Western New York property owners pay the state’s highest median effective tax rate, according to newly released data from the Empire Center. The internet-based tool – BenchmarkingNY’s Property Taxes by Location – allows taxpayers to compute and compare total school district, municipal and county tax burdens in thousands of communities across the state.
High tax rates hold true even in our rural towns...
Royalton's combined tax rate (town, county, school) is $38.59 per $1,000 assessed. The upstate average is $29.75. So, we exceed that by 30%!
Hartland's combined tax rate is $37.80 per $1,000. So, we exceed the upstate average by 27%!
It should be noted that the disclaimer on the Empire Center's report says....
The effective property tax rates presented in these databases are approximate, based on estimates by the Office of the State Comptroller. The effective rates are most accurate as a comparative overall measure of tax burdens as a share of property values in different New York communities. However, because local property assessment procedures vary widely, the estimated tax levels for sample property values produced by our "Property Tax by Location" tool will not always match actual tax bills for properties of the same value in those communities. This is particularly true of localities whose assessments are significantly out of date, or which have an unofficial practice of over-assessing commercial property. In a few dozen cities and towns that have established preferential tax rates for owner-occupied homes – including Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo and Rochester – the local effective rate presented here is an average of "homestead" and "non-homestead" tax rates. In addition, estimated property tax bills do not reflect the impact of the state "STAR" tax break, which typically reduces the school district portion of property tax bills by 10-20 percent, or by more than 30 percent for qualified seniors
You can access the Empire Center's report and compare our community against others, here:
