Buffalo and surronding area to close 52 libraries as of January.
How can they do this?!?! Books are, to put it simply, good! I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t take advantage of my area’s public library system, but it’s comforting to know that it’s there when I need it. And I do know that as a kid, I would go to my local library at least once a week. Now there are thousands of people, children and adults, denied access to free books. It angers up the blood, it does! :mad:
And yet, property taxes there are the highest in the United States. Sales tax is also quite high. What do people get for their tax money in the Buffalo region that you don’t get elsewhere, aside from decent public school systems?
Buffalo used to have one of the best public library systems in the US. No more.
I think I’m going to cry.
The story is BS, BTW. It’s from the county executive’s “doomsday budget,” which he put out there to try to push through yet another tax increase (this time to the sales tax, taking it to NINE AND A FUCKING QUARTER PERCENT. Big surprise – the public employee unions are buying into the scare and going nuts. If it goes through, they’ll all wonder why the tax base continues to shrink and they’ll doubtless think another increase is necessary.
I really hate the things that are happening to this area. I just read this earlier today.
The things that are happening in western NY are horrible.
On further review, scratch that sentence. Some employee unions are buying the line, others seem to be seeing at least part way through it.
Snow removal?
I thought it, but I wasn’t going to say it…
Looks like I got out just in time, eh?
Truth be told, I thought the death knell was when the Tonawanda Public Library stopped archiving the Tonawanda News. Just screamed “WRONG!” to me.
I live in a 2,200 square foot house in a middle class Cleveland suburb. With good municipal services, including excellent snow removal, and what is supposedly one of the best school districts in the state, I pay about $1,800 a year in property tax.
My parents live in a 2,000 square foor house in an upscale Buffalo suburb. Their house would probably fetch about $180K if it sold today; it hasn’t been updated since it was built in 1967. They have good municipal services, including excellent snow removal and one of the best school systems in the United States. They pay $5,500 annually in property tax.
A friend of the family lives in a relatively new 1,800 square foot house in the same town. They pay $8,000 a year in property tax. Eight thousand dollars.
There are affordable hosues in the town, despite its high falutin’ reputation. That link will take you to a listing for a 1,500 square foot house selling for just $104,000. However, you’ll be paying over $4,000 in property tax. You could buy a house in a very blue collar suburb for $100,000, but the property taxes aren’t any lower; $4,125 a year for the privilege of living in Cheektowarsaw.
Tax revenue comes more from having a decent tax base than from high per capita rates, as Manhattan points out. What also needs to be understood is how much industry contributes to that tax base. Since heavy industry is being chased out of NYS, particularly the once great manufacturing centers of Erie and Monroe counties, things will continue to get worse. Their problems go deeper than property or sales tax.
I was surprised to find out that at one point Buffalo had the most millionaires per capita in the US. What happened?