State property and school taxes

[teen persuasion]

Aug 17, 2022 19:06:32 GMT -5 aricia said:

Aug 17, 2022 18:40:02 GMT -5 raeoflyte said:

Do you pay to get a card? Or just no card if you don't meet their criteria?

Here, you can pay for a card. $100 a year for individual or $250 a year for family.

Ouch!  I believe our charge is $40 for out-of-system cards, which we rarely charge.

There are a lot of different types of library systems.  The one I work for is a 3 county consortium system - each library is independently incorporated, but we share a central catalog system, so a patron of any library in the system can use all the libraries, and interloan items from any.  Each library can be a different type: some are public (owned by a city/town), some are school district, and some are association district libraries (owned by the board of trustees - effectively by the community itself).

The system in the county south of us is a municipal system - it is owned by the county, and each branch is not independent, the county govt decides on policies, etc.

Generally, as long as you live or work in a certain county, you are eligible for a card in that system.   So we have patrons that work at the local schools, but live in the county south of us - they can get both cards.  Our consortium system does have some dead zones and overlap of service areas, because our hodge-podge of different types have different maps - school district maps don't correspond to town or village maps perfectly.  Technically, we could charge people in those holes, but in practice we don't.

[jerseygirl]

I always checked that town had a good library before buying house there, says the daughter of a librarian

[tallguy]

Aug 18, 2022 8:07:12 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Aug 17, 2022 19:06:32 GMT -5 aricia said:

Here, you can pay for a card. $100 a year for individual or $250 a year for family.

OMG.  Yuck.  We've never had to pay anything for the library, I had no clue paying for that was a thing some places.

I use libraries a lot.  In fact, my GF has jokingly dubbed me "King of the Libraries" or, "World's Greatest Library User."  I use three different systems locally and am considering adding a couple more.  I use her card for two different counties when we go to Florida, and will have her get another when we go back down there.  I have started to look into getting cards for places we travel on occasion, even if we are only there for a few days.  I did get a card for two places we visited earlier this year.  So yes, I have looked into quite a few. 
 
Some places offer free cards to visitors.  Many allow you to get a card through a reciprocal agreement with your home county.  Some will allow you to sign up and pay either annually or for a number of months at a time.  One I looked at did not charge a fee but required a deposit for checking out items in their system.  Some libraries essentially do not allow non-residents access at all.  The costs are imposed first because local residents who get free cards support the library through their taxes.  Visitors do not, and non-resident fees help equalize the burden of support.  Also, the fees allow them to cover the cost of materials that are not returned before the visitors leave the area.  I am certainly not going to pay a high fee to only be in an area for a short time, but if it is free or at least reasonable, I just may do it if I find things in their catalog that I cannot get elsewhere.

[minnesotapaintlady]

Aug 18, 2022 11:35:42 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Aug 18, 2022 8:07:12 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

OMG.  Yuck.  We've never had to pay anything for the library, I had no clue paying for that was a thing some places.

I use libraries a lot.  In fact, my GF has jokingly dubbed me "King of the Libraries" or, "World's Greatest Library User."  I use three different systems locally and am considering adding a couple more.  I use her card for two different counties when we go to Florida, and will have her get another when we go back down there.  I have started to look into getting cards for places we travel on occasion, even if we are only there for a few days.  I did get a card for two places we visited earlier this year.  So yes, I have looked into quite a few. 
 
Some places offer free cards to visitors.  Many allow you to get a card through a reciprocal agreement with your home county.  Some will allow you to sign up and pay either annually or for a number of months at a time.  One I looked at did not charge a fee but required a deposit for checking out items in their system.  Some libraries essentially do not allow non-residents access at all.  The costs are imposed first because local residents who get free cards support the library through their taxes.  Visitors do not, and non-resident fees help equalize the burden of support.  Also, the fees allow them to cover the cost of materials that are not returned before the visitors leave the area.  I am certainly not going to pay a high fee to only be in an area for a short time, but if it is free or at least reasonable, I just may do it if I find things in their catalog that I cannot get elsewhere.

I hadn't considered the fee was for non-residents. I've never tried to get a card outside of my county.   Here all 37 libraries in SE MN (11 counties) are linked together on the same system.  You can request materials from any of them and they transfer to you local library within a week or so.

[teen persuasion]

Aug 18, 2022 11:35:42 GMT -5 tallguy said:

Aug 18, 2022 8:07:12 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

OMG.  Yuck.  We've never had to pay anything for the library, I had no clue paying for that was a thing some places.

