Scrounging Firewood (and other stuff)

[svk]

I moved to a low tax area ... in the late 70s I purchased a 2-bedroom house in Brewster and my total RE tax bill was only $660 / year, and the schools were good, and the snow got plowed.

Now, I live 2 blocks away in a 3-bedroom house and my total RE taxes are $12,000 per year and half the HS does not speak English!

We fought some tax increases and won ... but this happened anyway! Very frustrating. I built this house and don't want to move, and my business and some family members are nearby, it is a real dilemma. When you spend over 40 years building a business, it is tough to just pull up routs and leave, and my upstate cabin, etc. (I became a tax prepared, on my own, in 1980. I worked in my Dad's office [helping with the tax preparation] since I was 14). At least NYS does not tax my pension or Social Security.

You guys in NY are absolutely RAPED with school taxes. After having kids in public school in NY, FL, and MN over the years I certainly cannot determine what all of the extra NYS school tax dollars are used for.

 

[snobdds]

I moved to a low tax area ... in the late 70s I purchased a 2-bedroom house in Brewster and my total RE tax bill was only $660 / year, and the schools were good, and the snow got plowed.

Now, I live 2 blocks away in a 3-bedroom house and my total RE taxes are $12,000 per year and half the HS does not speak English!

We fought some tax increases and won ... but this happened anyway! Very frustrating. I built this house and don't want to move, and my business and some family members are nearby, it is a real dilemma. When you spend over 40 years building a business, it is tough to just pull up routs and leave, and my upstate cabin, etc. (I became a tax prepared, on my own, in 1980. I worked in my Dad's office [helping with the tax preparation] since I was 14). At least NYS does not tax my pension or Social Security.

Having a cabin in the middle of a national forest has been an eye opener for me. The Forest service built out entire road systems (bridges, culverts etc.) in the 50-70's and did it all with a much smaller tax base than today.

Today the Forest service can barely keep up with replacing deteriorating signage. The roads all have trees growing in the ditches causing water to flow over the roads and leaving them in horrible shape.

I don't know where it all went awry. But even with 10x the money, they get less done today.

 

[GrizG]

I moved to a low tax area ... in the late 70s I purchased a 2-bedroom house in Brewster and my total RE tax bill was only $660 / year, and the schools were good, and the snow got plowed.

Now, I live 2 blocks away in a 3-bedroom house and my total RE taxes are $12,000 per year and half the HS does not speak English!

We fought some tax increases and won ... but this happened anyway! Very frustrating. I built this house and don't want to move, and my business and some family members are nearby, it is a real dilemma. When you spend over 40 years building a business, it is tough to just pull up routs and leave, and my upstate cabin, etc. (I became a tax prepared, on my own, in 1980. I worked in my Dad's office [helping with the tax preparation] since I was 14). At least NYS does not tax my pension or Social Security.

Having deep roots in an area makes overcoming the “at rest” part of inertia an issue too. My mother’s side has pre-revolutionary roots… 80+ years on my father’s side. Also have grand sons here now. Giving up all the local personal, business, and political relationships present large opportunity costs to my leaving the area.

 

[GrizG]

You guys in NY are absolutely RAPED with school taxes. After having kids in public school in NY, FL, and MN over the years I certainly cannot determine what all of the extra NYS school tax dollars are used for.

You and me both… the school boards have never impressed me. In my teens my long time girlfriend’s mother was on the school board. When they had meetings it was followed by a night of drinking. One day she came home from school and found her mother in bed with a guy from the school board. The guy was also a detective… he got fired and sued for beating a suspect during an interrogation.

Some years later a guy from my neighborhood was the board president. I was tempted to publicly ask how he lost his finger… His father and Uncle were judges, He and his brother ran with a bunch of untouchable trouble makers. If anyone complained about those kids they retaliated. For example, they shot BBs into every window pane on a complainer’s house. Another time they used pruning shears, loppers, and manual hedge clippers to cut down someone’s landscaping (and a finger). They shot someone’s dog with a .22…

These are some of the fine people running our schools. Knowing the history is another pitfall of deep roots.

 

[Sawyer Rob]

It's not cutting perfectly straight, I don't know if I'll try to dial it in or not. It's close dimensionaly, I can see a rise in the middle though.

View attachment 1227016

Check the distance from the back of the blade to EACH bunk, and shim as needed to get them all the same.

SR

 

[mountainguyed67]

Having a cabin in the middle of a national forest has been an eye opener for me. The Forest service built out entire road systems (bridges, culverts etc.) in the 50-70's and did it all with a much smaller tax base than today.

Today the Forest service can barely keep up with replacing deteriorating signage. The roads all have trees growing in the ditches causing water to flow over the roads and leaving them in horrible shape.

I don't know where it all went awry. But even with 10x the money, they get less done today.

Our Forest engineer is so good at getting projects through the red tape, that they call him when funding pops up, but with a very short window to get it approved. They know that other Forests can't have a project ready for approval that fast. There's a whole lot getting done on our Forest because of it. They brushed, removed hazard trees, and paved the road our place in the mountains is on, last summer.

 

[snobdds]

Our Forest engineer is so good at getting projects through the red tape, that they call him when funding pops up, but with a very short window to get it approved. They know that other Forests can't have a project ready for approval that fast. There's a whole lot getting done on our Forest because of it. They brushed, removed hazard trees, and paved the road our place in the mountains is on, last summer.

View attachment 1227147

The forest supervisor always tells me, he's not going to throw money at maintaining a road for 10 people.

I always reply with the forest service motto: Caring for the land and serving people...therefore why can't you serve the people? He laughs and then does nothing.