Teachers not happy with negotiations

A taxing existence: Property values, fees drive up cost of living in MetroWest Sunday, March 21, 2004

Laura Crimaldi Metrowest Daily News

In a few short months, Graham Taylor of Sudbury turns 79.
Give him another few years and he should pay off the mortgage on the house he's called home since Nov. 1, 1971.
"Who knows? The mortgage may outlive me. I intend to live five more years," Taylor joked this week from his barn-style home on Goodman's Hill Road.
At 78, Taylor can safely say he's retired, but he doesn't show any signs of slowing down.
He's coached skiing at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School since 1982. When the snow fell this week, Taylor plowed through his horseshoe driveway with a shovel and sharp criticism for snow blowers. He sings in local choruses and goes to the ballet.
This bottomless energy and knack for juggling hasn't just kept Taylor spry, it's kept him in his house.
"I couldn't buy a doghouse in Sudbury," said Taylor, who paid $48,500 for his home more than 32 years ago. "What can you buy for $48,500?"
Housing gobbles budgets
Good question.
These days the median house price in Sudbury is $621,000, making it the region's third most expensive town. Weston is home to the most expensive community where the median house sale price is more than $1.1 million. Even a modest, three-bedroom ranch on Bemis Street in Weston sold for $450,000 in August of 2002, according to assessors' records.
As of last October, MetroWest paid 40 percent more than the national average to live in this region, according to the cost of living index established by ACCRA, a non-profit economic and community development research organization.
Housing prices account for much of that expense, with MetroWest prices coming in at almost double the national average.
"It just goes up and up," said Don MacRitchie, an economic researcher at the MetroWest Economic Research Center at Framingham State College.
When Jack Hoffman moved his family to Framingham more than 35 years ago, his wife Joan figured the new hometown would save him from living a "provincial" life in his native Worcester.
The Framingham Hoffman remembered from his youth was a wide-stretch down Rte. 9 where corn stands did business at Shopper's World.
He started out in an apartment and then moved his wife and two children to a house on Sun Valley and then to Arnold Road where he still lives.
"It was great for my wife -- the school, the library, the temple," said Hoffman, 64.
Today Framingham homeowners pay an average of $3,978 in property taxes, $39.50 every month for basic cable service and $5 every time they take the commuter rail train into Boston.
The numbers leave Hoffman wondering how young people make ends meet.
"For the love of me, if people come and buy a $400,000 house, you have to be making $100,000....I don't know how young people do it. They have to have rich parents. We didn't rely on our parents," he said.
After many years in the medical supply business, Hoffman can comfortably say he's semiretired, though he keeps his hand in the business world by selling merchandise to flea markets and designing handbags.
His children, both grown, live in Las Vegas and New York. His wife continues to teach at Walsh Middle School in Framingham.
For the first time in more than 30 years, Hoffman, who is the brother of the late Abbie Hoffman, is politically active.
And he knows exactly what the cost of living has done to our way of life.
"What has happened in society, and Framingham, isn't unique, is that the women have gone off to work," said Hoffman. "I think it's great. It's wonderful, but I don't want my wife working with two kids at home.'
Living on the fringes
The short answer to the youth question is to leave MetroWest.
"I deal a lot with first-time home buyers, but they don't buy in the region," said Josh Lioce, owner and broker of Lioce Properties in downtown Milford.
According to Lioce, the majority of his clients are first-time home buyers between ages 25 and 32, who grew up in the Milford-Franklin area.
However with a median house price of $305,000 and an average property tax bill of $3,248 in Milford, the hometown is out of reach for most first-time buyers.
"They look at Milford and up and down 495 and it's almost untouchable and very intimidating," said Lioce.
To sell homes, Lioce looks west to towns like Uxbridge, Northbridge, Webster, Douglas and Sturbridge where houses are more affordable.
Of the 39 towns surveyed for this report, Northbridge is the best buy.
Its median house price is $299,000. Property taxes will cost you an average of $2,567 annually. Even a month of cable service is a bargain at $34.08.
"I like living here," said Alice Smith of Violette Circle in Northbridge.
