Josey wrote:Jeffco, Lakewood and Golden are ok. I like the open spaces and parks, bear creek. So far taxes are still reasonable thanks to the voters and Tabor.
Choosing the right municipality in a metro area is very important to me- and it should be a top priority for more people. To me it's more important than being close to work or even which school district you are in. Your kids will eventually move away, but you may be there for life!
Living inside a City adds many thousands of dollars in additional costs that most people overlook. Cities are a additional layer of government on top of the County government. They have additional taxes, both property and sales taxes that will add up over the years. They have additional zoning restrictions, rules and regulations. They usually have city employees who have nothing to do but hassle residents about parking their cars on the street, about the length of your lawn etc.. etc.. You will also be paying for a Mayor, City council, and various City departments that are mostly not necessary. The Bureaucratic Bull$hit involved with a City government alone is worth avoiding.
Josey says Lakewood and Golden are "OK". Not for me. While they are in Jefferson County, they are additional layers of government that can be totally avoided if you just move to the unincorporated area of Jeffco. I lived in Boulder and Lakewood for 4 and 6 years and I will never live there again. If you really like paying for- and being told what to do and how to live- those 2 cities are awesome! Also consider the court system- I do not want a City Police department or a City court system at all.
That said now we should compare Jeffco to the other front range counties. When I compare- Jeffco is the better place. Way better. Lower taxes, lowest sales taxes, easy access to most urban locations, and just far enough away to be tolarable. Comparatively speaking, Jeffco has less regulations and nasty restrictions than other front range counties but this is changing. Jeffco has an awesome park system called
Jeffco Open Space(0.5% sales tax pays for open space), and we have many Denver mountain parks here as well. Total Jeffco sales tax at this time is 4.5%, one of the lowest sales taxes in the metro area. The 4.5% sales tax does not include special district tax in some areas of Jeffco.
If we could keep all these lefties from moving here, we might be able to keep taxes at a reasonable level (not likely). What we need are more conservatives moving here. The school board is a different story because it has been taken over by the teachers union- but this is happening all over the metro.
Avoid Denver and Boulder counties like the plague, because they are the plague. Living in these two counties will cost you tens of thousands of extra dollars over 25 years. Now if you really want the lowest taxes and expenses, try Park County or Clear Creek County or even Weld County. Property taxes in Clear Creek county are
roughly half of what they are in Jeffco- and they have very good local services like snow plowing.
Consider what you really need to have from your local City or County government. For me it's not much. I want good services like Sheriff, road maintenance and snow plowing and an efficient court and other reasonable local services without charging me up the ying yang. If you think about all the local government services you have actually used in the last 5 years, it probably will not be much.
Choosing the wrong municipal area will cost you... alot.
PS. A friend of mine lived near University and County Line road. When he bought the house he was in unincorporated Arapahoe County and he got caught up in the City of Centennial land grab. Now he has an additional layer of government from hell! Centennial is a Home Rule Municipality and they are going hog wild with the taxes, rules and regulations..... All I can say is GET OUT!!
Look in the mirror- You are the biggest phony f*cks on earth
