News Cut: November 18, 2011 Archive

Show me your property tax bill

Posted at 1:35 PM on November 18, 2011 by Bob Collins (31 Comments)
Filed under: Economy

If I said my property taxes went up $75, would that be a lot? What if I said they went up 3 percent?

My property tax statement came in the mail yesterday and it shows they're going up $75, or 3 percent. To me, 3 percent sounds worse than $75, which, of course is only $6.25 a month. I probably can swing it.

In a story about Floodwood earlier this week, we noted that property taxes on one business have gone up 36 percent the last 10 years. Is that a lot? It's hard to say without actual numbers. For example, if the typical tax bill was $1,500 a year, that's an average increase of about $57 a year. Is that out of line? Inflation alone would have increased that $37 a year.

Every year, I invite people to add their particulars in the comments section below. How much -- in actual dollars -- is your property tax bill rising -- or falling?

Also, the Public Insight Network is gathering data on the subject here.