Does Being A Taxpayer Change Your Perception?

[x635 4,066]

Many people on this forum comment on a lot of things, including myself at one point, and don't have to pay fire taxes.

Now that I've been paying a fire district tax the past few years, and having worked for the same district, I see things a little differently.

I'm curious to know if anyone else sees waste in their own department (if they live in the same jurisdiction), and ties it to their wallet? Does it make you more encouraged to cut costs, or apathetic?

[DOC22 1]

I had to move out of m District, cause I couldn't afford to stay there. We sold he home my family haad for many years, so I've been a renter since. But talking to a couple members who still own homes in the district, I d hear some complaints. As for me, I did lok into hat "moderate Income" housing that was supposed to be used for PD, FD, and VAC members, but to buy, I was not qualifid under the setup they used,and the rent was damn near twice what I'm paying now. But yes even I feel for the guys who live in my district, cause cetain expendatures were a lil high.

[Bnechis 3,961]

I'm curious to know if anyone else sees waste in their own department (if they live in the same jurisdiction), and ties it to their wallet? Does it make you more encouraged to cut costs, or apathetic?

What I see in my community is a lack of spending. Particularly in capital projects that will save money over time. Failure to fix water leaks, until it threatens the building, failure to insulate (because it costs $$$), etc. My tax $$ for fire protection is repaid 3x by the reduction in my insurance rates. The City portion of my tax is 20% of the my total tax bill. The FD portion of the city tax is 20%, that means for every $100 I pay in taxes $20 covers FD, PD, DPW, Parks, etc. More importantly for every $100 in taxes only $4 goes for fire protection & EMS.

That being said with 60-70% of my tax going to the School District......I see plenty of waste. In the early 1980's 4 schools were torn down or sold, since then they have not stopped building additions because they don't have enough classrooms. They got rid of those schools, but they now have more principals then they had then.

[Oswegowind 17]

Where I live, I got involved...I went to the Village Budget Meeting, went to the Board Meetings, tried to see what was over spent on...However, my village taxes aren't the problem. I pay about $450 dollars a year to the village...I live in Buchanan and have a very modern house, probably pay the highest assessment value right now cause we just re-did the entire place. My COUNTY tax and Town of Cortlandt tax are the problem. And then there is the school tax...ah why am I complaining, I probly pay the lowest taxes in the county of Westchester by far...maybe $5k-$6k for all 4...lol But I don't know what I get from the Town, other than Cortlandt VAC and the Hen Hud Free Library. As for the County, I don't actually utilize any of their services where I live...Other than the gas for the chopper...lol!

[Bnechis 3,961]

As for the County, I don't actually utilize any of their services where I live...

Unless you have septic...when you flush your toilet it goes to the county or throw out garbage, it goes to a county transfer station to get rid of it.

[ex-commish 490]

Many people on this forum comment on a lot of things, including myself at one point, and don't have to pay fire taxes.

Now that I've been paying a fire district tax the past few years, and having worked for the same district, I see things a little differently.

I'm curious to know if anyone else sees waste in their own department (if they live in the same jurisdiction), and ties it to their wallet? Does it make you more encouraged to cut costs, or apathetic?

Like you I am a civil servant which means I am struggling like most civil servants. I have been watching very closely not only my fire tax which went up about 30% but also other taxes inreases such as school, county, etc. I am trying to find out why I have 3 sewer tax districts all with different amounts on my bill. My Escrow increased about $100.00 per month due to the tax increaees. I plan on moving south within the next 7 years as I will not be able to afford to live here

. I hope to be sucking down Michelobs in sunny Florida....I may even take my wife

[Oswegowind 17]

Unless you have septic...when you flush your toilet it goes to the county or throw out garbage, it goes to a county transfer station to get rid of it.

Actually, we have our own waste water treatment plant in Buchanan, and our garbage is brought directly to RESCO on John Walsh Blvd in Peekskill for further disposal. We buy our water from the Montrose Water Improvement district which directs it to our own filtration and dispersement station. Have our own police department. Have own highway and sanitation.

[Engfire 0]

Things are different here in Ohio as most funding comes from property taxes based off of the county values, the rest of your dept funding comes form individual levy's that just raise taxes in that particular district, the final way depts. in this area get funding is off of EMS billing, even though it is soft billing.

