Thursday, April 28, 2011
School District Tax Rate Comparisons
I've consolidated my recent posts on Dutchess County's 2010 school district tax rates into an 18-page PDF document, School District Tax Rate Comparisons. This document includes not only all the information in my last three posts, but it also contains the tax rate information in tabular form. In addition, it includes information on tax rate increases since 2009, in both chart and tabular form.
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
School Tax Rate Rankings — Taxpayer Viewpoint
Which property taxpayers in Dutchess County pay the highest school tax rate? The lowest? Where does your property stand in the school district rankings? Here are the answers.
The first thing to understand is that the answers are different for homes (homestead properties) than they are for businesses (non-homestead properties). That's because 5 of Dutchess County's 13 school districts — Arlington, Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Spackenkill, and Wappingers — tax their home properties at lower true value rates than their business properties. The second thing to understand is that in the Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers School Districts, properties are taxed at different rates depending not only upon whether they are homestead properties, but also upon which town the property lies in. For more details on these points, see School Tax Rate Comparisons — Two Viewpoints.
School Tax Rankings for Homes
The following chart shows the 2010 true value school tax rates for homes in Dutchess County. For the 5 school districts using the homestead tax option, the homestead tax rates are shown. The primary data source is the Dutchess County Real Property Tax Service Agency's 2011 Tax Rate Pamphlet. To improve clarity, I've grouped Arlington's municipal segments (Towns) with nearly the same true value tax rate into a single bar.
As the chart shows, first place for homesteads goes to the Hyde Park segment of the Arlington School District. Homesteads in this segment pay the highest true value tax rate of any homes in Dutchess County — by far. Arlington's Hyde Park rate of $22.02 is 15 percent higher than for second place Pawling, and almost double that of “last place” Poughkeepsie. The reason for the exceptionally high tax rate in the Hyde Park segment of Arlington is that this segment contains a large number of farms with partial tax exemptions. It turns out that the Hyde Park segment of Arlington contains only a few dozen homestead properties. Thus, only a few taxpayers are affected, presumably not enough taxpayers to mount an effective complaint.
Apart from the anomalous Hyde Park segment of Arlington, with its exorbitant $22 tax rate, school tax rates for homes in Dutchess County can be seen to be split between high-rate districts (Arlington, Pawling, Hyde Park, Red Hook, Dover, and Spackenkill, in the range of about $17 to $19), and low-rate districts (Rhinebeck, Beacon, Wappingers, Webutuck, Pine Plains, Millbrook, and Poughkeepsie, in the range $11 to $14).
Although Poughkeepsie has the lowest homestead school tax rate in Dutchess County, Poughkeepsie gets a greater proportion of its funding from sources other than school taxes of any school district in Dutchess County.
School Tax Rankings for Businesses
The following chart shows the 2010 true value school tax rates for businesses in Dutchess County. For the 5 school districts using the homestead tax option, the non-homestead tax rates are shown. Once again, I've grouped segments with nearly the same true value tax rate into a single bar for clarity:
The chart shows first place for non-homestead tax rates going to Spackenkill by a landslide, with a bank-breaking $38.02 tax rate. To put Spackenkill's sky-high tax rate in perspective, it is more than double Hyde Park's 4-th place rate of $18.60, and more than triple Webutuck's $11.92. The primary business properties in the Spackenkill school district have historically belonged to IBM Corp., which has been willing in the past to pay exorbitant school taxes into a district where many of its professional employees lived.
Way “behind” Spackenkill, but still easily capturing second place is Arlington, in the $23.50 to $27 range, depending upon segment. Trailing considerably after Arlington is a large pack of school districts in the $16.50 to $19 range. The remaining five school districts — Millbrook, Pine Plains, Webutuck, Poughkeepsie, and Rhinebeck — managed to keep their commercial school tax rates at the low end, between $11 and $14. Of these five, all except Poughkeepsie have the same tax rate for homes and businesses.
How should these rankings be interpreted?
