March 4, 2007
Rochester-area property taxes among highest in the nation
Bennett J. Loudon
Staff writer
Steve
Leonard pays about $970 a year in property taxes for his $170,000 house in
Huntsville, Ala. When he lived in Hilton, he paid almost four times as much in
taxes for a house with half the value.
Regina and Jerry Thorpe
paid property taxes of about $823 a year when they lived near Chattanooga,
Tenn. They bought a farmhouse in January 2005 in Walworth, Wayne County, and
now their total property taxes are about $5,000 a year.
In 1999, Mark Young, 43,
moved to Ogden from Chicago, where he paid about $3,000 a year in total
property taxes for a $150,000 condominium. In Ogden, he owns a $210,000 home
and pays about $8,000 a year.
Homeowners in the
Rochester area pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation.
Property taxes in New York are the fourth-highest in the country, according to
recent studies. And a Democrat and Chronicle analysis shows that the
median property tax rate in Monroe County is 12 percent higher than the
statewide median. The median rate for the six-county Rochester region — Monroe,
Wayne, Ontario, Livingston, Genesee and Orleans counties — is nearly 14 percent
above the state level.
The median property tax
rate for the state as a whole in 2006 was $30.69 per $1,000 assessed value.
That's less than the Monroe County median rate of $34.49 and the median rate
for the six-county area of $34.85.
In Monroe County, the
property tax bill for a home assessed at the median sale price of $118,900 was
about $4,101. The same assessment using the statewide median would have
resulted in a tax bill of $3,649.
New York tax bills are
inflated by many factors, which are even more pronounced locally:
· A
lack of economic development, which would expand the tax base and spread costs
across a larger pool of owners.
· Higher
costs in the Northeast for road maintenance, energy, and public services and
programs, such as Medicaid.
· High
public employee salaries and benefits, and bloated payrolls. Federal statistics
show that New York has 488 full-time local government and school employees per
10,000 residents; the national average is 396.
State lawmakers enacted
the School Tax Relief program in 1997 to ease the property tax burden. The STAR
program exempts part of a property's assessed value from school taxes, which
account for the largest portion of a property tax bill.
Business leaders,
taxpayer advocates and academic experts say the trend demands more aggressive
action, such as deeper spending cuts, fewer mandates and funding schools with
income taxes.
Former Hilton resident
Leonard, a software developer, said he was forced to move from the Rochester
area because of high taxes and poor job prospects.
"All things being
equal, I'd rather be back there, but they're not equal because the job
situation seems to keep getting lousier every year and they just keep squeezing
you on taxes," said Leonard, 54.
And Wayne County
resident Jerry Thorpe, 50, who works in business development at SWBR
Architects, said the taxes in New York compared with other states are
"almost mind-boggling."
The findings
The Democrat and Chronicle used data provided by the state Comptroller's
Office to analyze total property tax rates for virtually every location in the
state outside of New York City. County, town, city, village and school tax
rates are combined to come up with a total rate. The tax rates in different
locations can be compared because they were equalized using a rate provided by
the state that takes into account how closely assessed values match actual
market prices.
Not only do homeowners
in this region pay more than those in other parts of the state, but there also
are disparities within Monroe and surrounding counties, according to the
analysis:
· Ontario
County, where the median total property tax rate is $29.57 per $1,000 of
assessed value, is the only county in the area with a rate below the state
median. The tax bill for a home assessed at the median sale price of $128,000
would be about $3,785.
· The
median rate in Wayne County is $37.27, about 21 percent higher than the state
median. The tax bill for a home assessed at the median sale price of $102,500
would be $3,820.
· The
rate of $57.38 in the village of Clyde, Wayne County, is the highest in the
six-county region, about 87 percent above the state median. But the median
price of a home in Clyde since 2005 also was only $33,000, according to state
data. Taxes on a home assessed at that amount would total about $1,894.
· In
Monroe County, East Rochester property owners pay the highest total property
tax rate. The total rate of $47.94 for county, town and school taxes ranks 87th
statewide. Total property taxes would be $3,313 for a home assessed at $69,109,
the median sale price in East Rochester since January 2005, according to state
data.
