Shuttered and ‘for sale’ businesses dot Whitehall.
Changes in the equalization rates between the five towns that comprise the Whitehall School District will result in changes to the school tax rate that property owners in each of the five towns will pay this upcoming year. School tax bills are traditionally mailed out around this time of year.
The tax rate will increase approximately 7.4 percent in Granville, 5.3 percent in Hampton and Fort Ann, and 5.2 percent in Whitehall. The tax rate in Dresden will actually decrease by 1.1 percent.
How’s that you may ask? You heard that the school budget increased about 2 percent from last year, so why aren’t taxes increasing uniformly by 2 percent? Well, because the property values in each town are set by a local assessor at different percentages of market value, the state has a formula known as the “equalization rate” to equalize taxes across different taxing jurisdictions. One of the reasons Dresden’s share will decrease this year is that some property in the town has sold recently for less than what the state deems the “market value.” Dresden has also increased its tax base, allowing the total taxes for the town to be spread over a wider base.
I would opine that the equalization rate for some time has inflated Dresden property values, so this year the never-ending spending increases of the school district are being felt more acutely in the other towns that comprise the district. Property owners in Dresden are actually getting a break this year because New York’s formula recognizes that the assessed value of Dresden property is too high in relation to the other towns that comprise the school district.