The rankings in this post compare how steeply homes and businesses are taxed by school districts in Dutchess County. The first chart can be used to determine the relative school tax bills for homes in Dutchess County in 2010. For example, if you own a home in the Hyde Park segment of the Arlington School District, your 2010 school tax bill was almost double that of a home with the same taxable market value in the City of Poughkeepsie. Similarly, the second chart shows that if you own a commercial property in the Spackenkill School District, your 2010 school tax bill was more than triple that of a commercial property with the same taxable market value in the Webutuck, Pine Plains, or Millbrook School Districts.
In summary, these charts show how steeply school districts tax their properties — from the taxpayer's point of view. These charts are not appropriate for comparing how steeply the various school districts tax their tax base on average, because many school districts tax different properties at different rates. For this latter comparison, see School Tax Rate Rankings — School District Viewpoint.
Out of County School Districts
A small number of Dutchess County property owners do not pay school taxes to any of the Dutchess County school districts listed above. Instead, they pay to so-called “out-of-county” school districts Carmel, Haldane, or Taconic Hills. The 2010 true value tax rate for the Taconic Hills School District is only $10.07, making it the lowest school tax rate for Dutchess County home or business property taxpayers. At the other extreme, the 2010 true value tax rate for the Carmel School District is $20.34, placing it second only to the Hyde Park segment of Arlington for homes, and third only to Spackenkill and Arlington for businesses. Finally, the Haldane School District's $14.75 tax rate places it between the low-rate and high-rate districts for both homes and businesses.
The first thing to understand is that the answers are different for homes (homestead properties) than they are for businesses (non-homestead properties). That's because 5 of Dutchess County's 13 school districts — Arlington, Beacon, Poughkeepsie, Spackenkill, and Wappingers — tax their home properties at lower true value rates than their business properties. The second thing to understand is that in the Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers School Districts, properties are taxed at different rates depending not only upon whether they are homestead properties, but also upon which town the property lies in. For more details on these points, see School Tax Rate Comparisons — Two Viewpoints.
School Tax Rankings for Homes
The following chart shows the 2010 true value school tax rates for homes in Dutchess County. For the 5 school districts using the homestead tax option, the homestead tax rates are shown. The primary data source is the Dutchess County Real Property Tax Service Agency's 2011 Tax Rate Pamphlet. To improve clarity, I've grouped Arlington's municipal segments (Towns) with nearly the same true value tax rate into a single bar.
As the chart shows, first place for homesteads goes to the Hyde Park segment of the Arlington School District. Homesteads in this segment pay the highest true value tax rate of any homes in Dutchess County — by far. Arlington's Hyde Park rate of $22.02 is 15 percent higher than for second place Pawling, and almost double that of “last place” Poughkeepsie. The reason for the exceptionally high tax rate in the Hyde Park segment of Arlington is that this segment contains a large number of farms with partial tax exemptions. It turns out that the Hyde Park segment of Arlington contains only a few dozen homestead properties. Thus, only a few taxpayers are affected, presumably not enough taxpayers to mount an effective complaint.
Apart from the anomalous Hyde Park segment of Arlington, with its exorbitant $22 tax rate, school tax rates for homes in Dutchess County can be seen to be split between high-rate districts (Arlington, Pawling, Hyde Park, Red Hook, Dover, and Spackenkill, in the range of about $17 to $19), and low-rate districts (Rhinebeck, Beacon, Wappingers, Webutuck, Pine Plains, Millbrook, and Poughkeepsie, in the range $11 to $14).
Although Poughkeepsie has the lowest homestead school tax rate in Dutchess County, Poughkeepsie gets a greater proportion of its funding from sources other than school taxes of any school district in Dutchess County.
School Tax Rankings for Businesses
The following chart shows the 2010 true value school tax rates for businesses in Dutchess County. For the 5 school districts using the homestead tax option, the non-homestead tax rates are shown. Once again, I've grouped segments with nearly the same true value tax rate into a single bar for clarity:
The chart shows first place for non-homestead tax rates going to Spackenkill by a landslide, with a bank-breaking $38.02 tax rate. To put Spackenkill's sky-high tax rate in perspective, it is more than double Hyde Park's 4-th place rate of $18.60, and more than triple Webutuck's $11.92. The primary business properties in the Spackenkill school district have historically belonged to IBM Corp., which has been willing in the past to pay exorbitant school taxes into a district where many of its professional employees lived.