I also happen to live in the city I work for and it does not make me more concerned aboout the way we spend our money, because the city is very well off, and we do provide all of our own city services including water. The one thing that I have seen is the money they pay us part-timers vs other part-time city employees. I should not complain because we stay up with current technology and pay for all of our apparatus in full when we take deleivery.

[Doc 11]

Out of the $3200.00 I pay in property taxes per year, approximately $85.00 goes for the fire district. Honestly, I blow more per month on Drunkin' Dognuts coffee. The fact that we remain the 11th lowest tax rate district in the county with no lack of equipment or training is fine with me.

(corrected numbers)

Edited May 25, 2008 by Doc

[gamewell45 258]

Many people on this forum comment on a lot of things, including myself at one point, and don't have to pay fire taxes.

Now that I've been paying a fire district tax the past few years, and having worked for the same district, I see things a little differently.

I'm curious to know if anyone else sees waste in their own department (if they live in the same jurisdiction), and ties it to their wallet? Does it make you more encouraged to cut costs, or apathetic?

I don't see too much waste; the fire commissioners more or less run a tight ship financially; they make sure that we have the proper equipment within reason to carry out our duties; the apparatus is more or less simple with just the basics; no bells or whistles. The taxpayers seem to be happy with how things are. I dont know the exact amount of fire tax i pay; I think its around $70 per year which is a fair price to pay for what we get. The EMS is provided by the town with volunteers backfilling. We have few services in the town; property tax, excluding school tax, is relatively low compared to where i used to live in Westester years ago. The only gripes I ever hear from the public are the high school taxes (which only seem to go up every year as salaries and benefit cost go up).

Edited June 8, 2008 by gamewell45

[CAM502 6]

If you want to complain about taxes, the SCHOOL TAX is where you should start. Every year it goes higher and higher and very few districts show the improvement you would think. Education in NY state is a joke. The state just keeps passing unfunded mandates in Albany and the taxpayer ends up with the burden.

[Guest MVFD334]

If you want to complain about taxes, the SCHOOL TAX is where you should start. Every year it goes higher and higher and very few districts show the improvement you would think. Education in NY state is a joke. The state just keeps passing unfunded mandates in Albany and the taxpayer ends up with the burden.

amen to that... taxes continue to rise yet, the parents of little jimmy who wants to play footbal now have to pay for his equipment. But yet with all the no money for after school activity blues, they can still play a football or lacrosse game under the lights on a commercially funded turf field. and what is with the salaries of these school employees that dont even work a full calander year??? This may offend some of you out there but that is a load of crap.

[Raz 14]

I'm happy with how much I pay for my fire protection. However, I'm not happy with how that money is spent. There's so much waste and pork spending within the local F.D.'s budget that it's really laughable. Yet, whenever someone tries to change things, they get brow beat with the same (blatantly false) arguments.

People (both politicians and laymen) seem to have it in their heads that more services=more money and less services=less money, and that's simply not the case. If you already have the budget in place, you can work within that preexisting budget to reallocate funds, taking them away from non-producing areas and utilizing that freed up money in a place where it will actually make a difference. Of course, I don't have to tell anyone on here what "tradition" means to the fire department.

And yes, school taxes are out of hand. Especially when you live in a place where you wouldn't feel safe sending your kids to public school.

[antiquefirelt 994]

Many people on this forum comment on a lot of things, including myself at one point, and don't have to pay fire taxes.

Now that I've been paying a fire district tax the past few years, and having worked for the same district, I see things a little differently.

I'm curious to know if anyone else sees waste in their own department (if they live in the same jurisdiction), and ties it to their wallet? Does it make you more encouraged to cut costs, or apathetic?

This is the reason our City Charter requires all department heads to live in the City. This ensures they share the tax burden with those they serve. While that seems understandable, it seems hard to believe that any department head should/would base their budget on their individual tax situation.

Currently, of our 18 Fulltime personnel, only 3 live within City limits. The rest are required to live within 8 miles of the station. Every once in a while a newly elected City Councilor tries to make it so that we all must live "intown", but sooner or later they're convinced this is not realistic. Taxes in the "nicer" town within our radius can be as little as a third of the City's rate, of course you don't get the same services either!

Our personnel are very mindful of tax dollars and basically have become the champions of the city departments at stretching the dollar. This is probably one of the reasons we get most of what we request and our budget review is 1 hr. vs. 3 different nights.