Dunkirk City Schools Business Administrator William Thiel presented the tax levy plans for the city of Dunkirk, town of Dunkirk and town of Sheridan at a meeting of the Dunkirk School Board of Education meeting on Thursday evening.
Thiel noted the equalization rate for the city of Dunkirk remained nearly flat, but just enough to cause an increase of three cents on every dollar, a .13 percent increase, of assessed value on city residents. Thiel said this reflects stable assessed value, but a declining equalization rate of 82 percent, down from 82.25 percent. The equalization rate is determined by the total assessed value as determined locally divided by the total market value as determined by the state.
The total change in actual values in the city of Dunkirk went from $284,924,440 in 2011-12 to $284,786,127 in 2012-13, a difference of about $138,000, or a .05 percent drop.
"This is about as stable as you get," Thiel said.
He also noted the city rate has been roughly flat for about the last five years.
The town of Sheridan will see a modest decrease by 3.68 percent. The change in actual value went from $17,773,090 in 2011-12 to $17,009,808 in 2012-13, a drop of $763,282, or -4.29 percent. The equalization rate remained stable at 70 percent for both years.
However, Thiel said the town of Dunkirk would see an increase of 6.81 percent after a "dramatic fall in the equalization rate" from 81.5 percent down to 73.5 percent. The actual values declined from $101,770,719 in 2011-12 to $100,850,486 in 2012-13, a difference of $920,233 or -0.90 percent.
After all of the calculations are made, Thiel said the tax rate per $1,000 for each municipality is $23.04 in the city of Dunkirk, $25.71 for the town of Dunkirk, and $26.99 for the town of Sheridan. Each figure reflects roughly the median amount paid by each municipality since 2000.
According to the New York Offices of Real Property Services (ORPS), "a falling equalization rate means that market values are rising faster than assessed values."
The full value tax rate per $1,000 went from $19.62 in 2011-12 to $18.90 in 2012-13 for each of the townships and city. Historically, $18.90 is a new low since 2000, when the true value in the area was $19.59. The peak in the last 13 years was in 2006-07 at $27.05.
