Time to Go?

I hava a Baun In the Bag and agum

Plase dan't shouth enyune

Manhattan Taxes are going up as well. Everyone needs to take two steps left. Manhattan goes to Montclair. Montclair goes to _____

Montclair goes to ______

The Caldwells and Morris County.

Ok, here's my little sad story.

Moved to Upper Montclair (for the schools naturally)in 2005, and my taxes were a very reasonable $11.5K for a mixed use street where I shared the driveway; 2006, they rose to $12.5K; 2007 with the reval, they spiked to 14K; and now, tada! 2008 with third quarter thrown in for good measure, we are looking at $16.5K. That's up 5K in 3 years.

What's your story?

Maybe the twon council will read it, and instead of weeping for us Argentina style, they'll start sweeping the budget, the waste, and, dare I say it, the notorious New Jersey corruption.

Don't even get me started on how we support Newark's bad habits.
Now I'm on a roll, but didn't you just love the recent $9,600 for the etiquette classes?

ENOUGH!!!

You are the only one in town I've ever heard complain about tax increases, terra mitera. The town council and board of ed count on the support of each one of us in town for their spending habits, except obviously they can't count on you. You should be ashamed of yourself!

RE taxes are primarily driven by kids, IMO. Therefor, move where there are less kids per acre, or preponderance of commercial RE vs Residential.
Without researching, just opinion:
Upper Saddle River, Alpine have low taxes, because mnimum zoning is 2 acres, therefor about 1 child per acre, where a town with 50x100 zoning gets 16, if assuming average family has 2 children.
Some shore areas have very low, because of senior population.
Roseland (if you desire Essex Cty) and Englewood Cliffs are low related to commercial share.
According to Money, Franklin Township RE Tax on $385K value, is 7K.
Dover, DE, taxes are about a year, what we pay in a month...
Granted, many of these don't have downtowns, etc, but the kids manage to get into highly selective colleges.

Let's banish families with children. The town will save a whopping 16mm and we can all live with the lowest taxes in the state.

Believe it or not, Staten Island does have low taxes. (Along with all the hairspray).

Families with children aren't the problem and that's coming from childfree me. It's all the pork barrel crap, such as the etiquette classes a poster above points out. A lot of unnecessary social service programs. Abbott District spending. I coold go on but I don't have all day.

Although my post was not meant to be taken seriously -- the school budgets are the largest portion of our real estate tax bills. Yes, there are a lot of pork barrel projects too. For a reality check, the one real problem in this state is redundancy. There are far too many people on payrolls with really sweet benefits and retirement packages.

There are far too many people on payrolls with really sweet benefits and retirement packages.

How else can you afford to live and retire in Montclair on a town government salary/pension?

Imagine if we get rid of all the children, we can do a condo conversion on all those schools! Maybe throw a few more bars into the area, and perhaps a casino too. Too bad they keep shutting down all the rub n tugs, we were on a roll. Its a great option, since Atlantic City has seen a turn for the worse. We can be the casino everyone who lives between Foxwoods and A/C go to!

Englewood Cliffs and Alpine cannot be compared to Montclair. They have no high school and no services. No parades, first night, recreation activites, art museum or for that matter diversity. Alpine does not even have mail delivery.

Really? How do they get their mail then?

What happened to all of the momentum surrounding the idea of seceeding from Exxes County? Is there any reason why Montclair, Bllomfield, and Glen Ridge couldn't for a new county?

Spridgets, my advice, stay out of gubment and go into banking. (I'm sure you can find agum and a baun locally.)

There are alot of people talking about moving, but few have so far. I'm curious to see what the tipping point really is. I moved when my taxes hit $15,600 on a 3 bedroom split in montclair (over 2 years ago). And that's not to mention the split out of the sewer bill, and the $90/month for train parking. Montclair and glenridge are still beautiful towns with huge homes and beautiful (but brittle) trees. Montclair restricts parking on every street near a bus stop or train station. With the skyrocketing price of gas forcing people to be responsible and take mass transit but can't park near it, montclair adds salt to their wounds. I think you'll see the middle class of montclair start to move first. That would be the families that like to go outside, meet with their neighbors, and ride bikes in the street. Not the rich who put enough landscaping between their neighbors and them and the street to stop a train (or a conversation). These people will be in montclair for a long time.

I moved to NJ from 'great lakes area' NY for a job (my first job out of school, so I was choosing 'employment' rather than 'location'). Northern NJ has been great so far, but it is no secret is expensive to live here. My rent more than doubled in the move, and purchased real estate I've heard is a multiple of four different. And upstate NY is not even, nationally speaking, a cheap place to live.

