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[Karl]

$33/$1000 is like Three times more then we pay here in SD.

Plus the living expenses are higher there too.

I'd really like to move to the Free Town, but it seems like housing is much more expensive.

Tracy, what you see is a high *rate*, but in Grafton this is a low dollar amount, because real estate there is extremely cheap, and assessments are very low compared to the the areas south of Concord.  Such "property poor" towns are always going to have a higher rate that "property rich" because a town has some fixed costs.  Grafton is about as "low cost" as any town in New England.

To guage what you'll actually pay, compare a particular piece of property with an equivelent property in Portsmouth or Nashua.  You will see that Grafton is much cheaper.

Remember too, N.H. also does not have an income tax, but S.D. does.

[Karl]

"High Tax" Grafton:


3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 2 acres! 2 car garage and near a "beach"!
Price: $169,900; taxes: $2,889

versus

"Low Tax" Porstmouth:


Price: $254,900; taxes: $3,481
3 bedrooms, 1 bath, only 0.22 acres, 1 car garage, no beach
(homes with 2 acres in Portsmouth start a half-a-mil!)

Grafton, though it has a higher tax rate clearly has lower taxes, and cheaper real estate.

[freedomroad]

Remember too, N.H. also does not have an income tax, but S.D. does.

You mean that NH doesn't have a sales tax, but SD does.

[Tracy Saboe]

Remember too, N.H. also does not have an income tax, but S.D. does.

This is incorect. SD does not have an income tax.

The Democrats sure want one, but the Republicans won't let that happen. (On the other hand I wish the Republicans would let the Democrats repeal the food tax)

Tracy

[Karl]

This is incorect. SD does not have an income tax.

Oh, I thought it did.  My bad.

[Tracy Saboe]

 

If it Did, the move would be a no brainer, from an economic standpoint. (Obviously I'm moving regardless)  

Tracy

[wes237]

WOW!!! The pictures of those houses are rather disappointing. If that is all you get for that much money.................

[freedomroad]

WOW!!! The pictures of those houses are rather disappointing. If that is all you get for that much money.................

Why are you disappointed?  Where are you from?  It takes about $125,000 to $150,000 (min.) to live in a safe area that has good schools near Memphis.  I'm talking a 3 bedroom house.  Memphis is thought of as one of the least expensive large MSAs in the country.  Pay in NH is high compared to cost of living.

However, that Grafton house was more expensive than the average Grafton house.  Here is what the government records show:

http://www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/htmlprofiles/grafton.html
HOUSING
2001 Total Housing Units 708
   
2001 Single-Family Units 534
Building Permits Issued 5
2001 Multi-Family Units 37
Building Permits Issued 0
2001 Manufactured Housing Units 137
   
2000 Census Housing Costs  
Median Value, Owner-Occupied Housing $81,300
Median Gross Rent (monthly) $500


Grafton is a nice, unexpensive rural area.  Portsmouth, on the other hand, tends to act like a 'burb of Boston in some ways.  It is also on the ocean and next to several beaches.

http://www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/htmlprofiles/portsmouth.html
2001 Total Housing Units 10,254  
   
2001 Single-Family Units 4,746  
Building Permits Issued 27
2001 Multi-Family Units 5,229  
Building Permits Issued 3
2001 Manufactured Housing Units 279
   
2000 Census Housing Costs  
Median Value, Owner-Occupied Housing $168,600
Median Gross Rent (monthly) $727

[Tracy Saboe]

Median Value, Owner-Occupied Housing $81,300
Median Gross Rent (monthly) $500

So their is cheaper housing? That's good to know.

Tracy

[Mike Lorrey]

For those on a budget, I recommend getting ready to peruse some in depth proposals by the Free Town Land Development Group. Our focus is specifically on offering affordable housing options to porcupines through large land buys, innovative construction, and keeping the projects out of the regulatory environment as much as possible, while adhering to high standards of quality. The Group will be structuring its developments as trusts, which offer those seeking housing a means of shielding housing assets from the tax man or other forms of seizure, while still allowing you total control over the home and land designated by your Trust Seat. Furthermore, your Seat in the Trust is completely salable AND you can roll assets out of and back into IRAs to and from this Trust without penalties or taxes.

Individuals seeking to reside in state only part time and save money on housing can either split a seat with others, OR can arrange a management contract with the Trust to rent out your housing in order to generate rental income.

