08-05-2008, 04:42 PM
Sorry, this got longer!
I was raised in a home that was in a homeowner assn. run village, subdivided ag land, min. 2 acre area that was subdivided after WWII. The big difference was that the subdivision was outside of Chicago. But many of the same things that living in the subdivsions here, were there... the land was subdivided into residential ag. lots, were not supported by the public taxing body, but supported by the dues paid by landowners... and the homeowners assn made the decisions on the roads... county services were available for emergencies, for a per call fee, but not timely, and there were no city services. The house we moved here from 3 years ago was also in a resid. ag private homeowners subdivision near Chicago, no services, except for on a per call basis (ever gotten a bill after the sheriff was called? we have, & neighbors had to pay around $1k for ambulance response).
These types of subdivisions exsist all over the US, not just here & in Florida. with any of them, the involvement of the homeowners & the number of lots developed give a good indication of the services provided for the residents. The landowners have to pay dues to provide the services they get. The homeowners have boards and meetings to determine the level of services. If the dues do not cover the services, the services are not installed (Hawaiian Acres initial sales brocheres had all types of homeowner services, but there never were the finacials to put them in place.)
One of the most interesting facts here, is that in a few of the subdivsions (most obviously HPP) the orginal investors involved in the subdivision still have a sizeable amount of property (HPP - inc. at least one of the 20 acre parcels...) Why the associations &/or initial investors have not attached that land for the developer 'advertised' improvements is beyond me....
I should add this.... We do not live in a subdivision here... but in town! The previous home we lived in had much higher taxes (10x the RATE here, more than 10x than our current bill... this was for unincorporated, NO services... (no waste transfer stations available, no county dump, no water spigot with potable water, no library access, no pool access, no beach access, no park facilities, NADA )(OK, about 70% of our property taxes went to the schools, but that 30% county tax went for county roads, county sheriff, & county stuff - nothing for our homeowners assn. development... & any county services that entered the homeowners assn property sent a bill...)
So to the questions of why pay taxes.... for the county roads, the county waste transfer stations, the county parks & rec, the county library, the county bus.... although most of us do not use some of these things, all of us use some of them (ummmmm, the ROADS!) & we benefit from most of the services.
I was raised in a home that was in a homeowner assn. run village, subdivided ag land, min. 2 acre area that was subdivided after WWII. The big difference was that the subdivision was outside of Chicago. But many of the same things that living in the subdivsions here, were there... the land was subdivided into residential ag. lots, were not supported by the public taxing body, but supported by the dues paid by landowners... and the homeowners assn made the decisions on the roads... county services were available for emergencies, for a per call fee, but not timely, and there were no city services. The house we moved here from 3 years ago was also in a resid. ag private homeowners subdivision near Chicago, no services, except for on a per call basis (ever gotten a bill after the sheriff was called? we have, & neighbors had to pay around $1k for ambulance response).
These types of subdivisions exsist all over the US, not just here & in Florida. with any of them, the involvement of the homeowners & the number of lots developed give a good indication of the services provided for the residents. The landowners have to pay dues to provide the services they get. The homeowners have boards and meetings to determine the level of services. If the dues do not cover the services, the services are not installed (Hawaiian Acres initial sales brocheres had all types of homeowner services, but there never were the finacials to put them in place.)
One of the most interesting facts here, is that in a few of the subdivsions (most obviously HPP) the orginal investors involved in the subdivision still have a sizeable amount of property (HPP - inc. at least one of the 20 acre parcels...) Why the associations &/or initial investors have not attached that land for the developer 'advertised' improvements is beyond me....
I should add this.... We do not live in a subdivision here... but in town! The previous home we lived in had much higher taxes (10x the RATE here, more than 10x than our current bill... this was for unincorporated, NO services... (no waste transfer stations available, no county dump, no water spigot with potable water, no library access, no pool access, no beach access, no park facilities, NADA )(OK, about 70% of our property taxes went to the schools, but that 30% county tax went for county roads, county sheriff, & county stuff - nothing for our homeowners assn. development... & any county services that entered the homeowners assn property sent a bill...)
So to the questions of why pay taxes.... for the county roads, the county waste transfer stations, the county parks & rec, the county library, the county bus.... although most of us do not use some of these things, all of us use some of them (ummmmm, the ROADS!) & we benefit from most of the services.