Way “behind” Spackenkill, but still easily capturing second place is Arlington, in the $23.50 to $27 range, depending upon segment. Trailing considerably after Arlington is a large pack of school districts in the $16.50 to $19 range. The remaining five school districts — Millbrook, Pine Plains, Webutuck, Poughkeepsie, and Rhinebeck — managed to keep their commercial school tax rates at the low end, between $11 and $14. Of these five, all except Poughkeepsie have the same tax rate for homes and businesses.
How should these rankings be interpreted?
The rankings in this post compare how steeply homes and businesses are taxed by school districts in Dutchess County. The first chart can be used to determine the relative school tax bills for homes in Dutchess County in 2010. For example, if you own a home in the Hyde Park segment of the Arlington School District, your 2010 school tax bill was almost double that of a home with the same taxable market value in the City of Poughkeepsie. Similarly, the second chart shows that if you own a commercial property in the Spackenkill School District, your 2010 school tax bill was more than triple that of a commercial property with the same taxable market value in the Webutuck, Pine Plains, or Millbrook School Districts.
In summary, these charts show how steeply school districts tax their properties — from the taxpayer's point of view. These charts are not appropriate for comparing how steeply the various school districts tax their tax base on average, because many school districts tax different properties at different rates. For this latter comparison, see School Tax Rate Rankings — School District Viewpoint.
Out of County School Districts
A small number of Dutchess County property owners do not pay school taxes to any of the Dutchess County school districts listed above. Instead, they pay to so-called “out-of-county” school districts Carmel, Haldane, or Taconic Hills. The 2010 true value tax rate for the Taconic Hills School District is only $10.07, making it the lowest school tax rate for Dutchess County home or business property taxpayers. At the other extreme, the 2010 true value tax rate for the Carmel School District is $20.34, placing it second only to the Hyde Park segment of Arlington for homes, and third only to Spackenkill and Arlington for businesses. Finally, the Haldane School District's $14.75 tax rate places it between the low-rate and high-rate districts for both homes and businesses.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
School Tax Rate Rankings — School District Viewpoint
Which school district in Dutchess County has the highest tax rate? The lowest? Where does your school district stand in the rankings? You're about to find out.
The winner by a landslide is the Spackenkill School District, whose 2010 aggregate tax rate of $24.75 per thousand dollars of market value is way “ahead” of second-place Arlington. Before we go any further, it's crucial to understand the meaning of the rankings in this post. The most important thing to know is that these rankings are from the school district point of view. The aggregate tax rates in this post measure how steeply each school district taxes its tax base. These rates are useful to understand how school districts compare with each other, tax-wise. They are generally not appropriate for comparing the taxes paid by individual taxpayers, because in some school districts, different taxpayers pay at different rates. Subsequent posts will present rankings from the taxpayer viewpoint. For more on school district versus taxpayer tax rates, see School Tax Rate Comparisons — Two Viewpoints.
Here are the aggregate tax rates for the 13 school districts in Dutchess County, which I compiled primarily from data in Dutchess County Real Property Tax Service Agency's 2011 Tax Rate Pamphlet.
The school districts' aggregate tax rates fall roughly into 4 groups: low, medium, high, and almost-off-the-chart. The low ranking districts include Millbrook — lowest of all in Dutchess County — Pine Plains, Webutuck, and Poughkeepsie. The medium group include Wappingers, Rhinebeck, and Beacon. The high group — the largest group — includes Dover, Red Hook, Hyde Park, Pawling, and Arlington. Spackenkill comprises it's own almost-off-the-chart group.
How should these rankings be interpreted?
