PROPERTY TAXES SUCK...BIG TIME

I paid our property tax today. Ouch. Before the mortgage was paid off, this expense was rolled into our monthly payment and we received a receipt at the end of the year, painless...sure, it took a bit longer to pay off the mortgage but the upside was we weren't faced with a big bill at the end of the year. Our plan was to put aside money monthly, a plan beaten down by the "recovering" economy.
Fortunately, I had an IRA...read had... that we liquidated to pay our tax. So, lets recap: We own our home (except for that pesky remodel loan) = A good thing. We are fortunate in this respect. We no longer have that IRA = A bad thing/good thing...the struggle to save for retirement begins yet again, but at least we were able to come up with the money. We got ass raped = A very bad thing and our only consolation is that almost everyone else living here is walking funny too. Unless they rent, and renters walk funny on a monthly schedule rather than an annual one.
So, where exactly do these taxes go? I have the receipt right here...
The Austin Independent School district gets the lions share, almost 1900.00. I don't have a problem supporting public education, but this is fucking insane considering how shitty AISD is in delivery of services and salaries. Also, I don't have a kid in school, and when I did, they labeled him and mis managed him and generally ( in my opinion ) played more than a passing role in his subsequent problems.
I think property owners who are childless should pay a much lower rate, just to be fair.
Next up is the City of Austin, clocking in at just under 600.00. I could go on and on about this one but I'll spare you and say two things...potholes and how much can asphalt patch cost? OK...three things: The city council is and has been a joke for years.
COA is followed by Travis County...they get 500.00. County roads are marginally better and travis county sheriffs are friendlier and generally more helpful than the city pigs from my experience anyway.
Then there's this new tax, the hospital district tax, a meager 81.00...this I can live with. I support quality medical care for all, even if it's on my dime.The juries still out on this one.We'll see if the delivery of services improves over the next year.
Finally, we have Austin Community College clocking in at 112.00...I'm ok with this hit as well, I went to ACC and will possibly go again.
The biggest offender here, as far as ripping us off, in my opinion is AISD. But in general, property values in this town are inflated ( intentionally, I'm sure) and while I'm not a black helicopter type, I wonder where my money is really going.
I think I might make the time to do the math.