North East supervisor worries over tax bills

NORTH EAST — The tax bills are out, and North East town Supervisor Dave Sherman is concerned that property owners will be surprised when they see them. But he feels it is important residents understand that it is due to a county increase.

“What struck me, and taxpayers, is that  the bills overall went up a little higher than I had hoped and it’s not a matter of the town’s tax rate, but what came to us from the county,â€� he said. “The tax change that might occur depends on what kind of tax exemptions people might have on their property.â€�

First and foremost, Sherman said, one should note the statement made on the bill itself. It reads: “The percent of increase or decrease is of the current  year’s tax levy over the previous year’s tax levy. This does not represent the total percent of your tax increase or decrease.â€�

The bills themselves were calculated based on information from prior and current  bills, which calculated the percent of change in the rate. The bills were prepared by the Dutchess County Real Property Tax Office; the percent of the levy change was done by its calculations. Sherman said he, too, did some calculations.

“I did a comparison of the 2009 tax rates versus the tax rates in the bills everyone is getting now,� he said. “I did the math of the amount of rate change occurring, and if your taxable assessment has not changed then the only change in tax that will occur is if your tax rate has increased or decreased, which will cause your rate to go up or down. If you’re reading the bill, the percent of levy change does not truly indicate what has happened on the bill or the tax rates to be charged to the properties in the community. That’s why I did these calculations.�

For the county, when comparing the 2010 to the 2009 tax rates, the tax rate went up significantly, at 11.52 percent. For the same comparison, but for the town, outside the village, the actual tax rate change decreased, by .02 percent. For the town inside the village there was also a decrease in the tax rate, by .03 percent. The tax rate change for that time period for the fire district was up by 2.84 percent.

“The actual amount of change in the tax rates [besides the county rate] was almost negligible,� Sherman said. “The Town Board worked hard to keep rates absolutely flat for the year 2010 in order to make sure there was no additional tax burden being placed on properties in the town.�

The percent of levy change for the town outside the village, of 3 percent, is provided by the county, according to the supervisor, who added that the roll did increase in value this year. The percent of levy change for the town inside the village is .6 percent; that change for the fire district is 4.8 percent; that change for the county is 6.5 percent.

“This is reflective of the efforts of the Town Board and myself to keep tax rates in check for 2010 and to hold them level,� Sherman said. “Overall, the big change that occurred in our tax bills for 2010 has been the county tax.�

Sherman said he did speak with Assessor Katherine Johnson about the matter and looked over what could be billed to other towns in the county.

“We found what was most noticeable is that some other larger towns in Dutchess County had done revaluations or annual updates and their taxable values in the community were in decline,â€� he said. “Now there’s never any explanation  as to what caused that without talking to the local community, but anything is possible relative to the cause of that. What people have to understand is that if the taxable value of properties in the county decline, it causes the levy charged by the county to be redistributed in a different manner than it was before, and we both suspect that is what caused a higher amount to be taxed in North East.â€�

What that means, essentially, is that taxpayers’ bills increased this year due to the fact there was a significant increase in the amount of monies being charged to properties in the town via the county. Sherman said it wasn’t totally out of line from  what was expected, although he did say the county’s increase was more “dramaticâ€� than in years past. What’s more is that Dutchess County is struggling with faltering sales tax revenues and mortgage tax revenues, which places added pressure on the county government. The state also has its own issues, as does the town, making it clear that maintaining operations is a challenge regardless if it’s the local, county or state government at the helm.

“Nobody is looking to do business in the same way they’ve been doing it,� Sherman said. “They’re trying to trim budgets, manage expenses as best as possible, but it’s putting an additional burden on taxpayers. There was an increase that was significant this year, and people’s tax bills went up a bit.

“I would say off-hand we did our job on the local level to try to keep things under control,� he added. “What’s happened is really through the effect of the county budget and the declining property values in the county.�

The town clerk is the receiver of taxes, and the Town Hall mailing address is 19 North Maple Ave., Millerton, NY 12546.

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