The North Colonie Board of Education approved a tax levy increase of 2.55 percent, which is down from the 3.63 percent the board estimated in April.
The board originally maxed out the levy increase so there wouldn’t be any surprises once the final assessment was done. The Town of Colonie provided final assessment figures, and the tax levy cap set by the state will place the 2014-15 tax rate at $24.728 per $1,000 of assessed value.
“When we voted on our budgets, we projected an increase of approximately 3.63 percent. The good news is that the actual rate is somewhere around 2.5 percent. That’s good news for the district,” said Superintendent Joseph Corr.
In the new tax cap legislation, any assessment growth — which would have generated additional tax revenue in the past — must be returned to the taxpayers, which would decrease their tax rates.
In a statement released by the district, Assistant Superintendent for Business Thomas Rybaltowski stated his satisfaction with the final assessment.
“We are very pleased that our community continues to support our schools, as was evident by the overwhelmingly positive budget vote this past May. Further, because of the positive growth in property assessments, the 2014-15 tax rate will be reduced by about 1 percent from what was anticipated prior to the budget vote,” said Rybaltowski. “This lower rate will still enable us to collect much needed revenue to continue our successful academic program, while remaining under the tax levy cap mandated by (the state).”
Corr said that another reason the district went with the maximum increase was because officials did not want to tap too much into the reserve funds in order to provide the same level of services to students.
“It’s a combination of maintaining programs, facilities and opportunities for students. Voters have previously approved similar tax rates 2-to-1, and we feel there is support in the community. We feel it’s to important maintain reserves and not deplete them,” said Corr.
North Colonie school district residents passed a $101.3 million budget 1,328-566 on May 20. The district was also able to get by without making any major cuts to programs or staff.
One of the reasons the district is not struggling as much as some schools in the state is due to the fact that it is still receiving aid for annexing Maplewood Elementary, which was shut down in 2011.