· The
lowest property tax rate in Monroe County was $26.44 in the town of Riga, in
the Caledonia-Mumford school district. Taxes would be $3,556 on a home assessed
at $134,500, the median sale price in the town since January 2005.
· The
two largest communities in Monroe County also are well above the statewide
median. The tax rate in Rochester is $39.48. In Greece, within the Greece
school district, the total tax rate is $35.59.
The extremes
Art Movalli hesitated before he bought a second house last fall in East
Rochester.
"I said, 'Do I really want to buy another house here with these
taxes?'" said Movalli, a project manager for a software development
company.
But in the end, he
decided the property tax rate didn't tell the whole story. He now rents out the
duplex where he used to live. The new home he bought in October for $85,200 is
a 1,350-square-foot, three-bedroom colonial with 1½ bathrooms and a three-car
detached garage. Taxes on the property, assessed at $89,000, are about $4,267.
"If I were to buy
the same house in Fairport, I'd pay at least 20 percent higher," Movalli
said.
In Irondequoit, property tax rates are among the highest in Monroe County. The
town portion, $7.06, of the total tax rate is the highest town rate in the
county, excluding East Rochester, which is one of only five town/villages in
the state.
Tony Favro, assistant to
Irondequoit Supervisor Mary Ellen Heyman, said the town's high tax rate is
partly the result of expenses related to such amenities as sidewalks and
lighting, which are paid for through special district taxes in many other
towns. The town also has its own police department. And the town has no
available land for development, which would expand the tax base.
"The town is
probably 97 (percent) to 98 percent built out and you're just not going to
attract the quick revenue generators that you can in other areas," Favro
said.
The school tax rate
portions of the total rate in the West Irondequoit and East Irondequoit
districts are the two highest among Monroe school districts.
West Irondequoit Central
School District Superintendent Jeffrey Crane said his district's tax rate of
$27.78 would have been about $1.42 higher if not for $1.5 million in special
state aid the district received for high-performing schools with a limited
commercial tax base.
But Clarkson residents
who live in the Holley school district, which is based in Orleans County, pay
even more. The borders of school districts can cross county and municipal
lines.
"Truthfully, I
don't have a rationalization or a reason for it," said Gene Mahaney,
business administrator in the Holley school district, where the tax rate is
$28.43.
A few years ago, the
school district faced a budget deficit of about $1.4 million, which drove up
the tax rate about $4 in a single year, Mahaney said. The deficit, he said, was
triggered partly by a lack of what district officials felt was adequate state
aid for special education programs.
Residents of Perinton
within the Victor Central School District pay the lowest school property tax
rate in Monroe County — $18.43. Superintendent Timothy J. McElheran credited
commercial growth and an expanding tax base for the low rate.
Contributing factors
A state comptroller's report last April said that from 2000 to 2005, property
taxes in New York increased 42 percent, more than triple the inflation rate.
In October, another
comptroller's report blamed outdated, overlapping municipal boundaries on wasteful
staffing and overhead expenses. Because residents of villages pay for an extra
layer of government and their communities have very little room for new
development, they are disproportionately represented among the communities with
the highest tax rates.
Kenneth Nixon, assistant
professor of African-American studies at the
Nixon, who specializes
in race, law and public policy, said funding public schools with property taxes
is based on a legacy of segregation.
As property values drop and urban and rural communities struggle, it
disproportionately affects the low-income and minority residents concentrated
in those areas. Affluent people flee to suburbs with appreciating property
values, better-funded schools and low minority enrollments.
"The consequences
of not addressing these funding issues are profound," Nixon said.
BLOUDON@DemocratandChronicle.com
Tax primer
Schools,
towns, villages and county governments use property taxes to help pay for
programs and services. Municipal assessors determine the value of each
property. After the school district or municipal government adopts a budget,
the amount of revenue that must be raised by taxes — the tax levy — is
determined and the tax rate is set.
For example, if the total assessed value of all taxable property in a community
is $100 million, and $2 million must be raised from property taxes, the tax
rate per $1,000 of assessed value would be $20.
The largest share of property taxes goes to school districts. In Brighton, for
example, 65 percent of property taxes goes to the