A surge of new residents into Rocky Mountain states drove up home prices. The result was property tax hikes of 40 percent or more for some of those already there.
Marleen Gamble had already taken out a reverse mortgage on her townhouse in 2018 to keep up with the steady increase in expenses eating into the Social Security checks that are her only source of income.
Then this year, Ms. Gamble, a retired X-ray technician, faced a 20 percent spike in her property tax bill. With no other way to pay it, she began to empty her home of 34 years in the Denver suburb of Littleton, one memento at a time. Her dining room set, sold. Her jewelry, now someone else’s.
“Every knickknack I have, everything I don’t use, I’m selling,” said Ms. Gamble, 84, who has asked officials in neighboring Douglas County about applying for subsidized housing. “What I owe now is $962.62. I think I need to use two credit cards to do it. And I’m going to have to pay interest on those.”
The New York Times
By David W. Chen
April 3, 2024