Tax-exempt properties hurting hurting local schools

Tax-exempt properties hurting local schools

By KESHIA CLUKEY

The Clinton Central School District, like many around the state, relies on tax dollars.

Of its $23.1 million budget, about $13.7 million, nearly 60 percent, is raised through school taxes.

But when the majority of the larger-value properties are tax exempt, it can cause a problem that’s out of the district’s control.

“We’re all part of the same community, but it does add a wrinkle to the equation,” district Superintendent Matthew Reilly said.

The majority of the district’s taxes come from the town of Kirkland, which had 3,509 parcels on its 2012 tax rolls, 4 percent of which, or 155, are wholly tax exempt, according to county records.

That means only about $322 million of the town’s $457.6 million total assessed value is taxable.

It can create problems for school districts because it’s a smaller tax base, said David Albert, director of communications and research for the New York State School Boards Association.

Having a smaller tax base does not bode well for districts, especially when costs are rising and the amount that can be raised by taxes is restricted by the 2 percent state-mandated property tax cap.

“It places more of a burden on existing taxpayers who have to kind of make up for those existing properties,” Albert said.

School districts are the largest users of property tax, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

Tax exemptions include nonprofits, hospitals, universities, school and government property, as well as some senior citizens who are STAR exempt from school taxes, said department spokesman Geoff Gloak.

In the Clinton district, exempt properties include Hamilton College and Lutheran Care.

“These are significant properties,” Reilly said. “It certainly would change our profile if some of these properties, like those in so many small towns, were taxable properties.”

Hamilton College, however, does provide a donation to the district each year.

“We’re very appreciative of the help that we get,” Reilly said.

In Utica, the school district expects to collect $29.5 million in tax revenue for the 2012-13 school year — making up about 21 percent of its budget, said Maureen Albanese, district business official.

The assessed value of properties in Utica is $1.7 billion, however, only about $1.1 billion is taxable, according to the Assessor’s Office. The total value of the city’s tax-exempt properties is $534 million.

“If those properties were not tax exempt they would be paying us probably millions of dollars,” Albanese said.

If exempt properties, or those of higher value, were added to the tax rolls, it would spread out the taxes over a greater base, so it could result in lowering taxes for others, Albert said.

“It really is a problem for many districts and one that’s not easily solved,” Albert said.