Forestville school district approves decreased tax rate
By JOEL CUTHBERTFORESTVILLE - District taxpayers are in for a pleasant surprise with 2008-09 tax rates lower than anticipated.
At a recent Forestville Central School Board of Education meeting, board members approved the official tax levy for the 2008-09 budget year, fixing tax rates for the five townships encompassed by the district. The information is based on town tax rolls finalized July 1, which feature the most updated property assessments.
Due to changes in assessments and equalization rates within those townships, Superintendent John O'Connor explained, the final tax rates show a decrease from the previous budget.
"Our tax rate is actually going to be less this year than it was last year," he said.
The official 2008-09 tax levy is $3,208,914, based on a voter-approved 2008-09 district budget - without capital project increases - of $9,468,591.
Consequently, the tax on true rates for the 2008-09 budget - the actual rate for municipalities at 100 percent equalization - is $17.65 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation. Although district officials initially projected an increase of $.32 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation from the 2007-08 true tax rate of $17.97, it ultimately fixed at a $.32 decrease.
Based on current town assessments, tax rates for the 2008-09 budget are $22.93 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation in Perrysburg; $26.95 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation in Arkwright; $17.65 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation in Hanover; $25.40 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation in Sheridan; and $20.65 per thousand dollars of assessed valuation in Villenova.
Despite the disparity between tax rates in the five townships, O'Connor explained later, the amount collected from taxpayers in different towns with similar property assessments would be equivalent. The individual town tax rates vary according to equalization rates and what percentage properties are assessed at within each township.
"(For example), last year, the Perrysburg tax rate was around $23, but that's because their assessments were only at around 77 percent," he said. "So if a house is assessed at $100,000 that's only 77 percent of its worth. If you put that back to 100 percent, they would be back at $17.65. So actually when the paper prints these things people think they're paying more in different townships, but technically they're not."
Comments on this article can be sent to jcuthbert@observertoday.com
