Sunday, June 25, 2006

"Oh my god. I've got to sell this house"

From the Star Ledger:

Tax increase shocks some in Perth Amboy
BY AMISHA PADNANI

When Carol Bilas got her tax bill in the mail last week, she felt like a deer caught in headlights.

"I knew the taxes would increase, but I mean these numbers are just unbelievable," she said.

Bilas, who owns two properties in Perth Amboy, was looking at a 169 percent increase in her municipal taxes. She will now have to pay $3,716 for the second quarter for a property on High Street, up from $1,382, which she paid in the first quarter. The first-quarter payment was based on an estimated tax bill.

"My instantaneous reaction was, 'Oh my god. I've got to sell this house and get out of here.' But who in their right mind is going to buy it?"

So Bilas, like every other Perth Amboy resident, is expecting to pay her tax bill by the July 11 deadline.
...
The tax increase was needed to balance the municipal budget after the state ordered the city earlier this month to remove $8 million in revenue that it could not justify.

"I know they have a budget problem down there, but they created that problem," she said. "The people in the town are not being given an explanation by this type of increase and they owe that to us."
...
Now Bilas, a retired teacher, said she will have to take money out of her savings to pay for her properties. She said she feels fortunate to have the funding in her account, but it's still a major burden on her finances.

"I can't keep pulling money out of my life savings," she said. "What am I supposed to do, spend my life savings in a year or two to pay my taxes?"

In addition to the property tax hike, Perth Amboy residents may also be faced with a school tax increase because of a state freeze on overall funding to Abbott district schools, according to board of education officials.

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

A lot of middle-class folks in the further counties, i.e., Somerset, who moved there to get pmts. (that they could barely afford then) are SOL in December when they get the final tab.

More inventory. And more new PA residents.

So maybe the tax hikes will be good for the PA economy all along the river. Oh, no... prices supports for PA real estate.


Pat

6/25/2006 07:33:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Too bad. Bad money management. Stop spending on 'Diesel Jeans' and other expensive trendy fashions in Manhattan and at 'The Mall' and maybe they will have the money.

These are the people who spend money that they can't afford on clothes, cards & dinners out and the first to start screaming & panicing in situations like this.

6/25/2006 09:03:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah, anonymous 10:03, right. I'm sure people who save, watch how they spend their money, etc. are calm and collected when their tax bill unexpectedly doubles.

6/25/2006 09:08:00 AM  
Blogger Smart Grid blogger said...

North Dover- Toms River, NJ is revaluating the Real Estate Properties/homes ending in 2007 and after that everybody will be paying property tax equally according to the CURRENT PRICE of their homes !!!

re: See North Dover Home Prices

6/25/2006 10:03:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Too bad. Bad money management. Stop spending on 'Diesel Jeans' and other expensive trendy fashions in Manhattan

Oh, yeah. The retired teacher from Perth Amboy can't resist the impulse to buy $300 jeans to go clubbing in the city. Please.

Take off your blinders, anon.

jw

6/25/2006 10:40:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"The retired teacher from Perth Amboy can't resist the impulse to buy $300 jeans to go clubbing in the city. Please."

No - they probably just waste their money on other frivolous things

6/25/2006 11:03:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Come on guys; screw the retired teacher... She bought in Jerzy, she should have known better...

The Perth Amboy mayor, I think his name is Vas, and all the other highly efficient elected officials need her money.

They are so efficient, that they all have mutliple jobs as elected officials.. I mean you really got to be really good to be a assemblyman and mayor.. You are at city hall, and your evil clone "Skippy" is in Trenton voting on a bill.

- I think the first thing we as Jerzy residents have to start to do is to publicly insult and shout down ANY & ALL elected officials in this state. Let them start feeling the heat publicly and feel ostricized. So the only way the come out in public is with one or two goon cops. Election do not really matter. Most towns are political machines anyway.

6/25/2006 11:25:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Employers would face fines of up to $10,000

Employers found to have knowingly hired illegal workers would be subject to orders to stop the practice. If they fail to do so — essentially a second chance — they would be subject to fines of up to $10,000.

6/25/2006 12:25:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

i.e., Somerset, who moved there to get pmts. (that they could barely afford then) are SOL in December when they get the final tab.

What the heck are pmts and SOL ?

Re taxes: Politicians (or voters) never learn. Just don't vote for those damn tax raising politicians and get rid of the unelected judges who mandate spending for their pet projects! NJ has the politicians NJ deserves.

6/25/2006 01:32:00 PM  

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