Violette Circle, a cul-de-sac off of Sutton Street, is a neighborhood where dogs roam without leashes and children run to answer when the doorbell rings.
"It's been great," said Smith, who grew up in Framingham.
According to Smith, there's been little turnover in the neighborhood since it was built about 15 years ago. The neighbors interviewed said they work in MetroWest, at companies like Genzyme and EMC Corp.
"Either you were born and raised here or you decided that it was worth the commute to get the house with the land for literally so much less that you pay out your way," said Wanda Lehto, a real estate agent with Century21, Realty One in Uxbridge.
For the 16 minutes it takes to drive to I-495 from Violette Circle, residents live in four-bedroom colonials that are assessed at about $230,000. One of the most recent homes to change hands on the street sold for $331,500 last July, according to assessors' records.
According to Lehto, the latest trends have brought young families and couples who are about to marry into the Blackstone Valley.
"For that extra 15, 20 minutes you take to get to the highway, you are getting an extra $100,000 or $200,000 of value," said Lehto.
The ways the real estate market has changed Northbridge's complexion has not been lost on lifelong residents.
John LaVallee, who works at a Citgo service station on Providence Road, has lived in Northbridge for 55 years.
Ask him where the wealthy live, and LaVallee points west to Hill Street where Victorian mansions stand next to vast stretches of farm land.
Ask LaVallee where the nouveau riche have settled, and he points northeast toward the Upton town line.
"Right now rents are starting to go up," said LaVallee, who remembered leasing a four-family home on Taft Street at rates of $12 a week during the late 1960s and early 1970s. "I've seen some $1,000 rents lately."
Fees hit everyone
The cost of suburban living isn't just the concern of homeowners, renters and breadwinners.
Dan Marks isn't even old enough to drive, but he knows what it's like to scrape together allowance money to pay for some of his older sister's school parking permit.
It costs $120 for students to park at Algonquin Regional High School where Marks, 15, hitches a ride with his sister every day to class.
"My sister makes me pay for half of it," said Marks, as he waited for his sister to pull up to the school entrance this week.
But compared to the $200 fee at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, parking at Algonquin looks like a bargain. And unlike the Lincoln-Sudbury district which charges $275 for a bus ride to school, students in Northborough and Southborough ride the bus free of charge.
Even Nick Tawadrous, owner of Classic Pizza and Restaurant on Rte. 20 in Sudbury, knows the value of selling a small cheese pizza at the almost unbeatable price of $3.95.
"The economy right now is no good. We have to help the customer," he said.
Paying his share
In Sudbury, the job-juggling and careful financing Taylor has been through over the past two decades has not made him stingy or a tax naysayer.
In 1981, he lost his job as the vice chancellor at the state Board of Higher Education.
In 1982, he found work as director of financial aid at East Cost Aerotech in Bedford. By 1984, Taylor was working at a Wall Street Journal drop site in Framingham and eventually became a supervisor.
"Here I was the vice chancellor of the Board of Higher Education and I'm delivering papers," said Taylor, as going through the motions of bagging a newspaper. "I found out I liked it because it was operational, it was physical."
He supplemented the income with jobs teaching driver education, selling life insurance and processing loans at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester.
Several times, Taylor fell back on his house to help finance his children's education. One of his neighbors recently sold her cape-style house to a developer, who tore down the modest dwelling to construct a Tudor home.
Today, he sets aside about $400 every month to make an annual payment of $5,400 in property taxes, about 60 percent of what the average Sudbury homeowner pays.
"I have to make some conscious effort to do that," said Taylor.
Whenever an override comes up to support the schools, Taylor throws his support behind it. He even opposed the controversial senior tax relief measure Article 54 last year because the proposed break wasn't based on need at the time.
He also continues to support some of his favorite non-profits like the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Ballet and Reagle Players.
"You need to tax to have a civilized society," said Taylor.
Still, Taylor could use a break. That's why he now supports the revised Article 54.
Under the proposal, seniors and disabled residents who are paying more than 10 percent of their income in property taxes, have homes valued no more than 125 percent of the average assessed residential property and who meet income guidelines could receive a benefit of up to 25 percent of the average residential tax bill.