Probably narrowly. It is fair to say that these rankings compare how steeply each school district taxes its tax base. But aggregate tax rate is only one of a number of objective metrics for evaluating school district financial performance. Although most school districts in Dutchess County get the bulk of their funding from the tax levy, the proportion of other funding varies considerably from one district to another. A few districts — such as Poughkeepsie, in the low group — get less than a third of their funding from the tax levy.
Even if aggregate tax rate were a reliable measure of a school district's financial performance, does a low tax rate mean that the school district is short-changing its students and staff, or does it mean that the district is using its funds more efficiently than other districts? Does a high tax rate mean the school is superior, or that it is more wasteful? There's really no end to such imponderable questions. Depending upon how one wants to look at it, there are many additional useful ways of measuring school district financial performance. (Examples: cost per student, market value per student, etc.)
BOCES Corrects Its Tax Rates
School officials and others who are familiar with the Dutchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) publication Contract Analysis 2010-2011 may notice some discrepancies between that publication's table, True Value Tax Rates for 2010-11 on page 32 of the Financial section, and my ranking chart above. The data should be the same, because both are measuring the same thing. Although most of the data in the BOCES table agrees with mine to the penny, I found 4 school districts with substantial disagreement: The BOCES table's tax rates for Beacon, Millbrook, Poughkeepsie, and Spackenkill are lower than mine by 5 percent or more in most cases. After consulting with a senior BOCES official about these discrepancies, I'm happy to report that BOCES has accepted all my tax rates as correct, and has adjusted its records accordingly. BOCES has earned my thanks for its gracious and prompt handling of my inquiries.
The winner by a landslide is the Spackenkill School District, whose 2010 aggregate tax rate of $24.75 per thousand dollars of market value is way “ahead” of second-place Arlington. Before we go any further, it's crucial to understand the meaning of the rankings in this post. The most important thing to know is that these rankings are from the school district point of view. The aggregate tax rates in this post measure how steeply each school district taxes its tax base. These rates are useful to understand how school districts compare with each other, tax-wise. They are generally not appropriate for comparing the taxes paid by individual taxpayers, because in some school districts, different taxpayers pay at different rates. Subsequent posts will present rankings from the taxpayer viewpoint. For more on school district versus taxpayer tax rates, see School Tax Rate Comparisons — Two Viewpoints.
Here are the aggregate tax rates for the 13 school districts in Dutchess County, which I compiled primarily from data in Dutchess County Real Property Tax Service Agency's 2011 Tax Rate Pamphlet.
The school districts' aggregate tax rates fall roughly into 4 groups: low, medium, high, and almost-off-the-chart. The low ranking districts include Millbrook — lowest of all in Dutchess County — Pine Plains, Webutuck, and Poughkeepsie. The medium group include Wappingers, Rhinebeck, and Beacon. The high group — the largest group — includes Dover, Red Hook, Hyde Park, Pawling, and Arlington. Spackenkill comprises it's own almost-off-the-chart group.
How should these rankings be interpreted?
Probably narrowly. It is fair to say that these rankings compare how steeply each school district taxes its tax base. But aggregate tax rate is only one of a number of objective metrics for evaluating school district financial performance. Although most school districts in Dutchess County get the bulk of their funding from the tax levy, the proportion of other funding varies considerably from one district to another. A few districts — such as Poughkeepsie, in the low group — get less than a third of their funding from the tax levy.
Even if aggregate tax rate were a reliable measure of a school district's financial performance, does a low tax rate mean that the school district is short-changing its students and staff, or does it mean that the district is using its funds more efficiently than other districts? Does a high tax rate mean the school is superior, or that it is more wasteful? There's really no end to such imponderable questions. Depending upon how one wants to look at it, there are many additional useful ways of measuring school district financial performance. (Examples: cost per student, market value per student, etc.)
BOCES Corrects Its Tax Rates
School officials and others who are familiar with the Dutchess County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) publication Contract Analysis 2010-2011 may notice some discrepancies between that publication's table, True Value Tax Rates for 2010-11 on page 32 of the Financial section, and my ranking chart above. The data should be the same, because both are measuring the same thing. Although most of the data in the BOCES table agrees with mine to the penny, I found 4 school districts with substantial disagreement: The BOCES table's tax rates for Beacon, Millbrook, Poughkeepsie, and Spackenkill are lower than mine by 5 percent or more in most cases. After consulting with a senior BOCES official about these discrepancies, I'm happy to report that BOCES has accepted all my tax rates as correct, and has adjusted its records accordingly. BOCES has earned my thanks for its gracious and prompt handling of my inquiries.
