Superintendent Susan Swartz said the Monday, Aug. 13, board of education meeting that the tax rate for property owners in Glenville will be lower than originally anticipated.
The board of education approved the 2007-2008 tax levy on at the meeting, which raises Glenville school tax rate by 1.8 percent, slightly lower than the expected 2 percent.
The board adopted tax rates for the towns of Glenville, Charlton and Amsterdam, with the largest increase being in the town of Charlton at a 9.93 percent. For the typical Glenville homeowner with a $160,000 assessment, taxes will go up by about $55 next year before reductions from the state’s STAR program. The STAR program will reduce tax bills by about $726 for those qualifying for basic STAR and about $1,374 for enhanced STAR homeowners.
Whenever we can give our taxpayers good numbers for tax rates, it’s a positive thing. We are very happy with the small tax increase, a below-inflation increase, for the Scotia-Glenville community, said Swartz.
A change to the STAR program involves how Middle Class STAR rebate checks are distributed. Last year, the rebate checks were sent out without any type of application process. This year, applications will be sent to qualifying homeowners on Sept. 10. Each resident who qualifies will receive a check in the fall for $450.29 for incomes under $90,000, and $337.72 for incomes between $90,000 and $150,000, $225.15 for incomes between $150,000 and $250,000, and $355.22 for those already receiving the Enhancement STAR exemption.
Board member Ben Conlon asked Swartz for more specific numbers regarding the district’s current fund balance as well as the money being discussed for improvements for grounds throughout the district.
`We still need to get a lot of numbers and cases in order so we can move ahead with planned projects for improvement,` said Conlon.
Booster Club spokesman David Bucciferro told the board the group is willing to make any financial contribution they can to help with athletic field upgrades.
`We are very supportive of any efforts to start development of this project. We would like to see improvement move forward. Our club went door to door asking community member if they supported improving our fields, and the response was overwhelmingly in favor. We want to see it happen for safety purposes as well as aesthetic purposes,` said Bucciferro.
Swartz said the district plans to unveil a more detailed plan on improving the grounds and fields as the school year progresses
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