property tax should I pay?

Terry, I thought this was all on hold pending the decision on setting of the rate? If you got a bill, I wonder if they've decided on how to proceed. Pay the taxes, this rain is tearing up the roads!! lol. See you in a couple of months. Best, Linda.

I heard that there might be legislation to 'forgive' some previous years, given the uproar and difficulty in collecting them.
Should be an interesting debate.

When you closed on your property the taxes should have been pro-rated to the closeing date. Either the tax money should have been paid to the property tax office or the $ be escrowed in an account held by a lawyer. Look at your closeing statement. Call and write to the property tax office. When you get back bring all your documents to the office and explain. Good luck.

The bills were issued at the 1998 rate to comply with the court order. A 2007 bill will be issued later this year.

Typically at the closing, the seller credits the buyers account for taxes up to the closing date and buyer is responsible for paying them when the bills are actually sent out. There is usually an agreement that even if taxes change that seller does not have to pay any more or is not entitled to a refund. It is a final settlement at closing.

Terry.

Send the check in. I heard a couple of Senators talking today about how their boats were dirty and they wanted to buy new ones. They could use the contribution.

Hey, what's going to happen when they need 4-5 years paid when this gets resolved?
I doubt there will be legislation to 'forgive' some previous years!
Ah, but we CAN dream!

I assume there WILL be forgiveness to some degree. Think about it....06-07-08-09-10, all due, plus adding on 11,12....etc., and here on STX, at least, it's based on year 1998, which was a high tax year. How can anyone afford to pay this? I know, it's owed, people should have planned for it, but come on...you KNOW they didn't. I think the government will need to offer some sort of incentive or people will just make minimum payments forever, never getting caught up and never getting the government in the black (if that's even possible).

Rivets,
Check with the Alexandra and she said that we received a credit when we purchased it. I had forgotten.
thanks

Guess it is like Bombi says!

Still Juanita's math brings it to 5+ years, quess i was erring on the lower side of it.
Just not looking forward to a $10,000++ bill!
I'm sure there will be some sort of incentive to pay on time, i read that somewhere earlier this year.
We got re-evaluated here in STT a year or so ago, didn't STX as well?

http://ltg.gov.vi/images/ltpress_photos/2010/prop_tax_payment_rules&regs.pdf

We sold and were required to pay all outstanding property taxes prior to closing...........2006,2007,2008 & 2009. The sale wouldn't go through until we had the tax clearance letter from the VI Government!!!
Before you pay ANY TAXES you better check your closing docs!
Keep those records in a safe place too, the VI tax department is famous for trying to charge you for paid taxes & it's up to YOU to prove other wise. When we sold, they claimed taxes were due from like 1996 & the previous owner didn't pay them. Luckily for us, the previous owners had the paper trail & proof of payment and we were able to get out of paying that tax plus fines & penalties.
Good Luck & pay NOTHING until you know for a FACT it is owed.

Have you ever thought that just maybe this could be a tactic to take your property in the future.....tax foreclosure's happen all the time and only takes about 2 years to complete the process.......Do you thinks the government can wait ....to take your asset for pennies on the dollar????? yes they can wait knowing they got you by the ............

No one has paid any tax to the VI govt for the years 2007, 2008, 2009 etc...and only some folks paid the earlier 2006 bill before it was rescinded after one of the court rulings. If you sold since 2005, you gave the money for the taxes up to the date of sale to the new owner...or gave them a credit against the price, as you were responsible for the taxes while you owned the real estate...the new owner will be the one to actually turn the money over to the gov't....as in Terry's situation as above....but they are just passing along the funds from the actual owner at the time of the tax year bill.

I don't think there has been a property tax sale in the VI for at least 10 years....in fact, I think it might have been alot longer. They were never a secret...lists of delinquent parcels were published in the Avis and DN for weeks, and in the Avis, they would draw a line through an entry in the next week's ad if the tax had been paid since the ad was last published.....before the use of computers and wordprocessing software...

We did have a tax re-evaluation on STX too. I think it was territory wide. A whole new branch of the tax office was created, hiring a bunch of people and fiting them all out with SUV's. Then...after several years of re-evaluating property, all the employee hours, SUV's on the road, and who know what other expenses, they have decided to just go with the 1998 rate. What is that about? They showed up at our place, so I went out to greet them. 2 people, neither got out of the SUV, asked some ridiculous questions, like "Is the cistern for this building behind that unit or beside it?" 1998 rate was very high on STX, some of STT, but not all, and very low on STJ. So, all the millionaires on St. John get the low rate. Of course it will help some of the local people who were getting taxed out of being able to afford their property on STJ. At least there's that.

both our condo and the bare land were accessed FAR less then what we paid or what they are now worth. I'm not at all unhappy.

I think tax accessments seldom reflect the actual value of the property.

I think tax accessments seldom reflect the actual value of the property.

I believe this to be true as well ( tax assessments seldom reflect the actual value of the property).& agree.

We all may be surprised, in the future, since real estate values have been falling due to the recession and real estate bubble bursting. Here in NJ they just reassessed our property for far more than the appraised (or sale) value.

In the real world there is a formula for setting a tax rate. The gross budget of the municipality is is compared to the gross property value and a percentage is computed, then converted to the dollars (tax) per thousand dollars of value. Plus a 2-3% overlay to cover tax rebates, mistakes and discounts for veterans, seniors, handicap and homestead, which just about everyone qualifies for The assessor's responsibility is keep the assessed values close to the sales value. When sale values are higher than assessed value by a wide margin then a revaluation is needed, usually every 5-10 years. Between valuations the assessor may change valuations in certain areas or for a class of property to keep the values close to the assessed values. You can appeal to the tax Assessor and if that doesn't work to the tax review board.
2 long winters in K'bunk ME inspired me to take the free courses to become a ME tax assessor. Another chuck of my education that I've never used, but looked good on a resume'.