News
District sets final 2010 tax rates
Changes in equalization rates affect final tax rates
August 18, 2010
At its meeting on August 16, the Board of Education adopted 2010 tax rates for Rotterdam, Guilderland and Colonie, the three towns in the district.
The average homeowner in the town of Rotterdam will see their tax rate at $15.19 per $1,000 of assessed property value. Guilderland residents will see their tax rate at $17.86 per $1,000 of assessed property value, and Colonie residents’ tax rate is set at $22.67 per $1,000 of assessed property value.
The tax rates differ between the three towns because, as often is the case in school districts that span multiple municipalities, properties in different communities may be assessed at varying levels in relation to full market value. The state assigns each town an “equalization rate” in an effort to fairly apportion the share of taxes paid by each town.
The rates are set using final assessments and equalization rates set by the state in August. At the time of the budget vote, the district projected that the rates would be $15.12 in Rotterdam, $18.17 in Guilderland and $21.86 in Colonie.
This year, the equalization rates changed significantly more than they had in recent years. Rotterdam’s equalization rate changed from 95 percent to 100 percent. Guilderland’s equalization rate changed from 79.09 percent to 85.05 percent, and Colonie’s rate changed from 65.75 percent to 67 percent. This means that Rotterdam’s properties specifically were deemed to be much closer to full market value, resulting in an upward shift in the share of total district taxes to be paid by property owners.
Because the pieces of Colonie and Guilderland make up a relatively small part of the district’s tax base, even a minor shift in the equalization rates can have a significant impact on its taxpayers.
It should be noted that the total amount the district will collect in taxes next year—known as the tax levy—is not changing from the 2.30 percent increase in the budget voters approved in May. In crafting the 2010-11 budget, the board held the spending increase to its lowest level in 10 years at .079 percent.
Because of the uncertainty that surrounds final assessments and equalization rates until well after the budget vote, the district emphasizes the tax levy (versus the tax rate) in budget meetings and informational materials leading up to the vote. The levy is the figure the district controls, and is the true indicator of how much the district is increasing taxes from year-to-year.
At the same time, estimated tax rates are often the first item residents ask about after the Board of Education adopts a budget for voter consideration. The district projects these rates based upon the prior year’s equalization rates—the best and only information it can use at that time to estimate changes to the tax rate.
Under the final tax rates set by the board on Monday, the owner of a property assessed at $100,000 in Rotterdam will see a school tax rate increase under the final tax rates of about $25.46, before accounting for the state’s STAR tax relief program. For Guilderland, the owner of a property assessed at $100,000 would see a tax reduction of $14.62 and the owner of a property assessed at $100,000 in Colonie will see a tax rate increase of $98.78 before any STAR exemptions.