"There needs to be some relief. I'm about to get to the point where the tax burden is about to become a burden," Taylor said.

A taxing existence: Property values, fees drive up cost of living in MetroWest	Sunday, March 21, 2004
Laura Crimaldi	Metrowest Daily News
In a few short months, Graham Taylor of Sudbury turns 79. Give him another few years and he should pay off the mortgage on the house he's called home since Nov. 1, 1971. "Who knows? The mortgage may outlive me. I intend to live five more years," Taylor joked this week from his barn-style home on Goodman's Hill Road. At 78, Taylor can safely say he's retired, but he doesn't show any signs of slowing down. He's coached skiing at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School since 1982. When the snow fell this week, Taylor plowed through his horseshoe driveway with a shovel and sharp criticism for snow blowers. He sings in local choruses and goes to the ballet. This bottomless energy and knack for juggling hasn't just kept Taylor spry, it's kept him in his house. "I couldn't buy a doghouse in Sudbury," said Taylor, who paid $48,500 for his home more than 32 years ago. "What can you buy for $48,500?" Housing gobbles budgets Good question. These days the median house price in Sudbury is $621,000, making it the region's third most expensive town. Weston is home to the most expensive community where the median house sale price is more than $1.1 million. Even a modest, three-bedroom ranch on Bemis Street in Weston sold for $450,000 in August of 2002, according to assessors' records. As of last October, MetroWest paid 40 percent more than the national average to live in this region, according to the cost of living index established by ACCRA, a non-profit economic and community development research organization. Housing prices account for much of that expense, with MetroWest prices coming in at almost double the national average. "It just goes up and up," said Don MacRitchie, an economic researcher at the MetroWest Economic Research Center at Framingham State College. When Jack Hoffman moved his family to Framingham more than 35 years ago, his wife Joan figured the new hometown would save him from living a "provincial" life in his native Worcester. The Framingham Hoffman remembered from his youth was a wide-stretch down Rte. 9 where corn stands did business at Shopper's World. He started out in an apartment and then moved his wife and two children to a house on Sun Valley and then to Arnold Road where he still lives. "It was great for my wife -- the school, the library, the temple," said Hoffman, 64. Today Framingham homeowners pay an average of $3,978 in property taxes, $39.50 every month for basic cable service and $5 every time they take the commuter rail train into Boston. The numbers leave Hoffman wondering how young people make ends meet. "For the love of me, if people come and buy a $400,000 house, you have to be making $100,000....I don't know how young people do it. They have to have rich parents. We didn't rely on our parents," he said. After many years in the medical supply business, Hoffman can comfortably say he's semiretired, though he keeps his hand in the business world by selling merchandise to flea markets and designing handbags. His children, both grown, live in Las Vegas and New York. His wife continues to teach at Walsh Middle School in Framingham. For the first time in more than 30 years, Hoffman, who is the brother of the late Abbie Hoffman, is politically active. And he knows exactly what the cost of living has done to our way of life. "What has happened in society, and Framingham, isn't unique, is that the women have gone off to work," said Hoffman. "I think it's great. It's wonderful, but I don't want my wife working with two kids at home.' Living on the fringes The short answer to the youth question is to leave MetroWest. "I deal a lot with first-time home buyers, but they don't buy in the region," said Josh Lioce, owner and broker of Lioce Properties in downtown Milford. According to Lioce, the majority of his clients are first-time home buyers between ages 25 and 32, who grew up in the Milford-Franklin area. However with a median house price of $305,000 and an average property tax bill of $3,248 in Milford, the hometown is out of reach for most first-time buyers. "They look at Milford and up and down 495 and it's almost untouchable and very intimidating," said Lioce. To sell homes, Lioce looks west to towns like Uxbridge, Northbridge, Webster, Douglas and Sturbridge where houses are more affordable. Of the 39 towns surveyed for this report, Northbridge is the best buy. Its median house price is $299,000. Property taxes will cost you an average of $2,567 annually. Even a month of cable service is a bargain at $34.08. "I like living here," said Alice Smith of Violette Circle in Northbridge. Violette Circle, a cul-de-sac off of Sutton Street, is a neighborhood where dogs roam without leashes and children run to answer when the doorbell rings. "It's been great," said Smith, who grew