August 15, 2012

District tax rates set

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L ocal residents that live in four of the five towns within the Whitehall School District will pay more in taxes according to the final tax rates released by the state.

The tax rate will increase 5.15 percent in Whitehall, 5.3 percent in Hampton and Fort Ann, and 7.42 percent in Granville. The tax rate in Dresden decreased by 1.1 percent.

Those increases equate to a 49 cent increase for every $1,000 of assessed value of a home or property in Whitehall and approximately 50 cents in Hampton, Fort Ann, and Granville. Conversely, residents in Dresden will see their rate decrease by slightly more than 22 cents per $1,000.

Someone whose home is valued for $100,000 can expect to pay approximately $1,004 in Whitehall; $2,186 in Dresden; $1,006 in Hampton; $1,006 in Fort Ann; and $1,005 in Granville.

Despite the decrease, residents of Dresden continue to contribute the lion’s share of the district’s tax levy at $2,853,903 or 57 percent. Whitehall will contribute $1,910,928 or 38 percent and Hampton contributes $223,135 or 4.4 percent. Combined, Fort Ann and Granville contribute just over a half percent of the levy.

Although voters approved a $13.2 million budget in May, which called for a 1.98 percent, or $97,406 increase, in the tax levy, the final tax rates are determined by the state.

“The only thing we have control over is the tax levy. The rest is controlled by the county and the state,” said James Watson, Whitehall superintendent.

The tax rate is determined by the state using equalization rates, which are set by the county.

The equalization rate is the measure of a community’s level of assessment. If a community’s total assessment is equal to its total market value, it has an equalization rate of 100.

Dresden’s taxable assessed value is $130,489,430, more than $59 million less than Whitehall. But Dresden’s equalization rate is 46 percent, meaning the total assessed value is less than half its actual market value.

Whitehall, Fort Ann, Hampton and Granville have equalization rates of 100 percent.

BOCES candidates

In other matters, the Board of Education pledged its support to BOCES Board of Education candidates Jeffrey Smith of Hudson Falls and Janine Thomas of Hartford.

Both candidates are running for the board unopposed. The candidate with the most votes will receive a full, three-year term and the other will be appointed to a partial, one-year term.

The board also appointed members Joyce Corcoran, Jim Brooks, and Adam Mickel to serve on the Dignity for All committee.

The Dignity for All Act was passed by the New York State legislature in September 2010 and went into effect in July 2012.

Jodi Bradshaw, the district’s budget officer and coordinator of the program locally, said the act is an extension of the Title XI discrimination act. The new law requires districts to include language to address discrimination and harassment in their codes of conduct.

Corcoran, Brooks, and Mickel were selected to serve on the committee because they all have children who attend school in the district.

The next Board of Education meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 17.