A series of assessment reductions is removing more than $4.6 million from Scotia-Glenville Central School District’s tax base.
The Scotia-Glenville Board of Education on Monday, Aug. 13, approved 2012-13 district tax rates that are 3.24 percent higher than last school year. District officials forecasted a 2.93 percent increase when voters approved the nearly $47.83 million budget in May. The tax levy increase will remain the same at 2.93 percent, but the pool it is drawn from has shrunk.
The average Glenville taxpayer with a $160,000 home will see their tax bill increase by $106 to a total of $3,368 before any STAR program reductions are taken into account.
District officials said most taxpayers will realize a $551 tax bill reduction through the Basic STAR program and taxpayers in the Enhanced STAR program would see a $1,064 reduction. Last year those reductions were $540 and $1,022, respectively.
Nearly all of the district’s residents live in Scotia or Glenville and will pay a rate of $21.05 per $1,000 assessed value, a 66-cent increase.
Residents of Charlton will see tax rates increase by 4.38 percent to $27.66 per $1,000 assessed value and Amsterdam homeowners will see a 2.83 percent increase to $190.76.
The total assessed value in the district for the 2012-13 school year totals $1.24 billion and the district plans to collect more than $26.17 million in taxes.
The changes come after several companies disputed their assessments. National Grid was successful in reducing its assessment by $1.1 million and Westmere Realty, LLC, reduced the assessment for its properties on Glen Avenue by $543,000.
Target’s redevelopment of the former Kmart property might have cleaned up an eyesore at the center of town, but it also took a chunk out of the district’s tax base. The property was assessed at $3.1 million before Target began construction and demolished the former Kmart building. The new Target building was only in its early stages by the taxable assessment date on March 1, so the partially completed building was only assessed at $1.5 million.
“The Target by March 1 did not look like Target does right now,” school district spokesman Robert Hanlon said. “The full assessment will be higher than that.”
The Schenectady Metroplex Development Authority provided an exemption from sales tax for construction material and equipment used to set up the two new retail buildings at Target’s site. Metroplex also provided an $180,000 grant toward infrastructure costs.
The remaining reductions to the district’s tax base stemmed from individual or small businesses’ assessment changes.
Last year, $6 million was dropped from the district’s tax base. School officials used some of its reserves to supplement for the loss last year and were able to keep the tax rate closer to predictions. The district can’t afford the hit this time.
“This year we can’t do that, because we’ve tapped our fund balance and there just isn’t the fund balance to use anymore,” Hanlon said. “This isn’t a tremendous amount of money to go up.”
Every year the district relies on the town assessor for figures on where the tax base will fall after the court settles on assessment challenges. Sometimes there would be a positive change to the tax burden residents face, but the fiscal climate is not making that common.
“In the past, what you would also have … is if there was an unexpected increase in aid,” Hanlon said. “But that is not happening anymore.”
The district’s account to reimburse residents or businesses for assessment challenges stands at about $600,000 after the current reductions.
“We know people are challenging their taxes, and we need to have an account to reimburse them for what they’ve overpaid,” Hanlon said.
Hanlon said there are still some assessment challenges in the pipeline, including one for Lowe’s on Freemans Bridge Road, but it can be hard to predict what, if any, reduction will be awarded.
Lowe’s filed a challenge last year and is seeking a “massive reduction,” he said, but he doubts it will be fully awarded.
“When you put in a challenge, it is kind of like asking for a pay raise,” Hanlon said. “You always ask for more than you think you are going to get.”
