From the New York Times:
Why Property Taxes Are All Over the Charts
THE communities of Glen Ridge, [NJ], Fairfield, Conn., and Great Neck and Pelham in New York have several things in common: first-rate public schools, stately homes on tree-lined streets and municipal amenities like well-groomed parks and fine libraries.
Yet in Fairfield, the owner of a house worth $580,250 — the median sales price in 2005 — paid $6,037 in property taxes, while the owner of a comparably priced home in Glen Ridge paid nearly twice that, an analysis of 2005 property tax and real estate records by The New York Times shows.
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In Glen Ridge, residents insist their problem is something else entirely.“Our problems lie with how the state funds education,” said Jackie Yustein, who has lived in Glen Ridge for 30 years but says she does not know how much longer she can remain.
“Our taxes are pushing $25,000,” said Ms. Yustein, the director of community health services for Essex County. “We love our home, we love our community. But we feel like we’re being pushed out.”
Carl Bergmanson, the mayor, agreed: “Ratables wouldn’t help us that much, and they aren’t the reason our taxes are high. The reason is simple: 4 percent state aid.”
In Newark, 84 percent of school spending comes from state aid, compared with 4 percent in Glen Ridge. And Newark’s property tax rate — a median property tax bill of $3,300 on a home worth $262,000, or about 1.2 percent — is below the norm for the region, much lower than Glen Ridge’s.
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In Glen Ridge, an Essex County town known for its good schools and high taxes, the median property tax bill was $11,306. For single-family homes sold in 2005, the median sale price was $562,000.Of course, there are obvious reasons property tax bills vary. Wide differences in taxable commercial property, teachers’ salaries and state aid, along with persistent segregation of wealth and poverty and varying concentrations of school-age children, all contribute to the inequities.
“There’s not one property tax problem, there are multiple property tax problems — and some people with no property tax problems,” said James W. Hughes, dean of Rutgers University’s Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy.
Based on 2005 census data, New Jersey has the highest median property tax bill in the country, followed by New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York. But a look at the national rankings by county shows that Westchester tops the list, followed by Nassau on Long Island, and then Hunterdon, Bergen and Essex in New Jersey.