up in Framingham. According to Smith, there's been little turnover in the neighborhood since it was built about 15 years ago. The neighbors interviewed said they work in MetroWest, at companies like Genzyme and EMC Corp. "Either you were born and raised here or you decided that it was worth the commute to get the house with the land for literally so much less that you pay out your way," said Wanda Lehto, a real estate agent with Century21, Realty One in Uxbridge. For the 16 minutes it takes to drive to I-495 from Violette Circle, residents live in four-bedroom colonials that are assessed at about $230,000. One of the most recent homes to change hands on the street sold for $331,500 last July, according to assessors' records. According to Lehto, the latest trends have brought young families and couples who are about to marry into the Blackstone Valley. "For that extra 15, 20 minutes you take to get to the highway, you are getting an extra $100,000 or $200,000 of value," said Lehto. The ways the real estate market has changed Northbridge's complexion has not been lost on lifelong residents. John LaVallee, who works at a Citgo service station on Providence Road, has lived in Northbridge for 55 years. Ask him where the wealthy live, and LaVallee points west to Hill Street where Victorian mansions stand next to vast stretches of farm land. Ask LaVallee where the nouveau riche have settled, and he points northeast toward the Upton town line. "Right now rents are starting to go up," said LaVallee, who remembered leasing a four-family home on Taft Street at rates of $12 a week during the late 1960s and early 1970s. "I've seen some $1,000 rents lately." Fees hit everyone The cost of suburban living isn't just the concern of homeowners, renters and breadwinners. Dan Marks isn't even old enough to drive, but he knows what it's like to scrape together allowance money to pay for some of his older sister's school parking permit. It costs $120 for students to park at Algonquin Regional High School where Marks, 15, hitches a ride with his sister every day to class. "My sister makes me pay for half of it," said Marks, as he waited for his sister to pull up to the school entrance this week. But compared to the $200 fee at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, parking at Algonquin looks like a bargain. And unlike the Lincoln-Sudbury district which charges $275 for a bus ride to school, students in Northborough and Southborough ride the bus free of charge. Even Nick Tawadrous, owner of Classic Pizza and Restaurant on Rte. 20 in Sudbury, knows the value of selling a small cheese pizza at the almost unbeatable price of $3.95. "The economy right now is no good. We have to help the customer," he said. Paying his share In Sudbury, the job-juggling and careful financing Taylor has been through over the past two decades has not made him stingy or a tax naysayer. In 1981, he lost his job as the vice chancellor at the state Board of Higher Education. In 1982, he found work as director of financial aid at East Cost Aerotech in Bedford. By 1984, Taylor was working at a Wall Street Journal drop site in Framingham and eventually became a supervisor. "Here I was the vice chancellor of the Board of Higher Education and I'm delivering papers," said Taylor, as going through the motions of bagging a newspaper. "I found out I liked it because it was operational, it was physical." He supplemented the income with jobs teaching driver education, selling life insurance and processing loans at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester. Several times, Taylor fell back on his house to help finance his children's education. One of his neighbors recently sold her cape-style house to a developer, who tore down the modest dwelling to construct a Tudor home. Today, he sets aside about $400 every month to make an annual payment of $5,400 in property taxes, about 60 percent of what the average Sudbury homeowner pays. "I have to make some conscious effort to do that," said Taylor. Whenever an override comes up to support the schools, Taylor throws his support behind it. He even opposed the controversial senior tax relief measure Article 54 last year because the proposed break wasn't based on need at the time. He also continues to support some of his favorite non-profits like the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Ballet and Reagle Players. "You need to tax to have a civilized society," said Taylor. Still, Taylor could use a break. That's why he now supports the revised Article 54. Under the proposal, seniors and disabled residents who are paying more than 10 percent of their income in property taxes, have homes valued no more than 125 percent of the average assessed residential property and who meet income guidelines could receive a benefit of up to 25 percent of the average residential tax bill. "There needs to be some relief. I'm about to get to the point where the tax burden is about to become a burden," Taylor said.

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