. The city owns the power cimpany. On each electric bill is a natural gas surcharge, pothole fee, environmental fee, line maintenance fee, and others which inflates the bill by at least 20%. ... then they turn around and subsidize people hundreds of dollars each for upgrading thier air conditioning or weatherizing there homes.

As I said in an earlier post, Austin has been Califorincated.

 

[sgeeeee]

Oh, I almost forgot .. residents of the city of Austin have around 6 fees tacked on their electric bills. The city owns the power cimpany. On each electric bill is a natural gas surcharge, pothole fee, environmental fee, line maintenance fee, and others which inflates the bill by at least 20%. ... then they turn around and subsidize people hundreds of dollars each for upgrading thier air conditioning or weatherizing there homes.

As I said in an earlier post, Austin has been Califorincated.

You have to pay for potholes? We get those free in Arizona.

 

[JOhn Galt]

Austin is the token liberal city in Texas. They should
call it a "black hole" fee, cause I am pretty sure that's
where your money goes.

John Galt

 

[mccl]

$48/mo for water/sewer/trash pickup. Annual property taxes are about .9% of property value.

 

[Darlindolls]

I live in Austin and my water bills are around $25 in the winter +$25 sewage. In summer they run about $55 for water and $25 for water but we have a small yard.

They do add a lot of fees to our bill - they change them every so often just to keep things interesting. There have been the fees mentioned in the earlier post along with a gutter fee, a curb fee, a street light fee. Right now we have a comprehensive drainage fee (this is for water draining off the street) in addition to the sewage fee.

Once a week trash pick up is $18 a month (you pay extra if it will not fit in the can).

My electric bill is about $90 (gas heat) in the winter and $325+ in the summer. We keep the temp at 78 when at home and 84 while we work. We do not have an energy efficient AC but it makes more since to pay the extra electricity for a few months than pay for the AC unit all year.

Our property taxes just hit $9000 this year - OUCH. We are planning to move like Ol_Rancher when we retire. I can do a lot of traveling on the extra $6000 I pocket from lower propety taxes.

 

[Jarhead*]

I live in Austin and my water bills are around $25 in the winter +$25 sewage. In summer they run about $55 for water and $25 for water but we have a small yard.

Our property taxes just hit $9000 this year - OUCH. We are planning to move like Ol_Rancher when we retire. I can do a lot of traveling on the extra $6000 I pocket from lower propety taxes.

Darlidolls:

Just out of curiosity, what is the market value of your property. (Not assessed, etc, etc., that gets too complicated). In other words what would your property sell for to generate a $9000.00 tax bill?
Not that it is that high, but beings Texas has no state income tax, would be interesting to see how they are generating enough income to forego state income taxes.
Regards, Jarhead

 

[yelnad]

Our assessed value is $72,765 and we pay about $2400 in taxes. Our market value is about $175,000. We're out in the sticks so have a well (spring fed) and our own septic.

 

[Darlindolls]

The appraised value is 352,000. I also realistic think that is what we could sell it for.

 

[charlie]

Jarhead, excuse me for butting in, but property taxes
in Texas support local gov while state sales taxes
support gov at the state level and city level.

Cheers,

Charlie

 

[ESRBob]

The appraised value is 352,000. I also realistic think that is what we could sell it for.

by my seat-o-the-pants math that is coming up on 3% of the value of the house for taxes. I am 1.25% of the house value for annual taxes and thought that was sky-high. Maybe I should be glad I don't live in Austin!

Course there are two ways to move the dial on that ratio -- one is to raise the taxes themselves, another is to have home prices tank as people start to complain about the high taxes and move to ranches outside town.

I have two cousins (and former business partners) completely besotted with Austin and working on a new apartment building there. It is every liberal creative new yorker's idea of one of the few nice places to go between the Hudson River and California.

Guess there should be places like that for the people who like it. Those who don't can sell at high prices to those that do. Ain't that capitalism after all?

ESRBob

 

[Beststash]

I have to jump in and defend Austin - I consider it one of the few parts of Texas that is creative, educated, cultural, and yes even liberal. It is truly nice to be able to live in a community that accepts different cultures, and different people without the typical "bible belt" hypocrisy you find in most of the South. Most of the area is very open minded and those that are not tend to group themselves in a common area and just look the other way.

Austin is COOL!!

"Keep Austin Weird"

 

[John Galt]

Well, this is interesting as I must now confess
that (although I have spent relatively little time there)
I was apparently right on about it being kind of a liberal bastion
in a sea of bible belt types, who are packin' heat and killin'
meat and driving pick ups, etc etc. Guess Austin is one of the few places in Texas I will endeavor to avoid

John Galt

 

[Beststash]

John,
I love reading your posts - in fact, I think you might even be a closet liberal. Don't limit your experiences - if you come to Austin be sure and have breakfast at "Magnolia Cafe" and finish the evening at "Broken Spoke" - you'll get "COOL" at Magnolia Cafe and "Heat, Meat, and Pickups" at Broken Spoke.

BTW - You might even see some "Slackers" on Guadalupe.

Later Dude

 

[ESRBob]

I have to jump in and defend Austin - I consider it one of the few parts of Texas that is creative, educated, cultural, and yes even liberal. It is truly nice to be able to live in a community that accepts different cultures, and different people without the typical "bible belt" hypocrisy you find in most of the South.  Most of the area is very open minded and those that are not tend to group themselves in a common area and just look the other way.

Austin is COOL!!

"Keep Austin Weird"

BestStash (I won't ask...)

For the record, I actually have really enjoyed my time in Austin. I especially like the live music bars downtown -- great salsa danciing and unbeatable atmosphere.

I read a book called "Rise of Creative Class" by Joe? Florida, a prof at Carnegie Mellon who spends lots of time consuluting with cities around the globe who want to build up yeasty high tech and entrepreneurial environments, and by any definition, most states would kill to get what Austin has going for it. Californicated or not, it is where the good jobs and growth are heading -- people who are still working (and plenty more who aren't) find this sort of environment stimulating and success-reinforcing, and would gladly put up with the higher taxes to have it.

As a veteran of Berkeley, London, NY, Cambridge (Mass) and Tokyo, (and now for 10 years Westchester County just north of NY) I know the allure of these environments -- Detroit didn't have 'it', and I had to look hard for 'it' in west Miami though South Beach has got 'it' now. In Detroit, we used to drive an hour to Ann Arbor just to sniff the air and look for espresso and a real bookstore in 1990. Maybe someday I'll get over this blue-state, high-tax need, but can't be sure how or when)

ESRBob

 

[Darlindolls]

I just wanted to say I love Austin and do not plan to leave the area - just moveing 10 miles from town into a the smaller house where the property tax is only $3000 a year. When we retire we will have the time to drive in if we have to.

I was just kidding about the ranch (even though we had friends that just did that this last year). They are only 1.5 hours for town and drive into work once a week.

I have only lived in Houston and Austin and for me Austin wins hands down.