District officials in the South Colonie Central School District blame equalization rates for the higher-than-expected property tax rates from what was originally projected by officials in May.
At a special meeting of the South Colonie Board of Education, officials decided on a 5.92 percent increase for homeowners, up from the 4 percent increase that voters had approved when they voted on the 2008-2009 budget in May.
The district blames the increased rate on a change in equalization rates, or a shift of the tax burden between residential and commercial properties.
According to Beverly Miller, assistant superintendent for management services, We had some significant tax certioaris that were won by the commercial properties.
John Noetzel, communications coordinator for the district, explained that when the commercial properties win certiorari lawsuits, their taxes go down while homeowners’ taxes go up.
In the past, Noetzel said, the district has tried to remedy that by sending legislation to the state Legislature that would place a cap on the rate at which homeowners can be taxed.
Several school districts throughout the area use this type of legislation to ease the tax burden on homeowners, including the North Colonie Central School District. This year, the North Colonie Central School District had pushed to have a 1 percent base cap put on the tax, however the bill was unsuccessful in the Legislature.
Due to the lack of success with such legislation in the past, Noetzel said the South Colonie Central School District decided not to ask the Legislature for the base cap.
The 5.92 percent tax rate increase amounts to about $22.62 per $1,000 of assessed value for homeowners, and $25.61 per $1,000 of assessed value for commercial property owners.
In May, when residents voted on the tax rate, what they were actually approving was the amount that the district is allowed to collect in overall taxes, or the tax levy. The levy voters approved this year was $61,157,370, and that figure has not changed, district officials said.
According to Miller, `Because the voters vote on a dollar amount instead of a tax rate, basically the whole levy is like a pie and the formula that’s used to calculate what each taxing entity is charged is similar to dividing up a pie.`
The pie Miller refers to is actually made up of the South Colonie Central School District and portions of Niskayuna and Guilderland.
In addition to the commercial properties winning more certiorari lawsuits this year, Niskayuna has changed their own tax rates by going to full-value assessments.
At the end of the day, homeowners end up paying more than commercial property owners.
`The residents are the homestead, so therefore their proportion went up higher than we originally calculated. We do not receive any of this information before August,` Miller said.
While the district is somewhat left in the dark until August on whether their tax rates will come out to be what was originally projected, one parent in the district said many residents are also unaware of what is going on with the tax rate even after it is decided on in August.
Jeff Zelka, a South Colonie resident and parent-teacher association vice president at Sand Creek Middle School, said he had attended a summer leadership program in the district, and spent some time learning about tax rates.
`I don’t think the parents know enough about it, and that was part of the workshop,` he said. `They don’t know how it’s going to affect them yet.`
Zelka said he plans to spend some time with other parents in the district explaining what he has learned and hopefully helping them to understand what it all means.“