I feel for you, George. I’m in the same boat...75 yrs old, both my husband and I worked all our lives and are long retired, we have our house free and clear, but paying over $2,000 a year in property taxes. Then dear Gov. Brown makes me pay $150 a year for fire protection (over and above my state taxes which supposedly cover this) since I live in an outlying area, which HAS a fire station 3 miles away, plus a volunteer fire fighting group one block away at a resort area. I figure the next bite will be when my husband (in failing health) goes to a rest home and our house gets a lienput on it to pay for his care. Living the American dream!
What makes things worse ... Florida
There are folks in developments in my county that have their home values plummet to about 1/3 of what it was in 2007. The wife and I are in the country where values have held to about 80% of 2007. There is a Florida ‘Save Our Homes’ statute that has lead to a unintended consequence. It prevents homesteaded residents from more than a 3% property tax increase per year. Good in the 2000s when values skyrocketed. It kept the long time residents from massive tax increases. Now after the big drop, those residents that saw a 2/3s drop, actually see a 3% cap on the recovery assessment. New homes in developments have recovered to about a 2/3rds level, but those that lived through to 1/3 assessment enjoy a 3% per year recovery, in turn leaving us at the 80% level paying twice our share.