Heyman's page.
"Reduced the growth of property taxes by 30 percent
In 2008, the town tax rate was reduced 10 percent!"
According to this article in MPNnow from Nov. '08, the Supervisor and Comptroller ended up admitting that reducing the tax rate by that much wasn't the smartest thing to do, because then it affects the next years budget that much more......and then ya gotta do some creative accounting to make it all work out.
"Irondequoit Supervisor Mary Ellen Heyman and Comptroller John Bovenzi did agree at the meeting that paring the 2008 budget down so there was no tax increase may not have been the wisest move.
“I’m happy to agree I was wrong last year,” Heyman said,"
Tax levy, tax rate, valuation, reassessment....all that mumbo jumbo can be a bit confusing sometimes. I'll try to explain it.
"Valuation" is the total of the taxable assessed value of the taxable real property in Irondequoit. The 2008 total assessed valuation for Irondequoit is $2,538,521,466 (after reassessment).
"Tax levy" is the amount of money the town collects in property taxes.
For instance, the Town of Irondequoit collected $15,306,256.00 in property taxes (tax levy) for 2008.
In the budget for 2009, (which the Supervisor and Councilwoman Evans voted against) the town will increase the collection of property taxes (the tax levy) to $16,277,007.00.....almost a million increase in the tax levy.
That means that the town increased their property tax collection (tax levy) by about 6.3%.
"Tax rate" is tax levy (for 2009) divided by the total assessed valuation as of the previous January 1.....the amount you pay per $1,000 assessed value of your property.
If you take the tax levy for 2009 ($16,277,007), and divide it by the valuation for 2008 ($2,538,521,466), you get the current tax rate ($6.41).
To compare, if you take the tax levy for 2008 ($15,306,256), and divide it by the valuation-not from 2007, but from the reassessed valuation for 2008 - ($2,538,521,466) you get the tax rate ($6.03)
In 2008, the tax rate was about $7.19 per $1,000.00 of assessed value - but, there was a reassessment on properties in Irondequoit in 2008, and the recalculated tax rate after the reassessment was around $6.00 per $1,000.00 of assessed value (please realize that the administration did not lower the tax rate....the reassessment "recalculations" did) - but when they increased the tax levy, that in turn raised the tax rate to $6.41 per $1,000.00......about a 6% increase in the tax rate.
In 2007, the average home in Irondequoit was valued at around $99,000 and paid about $712 on their tax bill......after the reassessment in 2008, that same average home in Irondequoit is now valued at around $117,000 and will pay about $750 due to the tax levy increase and reassessments.
(This information was in the Nov. 20th, 2008 MPNnow article.)
Saying that they "reduced the 2008 tax rate by 10%" is being a little disingenuous, because in reality, the tax rate increased - not decreased - due to the almost million dollar increase in the tax levy for 2009, and the higher reassessments.
So, you WERE paying $7.19 per $1,000.00 assessed value on a home worth $99,000......but now you're paying $6.41 per $1,000.00 assessed value on a home reassessed at $117,000.......seems like you should be paying less, right?
Nope. On average, you are paying $38.00 more in taxes.
$712 2008 tax bill vs. $750 2009 tax bill.
I know, it's confusing. I think they do that on purpose. If you'd like to really make your head explode, read the NYS explanation on how your property tax works.
It is simple, really. All anyone has to do is look at their tax bill for the year and determine if they are paying more, less, or the same in taxes.
Everyone that I talk with is paying more, even though the administration claims they reduced the tax rate.
Look at your tax bill and see if they are telling you the truth, or doing creative accounting.
