Taxes...Why so high?

As a real estate broker with multiple offices in several locations I am always asked why are the taxes so high in Westchester.

High property taxes not only strain family finances, they also hurt our economy and cost us jobs.

Lets do a comparison, recently at Five Corners Real Estate we listed a 5,400 sq ft home in Scarsdale at $3,200,000 which had taxes in the $43,000 per year range (actual considered a little on the low side - believe it or not)

At our Greenwich office, we also recently listed a similar property 6,000 sq ft on a larger piece of property with taxes just a drop shy of  $14,000 per year.  Roughly 1/3 hmmmm

So is the question, Westchester taxes high or everywhere else the taxes are just so low?

First of all remember that a large portion of the tax collected in Westchester goes to the school system (about 65%), yet other areas in the country also have some great school systems so it seems unlikely that one should point a finger of blame there.

Westchester does have several layers of government that other areas do not... your Village and/or City, County tax, and School tax.

Some of the blame may be the extra level of County government with its vast park system that continually needs funds.

Sad to say that few nearby towns want to share resources like recycling and trash collection which would shave costs.

There are public documents showing where a correctional officer in Westchester has a base salary of 80k but his overtime amounted to an additional 200k

So what can be done?

In 2013, the municipal budget maker has to be concerned with all costs.  There are only a few viable alternatives.

The vast majority of municipalities can look at sharing services, reductions in force, and negotiating give-backs or they can cut essential services.

Tough choices, but the alternate of asking the voters, already facing their own family financial concerns, to approve higher property taxes must be done.