Monday, April 4, 2011
School Tax Rate Comparisons — Two Viewpoints
I'm beginning a series of posts on school district tax rates in Dutchess County. School taxes are by far the largest single property tax for most taxpayers. In fact, property owners often pay more in school taxes than in all other property taxes combined. Another way of saying this is that the school tax rate is greater than the sum of all the other tax rates (town, county, fire, library, etc.) for a typical taxpayer.
Comparison Requires True Value Tax Rates
In order to properly compare tax rates — any tax rates — the tax rates must be expressed in dollars per thousand dollars of market value, as I have explained countless times in this blog (for example, here, here, and here). Tax rates expressed in terms of market value rather than assessed value are sometimes called true value tax rates.
True value tax rates are useful for comparing school tax rates with town, county, fire, and library tax rates, as above, and they are also useful for our main focus here, which is comparing various school tax rates with each other. Comparison of school tax rates arises in a number of useful contexts, including comparisons among school districts, comparisons in the same district among years, and comparisons within the same district (or even different districts) among taxpayers. We will investigate all of these contexts in this series of posts.
School District Viewpoint versus Taxpayer Viewpoint
It is important to understand that in Dutchess County, school tax rate comparisons should be conducted in two different ways, depending upon the purpose or viewpoint of the comparison. These two viewpoints are the taxing authority viewpoint (in this case, the school district viewpoint) and the taxpayer viewpoint. These seemingly similar viewpoints can be described by the following two sets of questions:
(I've chosen to ignore for the most part the small regions in Dutchess County lying in the out-of-county Carmel, Haldane, and Taconic Hills school districts.)
Homestead Tax Option
Under New York State Real Property Tax Law, school districts and certain other taxing authorities can opt to classify the taxable properties in their jurisdiction into two separate classes. Properties in the homestead class (essentially homes) are taxed at a relatively low rate, while properties in the non-homestead class (essentially businesses and commercial properties) are taxed at a higher rate. The Poughkeepsie, Spackenkill, Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers school districts utilize the homestead tax option, as shown in the above table. In these five school districts, a property's true value tax rate depends upon whether the property is classified as a homestead or a non-homestead property.
Apportionment Option
Nearly all school districts in Dutchess County comprise portions of more than one town. (The only exceptions are Poughkeepsie and Spackenkill.) The portion of a school district lying in a particular town is called a municipal segment. Ordinarily, property taxing authorities in New York State are required to apportion their tax levy among municipal segments in such a way that all properties (or all properties of a given property class, if the homestead tax option is used) are taxed at the same true value tax rate.
However, for school districts, New York State Real Property Tax Law provides an optional exception to this common-sense rule. The exception permits school districts to apportion their tax levy among their municipal segments based on a different criterion than uniform true value tax rates. Essentially, the tax levy is apportioned based on total market value, rather than on total taxable market value. Only the Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers school districts utilize this special apportionment option, as shown in the above table. The important point here is that in these three school districts, a property's true value tax rate depends not only upon the property's class (homestead or non-homestead), but also upon which town (municipal segment) the property lies in.
OK, enough about real property tax law. Here's how the two sets of comparison questions can be answered using various kinds of tax rates:
Aggregate Tax Rate
I define the aggregate tax rate for a school district to be simply its total tax levy divided by its total taxable market value. The aggregate tax rate is a true value tax rate which measures how steeply a school district taxes its tax base. Thus, the aggregate tax rate is appropriate for comparing school districts with each other (Q1). If a school district taxes all its taxpayers at the same true value tax rate, as do 8 of the school districts in Dutchess County, then the aggregate tax rate is this rate. If a school district taxes different taxpayers at different true value tax rates (5 school districts with homestead and/or apportionment options), then the aggregate tax rate is the average of those rates, weighted by the proportion of taxable market value in each taxing class and/or municipal jurisdiction.