I use libraries a lot.  In fact, my GF has jokingly dubbed me "King of the Libraries" or, "World's Greatest Library User."  I use three different systems locally and am considering adding a couple more.  I use her card for two different counties when we go to Florida, and will have her get another when we go back down there.  I have started to look into getting cards for places we travel on occasion, even if we are only there for a few days.  I did get a card for two places we visited earlier this year.  So yes, I have looked into quite a few. 
 
Some places offer free cards to visitors.  Many allow you to get a card through a reciprocal agreement with your home county.  Some will allow you to sign up and pay either annually or for a number of months at a time.  One I looked at did not charge a fee but required a deposit for checking out items in their system.  Some libraries essentially do not allow non-residents access at all.  The costs are imposed first because local residents who get free cards support the library through their taxes.  Visitors do not, and non-resident fees help equalize the burden of support.  Also, the fees allow them to cover the cost of materials that are not returned before the visitors leave the area.  I am certainly not going to pay a high fee to only be in an area for a short time, but if it is free or at least reasonable, I just may do it if I find things in their catalog that I cannot get elsewhere.

Even if you are not using their physical collection, some people collect cards for multiple systems for access to more electronic collections, like Overdrive/Libby, Hoopla, Freegal, etc.  If I have only 5 borrows per month in my Hoopla, having another 5 or 10 in another system lets me watch more episodes of shows or more music ... or a bigger selection if a system has deeper pockets to pay for a better level.  Free riding like this can be expensive for small libraries, though, if they pay for e- checkouts on a per-item basis, like we do - that's Hoopla's model.  Others may use a flat fee, so more circs are no problem.

[aricia]

Aug 18, 2022 11:46:25 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Aug 18, 2022 11:35:42 GMT -5 tallguy said:

I use libraries a lot.  In fact, my GF has jokingly dubbed me "King of the Libraries" or, "World's Greatest Library User."  I use three different systems locally and am considering adding a couple more.  I use her card for two different counties when we go to Florida, and will have her get another when we go back down there.  I have started to look into getting cards for places we travel on occasion, even if we are only there for a few days.  I did get a card for two places we visited earlier this year.  So yes, I have looked into quite a few. 
 
Some places offer free cards to visitors.  Many allow you to get a card through a reciprocal agreement with your home county.  Some will allow you to sign up and pay either annually or for a number of months at a time.  One I looked at did not charge a fee but required a deposit for checking out items in their system.  Some libraries essentially do not allow non-residents access at all.  The costs are imposed first because local residents who get free cards support the library through their taxes.  Visitors do not, and non-resident fees help equalize the burden of support.  Also, the fees allow them to cover the cost of materials that are not returned before the visitors leave the area.  I am certainly not going to pay a high fee to only be in an area for a short time, but if it is free or at least reasonable, I just may do it if I find things in their catalog that I cannot get elsewhere.

I hadn't considered the fee was for non-residents. I've never tried to get a card outside of my county.   Here all 37 libraries in SE MN (11 counties) are linked together on the same system.  You can request materials from any of them and they transfer to you local library within a week or so.

It’s rather annoying. We are considered non resident but there is NO library we are considered a resident for. Well, technically I think we could get a card for the state library that is extremely far away. Maybe it could be useful for digital media? Not sure how that card works. There is no county library. You have to live in the small town, not the outskirts, to qualify. My address is this town but nope!

[TheOtherMe]

My sister who lives on a farm in the next county over from me has no free access to a library either.  The library in the town closest to her is for residents only.  They would bring books over to where my dad lived and she did have him order some books for her but she no longer has that access.

Her county doesn't have the population to support a county library, so I think she has to pay a fee to the one in town.  

I used to come to the town where my parents lived from Colorado and because I was out of state, I could use the library.  She went with me one day and was told she couldn't use it because she lived in state and it wasn't in her area.

I would go there for the wifi and to get away from cigarette smoke.  In the early days, I had to use their computers.  That's what she couldn't use.

Once they had public wifi, she could use that.  You could use it from the parking lot.

[finnime]

One of the big draws in this town we just moved to is the magnificent public library:

[jerseygirl]

Beautiful library! Looks like the Weehawken library right next to the Lincoln Tunnel Spiral. It was built like a German castle by a German brewer.

When I was a child I’d fantasize about living in the tower. A perfect fantasy for a child of a librarian!

[jerseygirl]

So I’m starting to see some of the benefits of the high NJ property taxes.

[saveinla]

CA caps it at 1.03 % of the home valuation or something like that. We pay lesser property taxes even though property is valued more than some other places. 

[Deleted]

I do NOT miss NJ property taxes. I doubt I would have been able to retire at 61 id I still lived there.