[Mike Lorrey]

Neufell Wins: Extra Spending Loses
by Dan Mackie
Valley News Staff Writer

Grafton - The people have spoken in Grafton, where voters faced 29 warrant articles on the Town Meeting ballot yesterday.
  They approved an operating budget of $679,656.00, which was up almost 10 percent, but rejected a number of articles calling for extra spending.
  In a four-way race for selectman, incumbent Frank Neufell narrowly defeated challengers Catherine Mulholland, John D. Knott, Jr. and Clifford Williamson. Neufell had 143 votes, Mulholland 114, Knott 108, and Williamson, 26.
  Mary McDow won another term as town clerk, with 334 votes to 57 for Maureen O'Reilly.
  In the biggest local spending question, voters rejected buying a $74,450 backhoe outright, as favored by the selectboard. They also rejected an alternative plan, a lease/purchase deal proposed by the budget committee.
  They approved spending more, $140,000, for a new fire tanker, but a federal grant will pay most of the tab.
  Voters didn't seem to be in the mood for spending money on salaries. They rejected an article calling for a 14 hour increase in the administrative assistant's hours, bringing them to 40. They also rejected raises to the Treasurer, tax collector and town clerk.
  Also failing were articles asking for $3,000 for a regional adult day care center in Canaan and $2,000 for the Canaan Town Library.
  A request to spend $10,000 on repairs to the town office building passed, but another to spend the same amount on Town Hall failed. Voters OK'd spending $4,000 for calcium chloride for the town roads.
  Voters rejected a measure to quit the official ballot system, at which Town Meeting questions are decided by Australian Ballot. That failed by a vote of 287-95.
  They turned down a bid to cut the road agent's term to one year, but in a separate vote narrowly failed to give the road agent a vote of confidence. Asked if they are satisfied with the maintenance of the local roads, 197 voted no and 175 yes.
  A perennial request to declare Grafton a "U.N.-free-zone" failed, 221-164, this year. The town nearly passed the measure a couple years ago. (msl - in 2002 the same measure failed by only 5 votes).
  McDow said the biggest surprise was the  closeness of the selectboard race. Turnout was fairly heavy yesterday, with 390 voting out of 763 registered voters.

[nonluddite]

$33/$1000 is like Three times more then we pay here in SD.

Plus the living expenses are higher there too.

I'd really like to move to the Free Town, but it seems like housing is much more expensive.

I do realize the no sales tax. I wonder how much I pay a year in Sale Tax.  Our food budget is around $300/month so about $1,800/year.  Our sales tax is only 5-6% so I pay aproxemately $90-$108 a year in sales tax.

:-(

BTW, your numbers are off by a factor of 2x.  So South Dakota has tax on food?  But no income tax.

(Don't ever move to New York!  It's income tax is even MORE complicated than the Fed's!  And NYC has its own progressive income tax--they are truly insane down there!  )

[Mike Lorrey]

Tracy is also wrong as to the rate. The rate in Grafton is about $21/thousand.

[Tracy Saboe]

For some dumb reason I multiplied 300 by 6 instead of 12.

So, OK I probably pay around 200+ in sales tax every year then.

Where did I get the 33/thousand.

So, OK. Sounds like Grafton Property tax is only about twice what I pay in Sioux Falls.  

. . . . .

OK, so tax wise, It would cost me approxemately (2x$700-($700+$200))=$500 a year more, then it costs me here. Plus the cost of living is higher . . . . .Humm.

I suppose I could come up with an extra $500/12~$41/month to live in Grafton.

And we can safely assume that after a hundread or so people move to Grafton that local property taxes could probably be cut in half, and the local public schooling property tax would be abolished.

. . . . .

See, the reason I don't care as much about the higher incomes (And hence, percieved by YesToAmerica as freaking out )is that currently, I live largely off residual income from a Network marketing business that I'm in now.

Humm.

I could perhaps purchase a quarter of an acre or something for cheep, and then higher contractors to build an underground house for me, perhaps. I think decent sized ones can be built for around $40,000 (Assuming I buy the labor and don't do it myself). That could get me into a decent sized house, for about the same price I'm paying now.

How much does an acre sell for in Grafton typically? If it's less then $20,000, it would be comprable (20+40=60).

How high is the water table in Grafton? Is it low enough to make an underground house possible or practical?

Tracy

P.S. You said Grafton already has cable internet, or fiber optic, or DSL  internet services of some kind?

Just trying to plan.   TS

P.P.S.

Oh, Mike, how would one go about purchasing membership in that land trust if I'm not even there? (Assuming that's even an option for me.)  TS

[Tracy Saboe]

$41/month to live in Grafton.

You know what I just realized? Car Insurence in New Hampshire is about half what it is here in SD (Because it's not so regulated.)  That would cut my $900/6= $150/month in half.  

That's where I can get the money for the hightend tax and cost of living burden.

I think if I look at the lower regulation in NH I'll find that many other basic things might be cheeper (Medical care, and Medical insurence?). (SD, is quickly becoming a fascist hyperregulatory state)

Starting to feel better.

Tracy