Fairview Fire District Tax Base Projected to Drop 2.7 Percent

The taxable market value of the Fairview Fire District, assessed at $514.3 million for 2011 tax bills, is projected to drop 2.7 percent to $500.5 million for 2012 tax bills, according to my calculations from tentative assessment rolls published in recent weeks by the Dutchess County Real Property Tax Service Agency.  This is the fourth year in a row that Fairview's tax base has decreased, and it is the second largest decrease in that time.  This drop in the tax base will aggravate the difficulty of holding down Fairview's tax rate.

Fairview has had the highest true value tax rate of any fire district in Dutchess County for many years, and one of the highest fire tax rates in New York State, with recent rates hovering just over $5.00 per thousand dollars of market value.  If Fairview's final assessment is unchanged from the tentative assessment, and if Fairview’s 2012 tax levy is unchanged from 2011 (just as a point of reference), then Fairview’s true value tax rate will increase 2.8 percent to $5.25 per thousand dollars of market value, making it Fairview's highest tax rate in a decade, and its second highest tax rate increase in a decade.

For further details, including a history of Fairview's market value, tax levy, and tax rates from 2001 to 2012 (projected) in table and chart form, see Fairview Fire District Property Tax Data.

Upcoming Fairview Public Meeting

In past years, the Fairview Fire District, like many local taxing jurisdictions, has done budgeting and planning mainly year-to-year.  However, the Fairview Board of Fire Commissioners, to its credit, has recently established a long range planning committee to look further into the future than just one year ahead.  This committee, headed by Commissioner Bob Gephard, has scheduled a public workshop meeting for Thursday, May 26, at 6:00 pm at the Fairview Fire House.  The agenda includes discussing goals such as public protection versus risk versus cost, early review of next year's budget, and long range costs.  In looking at the big picture — both short and long term — the tax rate and the change in the tax rate is, in my view, one important measure of the status of the District.  Perhaps the long range planning committee will find my analysis of previous and projected tax information useful.  I plan to attend this meeting, and to report here on what transpires.