Homestead and Non-Homestead Tax Rates
For a school district using the homestead tax option, the homestead tax rate is simply the portion of its total tax levy assigned to the homestead class, divided by the total taxable market value of its homestead class. Thus the homestead tax rate is a true value tax rate. The non-homestead tax rate is defined similarly. For property owners in the Poughkeepsie and Spackenkill school districts, these rates are appropriate for measuring the steepness of their taxes, and comparing them with those of property owners elsewhere (Q2).
Segment Tax Rates
In the Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers school districts, a property's school tax rate depends not only upon the property's class (homestead or non-homestead), but also upon which town (municipal segment) the property lies in. I define the homestead segment tax rate for homestead properties in a municipal segment to be the portion of the homestead tax levy apportioned to homesteads in the municipal segment, divided by the taxable market value of homesteads in that municipal segment. Thus the segment tax rate is a true value tax rate. Non-homestead segment tax rate is defined similarly. For property owners in the Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers school districts, the segment tax rates are appropriate for measuring the steepness of their taxes, and comparing them with those of property owners elsewhere (Q2).
For example, in the Arlington School District, the 2010 homestead tax rate in the Town of LaGrange is $18.92 per thousand dollars of market value, while that in the Town of Poughkeepsie is $18.61. This means that a homestead property in the Town of LaGrange paid 1.7 percent more Arlington school tax in 2010 than a homestead property with the same taxable market value in the Town of Poughkeepsie.
Ranking the School District Tax Rates
In subsequent posts, I'll present the rankings of Dutchess County school district tax rates, from both the school district and the taxpayer viewpoints.
Comparison Requires True Value Tax Rates
In order to properly compare tax rates — any tax rates — the tax rates must be expressed in dollars per thousand dollars of market value, as I have explained countless times in this blog (for example, here, here, and here). Tax rates expressed in terms of market value rather than assessed value are sometimes called true value tax rates.
True value tax rates are useful for comparing school tax rates with town, county, fire, and library tax rates, as above, and they are also useful for our main focus here, which is comparing various school tax rates with each other. Comparison of school tax rates arises in a number of useful contexts, including comparisons among school districts, comparisons in the same district among years, and comparisons within the same district (or even different districts) among taxpayers. We will investigate all of these contexts in this series of posts.
School District Viewpoint versus Taxpayer Viewpoint
It is important to understand that in Dutchess County, school tax rate comparisons should be conducted in two different ways, depending upon the purpose or viewpoint of the comparison. These two viewpoints are the taxing authority viewpoint (in this case, the school district viewpoint) and the taxpayer viewpoint. These seemingly similar viewpoints can be described by the following two sets of questions:
Q1 (School District Viewpoint): How steeply does each school district tax its tax base? Which school district in Dutchess County has the highest tax rate? The lowest? Where does your school district stand in the ratings?
Q2 (Taxpayer Viewpoint): How steeply are property owners taxed by their school district? Which property owners in Dutchess County pay school taxes at the highest rate? The lowest? Where does your property stand in the ratings?If every school district taxed all their property owners at the same true value tax rate within the district, the above two sets of questions would have the same answers. Unfortunately, this is not quite the case. Of the 13 school districts in Dutchess County, 8 school districts tax all their property owners at the same true value tax rate within the district. The remaining 5 school districts have a more complex taxing structure, taxing different property owners at different rates. These different rates occur for two different reasons, homestead tax option and apportionment option.
| School District | Tax Rate Structure |
|---|---|
| Dover Hyde Park Millbrook Pawling Pine Plains Red Hook Rhinebeck Webutuck | Single tax rate |
| Poughkeepsie Spackenkill | Homestead tax option |
| Arlington Beacon Wappingers | Homestead tax option Apportionment option |
(I've chosen to ignore for the most part the small regions in Dutchess County lying in the out-of-county Carmel, Haldane, and Taconic Hills school districts.)