I think, as much as I'm pleased now, "do I want to 'settle down' in NJ?" Having no family ties or lovers/children to keep me here, it's hard to say I would.

Though, there is the ridiculously cheap gas...

Honey, Honey, Honey,

When you settled your fat asses in this town you should have arrived with a bit of cash. The people who clawed there way in, driving up the prices. were socioeconomic border-challenged mongolians who had no business being here in the first place.

Now these people are whining their asses off because of a few extra bucks in taxes. Honey, if you can't take the heat, then pack your Walmart/Ikea Casa, call your bank for a bailout, and get the hell out of dodge in your Kia!

Hahahahahahahaha! I'll drink to that!

Shut-up and enjoy the few extra dollars you'll be spending on the tax hikes! Did you think the town would grow and the need for services would diminish? Well, ask yourself if you packed your brains when you moved into town! LOL!

Laura, I assume you were talking to Easy Rider or another one of the above? (especially since I haven't 'settled'.) I can't believe there was enough hostility in my post to warrant that kind of rebuttal. I'm not fabulously wealthy, but I have a good job and don't intend to whine. I'm just saying what people already knew: this post was about people leaving, but there's a strong disincentive for new people starting out to 'come and stay' as well.

What about all of the ratables that have come on line the past 2 years? The 10 homes at the Marlboro, The Siena Project, The Walnut Street condos across from Egan's. Not to mention, a parking authority that runs 3 multi-layered decks, and several lots. The article from the NY Times doomed this town 5 years ago, we have become a victim of our own success. Now.....diversity is socio-economic. Used to be a nice middle/upper-class town....so sad.

Sounds like Looney has had a few too many. Why don't you enlighten us socio-economic challenged individuals and tell us how the tax hikes have been a benefit. How has the town grown and what services have grown with it? You obviously know something the rest of us don't. I'll sit in my Range Rover with my more than doubled tax bill and await your answers. I really must know why I should just sit back and enjoy the kick in the ass the town has seen fit to give me.

You might be interested in knowing that one of the figures used in calculating everyone's taxes is the Net Valuation. This number is the "value" of all the property in the town.

From 2007 to 2008 this number went DOWN over $80MM.

The number was calculated at the beginning of 2008, so it doesn't reflect the recent market drops.

Cary

EmDee...who said anything about a benefit? This town is trying to maintain the status quo on what they are collecting and trying to accommodate the newbies!

And we are all enjoying the kick in the ass...some see it as pleasure, others see it as pain!

Roll with it, baby! More taxes to come and if you can stand the heat, park your Rover and enjoyed the ride!

Now, time to polish off the mimosas and enjoy the pool!

Hahahahahahahaha! LOL!

Martta -- in Alpine you have to drive to the P.O. and pickup your mail. From what I hear, the residents value their privacy so much that they have no numbers on their homes. The previous poster is also correct about them not having a high school, parades, etc.

And what is the status quo? Having been here for over 25 years I still don't have the handbook on who or what is the status quo for residing in Montclair.... Bend over and take it?

And to get into the Post Office, you need to know the "Special Knock."

Shave and a haircut, two bits.....

This is probably a dumb question but, what is baristaville? Everyone keeps referring to it like a certain place or is it more like margaritaville? Or was there a bar this blog is based on. I'm missing something.

It should be noted that Alpine has a median income more than double that of Montclair or Bloomfield, and 30% greater than Glen Ridge. With a median home price of almost $3.4 million, it has been frequently ranked as one of the most expensive places to live in the country. (I didn't pull the stats for Upper Saddle River or Englewood Cliffs, but I'm sure they are not far behind.)

I doubt many of them drive to the post office to pick up their own mail; I'm sure they have people to do that for them. I also doubt they have much demand for town-provided services. I'm sure many send their children to exclusive private schools.

Comparing these towns to us here in Baristaville is like comparing apples with orangutans.

I worked for a company that made direct home deliveries in Bergen county 15 or so years ago. Finding the right house could be a real chore in Alpine, and this was stuff some people were inclined to keep private, so doubly challenging. There were many a time we had to meet in a parking lot and be led to the house for the first delivery. Out of curiosity I googled it and found this NYT's article.

Comparing these towns to us here in Baristaville is like comparing apples with orangutans.

Pork Roll, you are sooooo bad! Apples to Orangutans! Now, someone will feel your are being racist!

Laura L, you seem to be feeling especially verbose today, even for your usual loquacious self. An extra mimosa or two to combat the heat, mayhaps?

Whatever the reason, we like the results here in outer-outer-bville. Cheers!