Somehow our much-lower property taxes in KS and MO still support the schools. Of course, with lower housing costs maybe the teachers are doing OK here. When I left NJ in 2003, a decent starter house in a decent school district ran about $500K.

Libraries: I love my library system. I not only have access to my own local system (about a dozen branches plus e-books and on-line research) but when I asked at a Johnson County, KS library if I could borrow a book even though I lived in MO they said, "Sure- you want a library card?" I'm a happy camper. I'm on my trip with a book that is 1,200 pages in hardcover ("Black Lamb, Grey Falcon" by Rebecca West- a classic book on the area I'm visiting) and I have it on my Nook.

[tractor]

Our taxes are not bad. We live in a rural area, no sewer/water service. Public Schools are good, volunteer fire department and full time ambulance service. It could easily take 30 minutes for either to arrive, but that's not too bad considering where we live. I've never lived in a place that was any different.

We pay $3,000/yr on a 270,000 valuation.

[TheOtherMe]

On my $200,000 valuation I pay $2800/yr in property taxes.  

Since I live in town, around the corner from the fire station, the first volunteers have been here in 5 minutes when I have called.  

[Deleted]

My current taxes are $515/yr for appraised value ranging between $94,000 and $196,000 depending on the taxing entity. We have both homestead and senior citizen exemptions which helps immensely. The school district valuation is the $94,000 one, capped at the value of the year we turned 65. Local schools are pretty awful because of completely inadequate funding. The other taxing entities are the county, county flood control district, the port, the county hospital district, the county education district, the community college district, and the city. We pay the city separately for water and sewer services. The city provides fire and ambulance services, but ambulance is billed per incident and they don't take Medicare or private insurance. Currently we get free trash collection but there's a strong push to make it a pay-to-throw system based on usage. Both the city and county maintain good, collaborative library systems that are free for residents.

[jerseygirl]

Aug 20, 2022 10:54:26 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

My current taxes are $515/yr for appraised value ranging between $94,000 and $196,000 depending on the taxing entity. We have both homestead and senior citizen exemptions which helps immensely. The school district valuation is the $94,000 one, capped at the value of the year we turned 65. Local schools are pretty awful because of completely inadequate funding. The other taxing entities are the county, county flood control district, the port, the county hospital district, the county education district, the community college district, and the city. We pay the city separately for water and sewer services. The city provides fire and ambulance services, but ambulance is billed per incident and they don't take Medicare or private insurance. Currently we get free trash collection but there's a strong push to make it a pay-to-throw system based on usage. Both the city and county maintain good, collaborative library systems that are free for residents.

What state? Florida?
That’s a remarkably low tax. But poor schools usually lower property values unless in a population that’s mostly retired
Are all those others- county etc- included in the overall $515 tax? County , library etc are included in our property tax but it’s only a small amount compared to the around 70% for schools. Trash and recycling included for property tax but we pay sewer and water separately although we have a well so only sewer tax ($141/quarter)

Separate sales and state taxes, government never has enough $ no matter how much we send to them

[Deleted]

Aug 20, 2022 11:18:46 GMT -5 jerseygirl said:

Aug 20, 2022 10:54:26 GMT -5 soupandstew said:

My current taxes are $515/yr for appraised value ranging between $94,000 and $196,000 depending on the taxing entity. We have both homestead and senior citizen exemptions which helps immensely. The school district valuation is the $94,000 one, capped at the value of the year we turned 65. Local schools are pretty awful because of completely inadequate funding. The other taxing entities are the county, county flood control district, the port, the county hospital district, the county education district, the community college district, and the city. We pay the city separately for water and sewer services. The city provides fire and ambulance services, but ambulance is billed per incident and they don't take Medicare or private insurance. Currently we get free trash collection but there's a strong push to make it a pay-to-throw system based on usage. Both the city and county maintain good, collaborative library systems that are free for residents.

What state? Florida?
That’s a remarkably low tax. But poor schools usually lower property values unless in a population that’s mostly retired
Are all those others- county etc- included in the overall $515 tax? County , library etc are included in our property tax but it’s only a small amount compared to the around 70% for schools. Trash and recycling included for property tax but we pay sewer and water separately although we have a well so only sewer tax ($141/quarter)

Separate sales and state taxes, government never has enough $ no matter how much we send to them

Texas.  School is the lions' share - $482 out of $514.  Poor schools are one reason for our lower property values across my area.  We don't have state income tax but combined city and state sales tax is 8.25%

[countrygirl2]

Ours is around $2000 a year. I think they run out here and reappraise us everytime we add something, LOL! I would have to look up the appraisal, don't know it offhand.