Homestead Tax Option
Under New York State Real Property Tax Law, school districts and certain other taxing authorities can opt to classify the taxable properties in their jurisdiction into two separate classes. Properties in the homestead class (essentially homes) are taxed at a relatively low rate, while properties in the non-homestead class (essentially businesses and commercial properties) are taxed at a higher rate. The Poughkeepsie, Spackenkill, Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers school districts utilize the homestead tax option, as shown in the above table. In these five school districts, a property's true value tax rate depends upon whether the property is classified as a homestead or a non-homestead property.
Apportionment Option
Nearly all school districts in Dutchess County comprise portions of more than one town. (The only exceptions are Poughkeepsie and Spackenkill.) The portion of a school district lying in a particular town is called a municipal segment. Ordinarily, property taxing authorities in New York State are required to apportion their tax levy among municipal segments in such a way that all properties (or all properties of a given property class, if the homestead tax option is used) are taxed at the same true value tax rate.
However, for school districts, New York State Real Property Tax Law provides an optional exception to this common-sense rule. The exception permits school districts to apportion their tax levy among their municipal segments based on a different criterion than uniform true value tax rates. Essentially, the tax levy is apportioned based on total market value, rather than on total taxable market value. Only the Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers school districts utilize this special apportionment option, as shown in the above table. The important point here is that in these three school districts, a property's true value tax rate depends not only upon the property's class (homestead or non-homestead), but also upon which town (municipal segment) the property lies in.
| School District | Number of Towns |
|---|---|
| Arlington | 9 |
| Beacon | 3 |
| Wappingers | 5 |
OK, enough about real property tax law. Here's how the two sets of comparison questions can be answered using various kinds of tax rates:
Aggregate Tax Rate
I define the aggregate tax rate for a school district to be simply its total tax levy divided by its total taxable market value. The aggregate tax rate is a true value tax rate which measures how steeply a school district taxes its tax base. Thus, the aggregate tax rate is appropriate for comparing school districts with each other (Q1). If a school district taxes all its taxpayers at the same true value tax rate, as do 8 of the school districts in Dutchess County, then the aggregate tax rate is this rate. If a school district taxes different taxpayers at different true value tax rates (5 school districts with homestead and/or apportionment options), then the aggregate tax rate is the average of those rates, weighted by the proportion of taxable market value in each taxing class and/or municipal jurisdiction.
Homestead and Non-Homestead Tax Rates
For a school district using the homestead tax option, the homestead tax rate is simply the portion of its total tax levy assigned to the homestead class, divided by the total taxable market value of its homestead class. Thus the homestead tax rate is a true value tax rate. The non-homestead tax rate is defined similarly. For property owners in the Poughkeepsie and Spackenkill school districts, these rates are appropriate for measuring the steepness of their taxes, and comparing them with those of property owners elsewhere (Q2).
Segment Tax Rates
In the Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers school districts, a property's school tax rate depends not only upon the property's class (homestead or non-homestead), but also upon which town (municipal segment) the property lies in. I define the homestead segment tax rate for homestead properties in a municipal segment to be the portion of the homestead tax levy apportioned to homesteads in the municipal segment, divided by the taxable market value of homesteads in that municipal segment. Thus the segment tax rate is a true value tax rate. Non-homestead segment tax rate is defined similarly. For property owners in the Arlington, Beacon, and Wappingers school districts, the segment tax rates are appropriate for measuring the steepness of their taxes, and comparing them with those of property owners elsewhere (Q2).
For example, in the Arlington School District, the 2010 homestead tax rate in the Town of LaGrange is $18.92 per thousand dollars of market value, while that in the Town of Poughkeepsie is $18.61. This means that a homestead property in the Town of LaGrange paid 1.7 percent more Arlington school tax in 2010 than a homestead property with the same taxable market value in the Town of Poughkeepsie.
Ranking the School District Tax Rates
In subsequent posts, I'll present the rankings of Dutchess County school district tax rates, from both the school district and the taxpayer viewpoints.
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