“Boston raises property taxes by maximum amount” plus 2 more |
- Boston raises property taxes by maximum amount
- Property Owners Concerned About Tax Assessments
- Cuomo faces battle over property tax-cap exemptions - From the Poughkeepsie Journal
| Boston raises property taxes by maximum amount Posted: 17 Dec 2010 01:16 PM PST Boston today announced the property tax rates for Fiscal 2011. The Fiscal 2011 tax rate for residential property is $12.79 per thousand dollars of valuation. The rate for business properties is $31.04 per thousand. Last fiscal year's rates for residential and business properties were $11.88 and $29.38, respectively. The City's total assessed value for Fiscal 2011 is $86.8 billion, a slight decrease of .05% from last year. City officials said reduced state aid left them with "little choice" but to increase the property tax levy by the maximum allowed under Proposition 2 1/2 The total tax levy is $1.54 billion, an increase of $75 million over last year - $38 million of this growth is the result of new construction and properties being added to the tax base and the remaining $37 million is the full 2.5% increase allowed under Proposition 2 ½. The average residential tax bill in Boston of $3,155 is nearly 30 percent below last year's statewide average of $4,390. The residential exemption will save qualifying taxpayers $1,594.85 off their tax bills during Fiscal 2011. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Property Owners Concerned About Tax Assessments Posted: 16 Dec 2010 09:26 PM PST POSTED: 6:42 pm HST December 16, 2010 HONOLULU -- About 290,000 Oahu homeowners began receiving their property tax assessments this week.Some residents' assessments are higher than last year and some are slightly lower.Some Homeowners who have received lower assessments told KITV they are concerned it might affect their plans to refinance.Wilhelmina Rise resident Barbara Norfleet was relieved her tax assessment was $45,000 lower than last year, but also worried."One of the concerns that hit me was I am refinancing like so many other people to get a lower interest rate," said Norfleet.Norfleet is concerned the banks now will make her refinancing more difficult.The city is anticipating a budget shortfall of at least $100 million.Norfleet is worried City Council members will have to raise tax rates to make up for the relatively flat assessments. Oahu residential tax assessments are up, but only 0.4 percent."The city is going to have to get the money from somewhere," said Norfleet.However, Honolulu City Council Chairman Nestor Garcia said the five new members on the council and new Honolulu Mayor Peter Carlisle all promised in their election campaigns not to hike the current tax rate."If you don't want to raise property taxes, then we are going to have to have a discussion on raising everything from camping fees to parking rates to drivers' license renewals," said Garcia.Garcia said more money will come from installing parking meters on streets that are currently meter-free. Garcia would not say where the new parking meters would be placed.Kaimuki resident Norfleet was upset to hear about possible city fee hikes."Oh really, Haven't they already hiked sewer fees enough? I don't know how much more can people dig down. More fee hikes would be very tough to take," said Norfleet.Garcia said beside the anticipated $100 million budget shortfall, the city is facing paying for new contract agreements with four public worker unions, and big increases in health insurance payments for city workers.In addition, Garcia said the mayor is talking about doing away with worker furloughs which saved the city $28 million last year.Garcia also mentioned he expects the city will have to shoulder about $50 million for security costs for next year's Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Honolulu."You will see a lot more of what's called a 'fee for service' model to hopefully cover some of these expenses," said Garcia. Copyright 2010 by KITV.com All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Cuomo faces battle over property tax-cap exemptions - From the Poughkeepsie Journal Posted: 17 Dec 2010 12:14 AM PST ALBANY — The upcoming battle over a property-tax cap in New York will not only focus on whether to have one, but also what should be included in it. Cities this week called for any property-tax cap to exempt the growing costs for pensions and health care, saying they are unable to control those costs without significant state mandate relief. But incoming Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made a property-tax cap a cornerstone of his agenda, and he is offering few exemptions from what his cap would include. He is proposing to cap the growth in property taxes at 2 percent a year or the rate of inflation, saying that from 2002 to 2007 school property taxes rose on average 7.6 percent and county taxes increased an average of 5.7 percent. New Jersey adopted a 2 percent tax cap this year, but carved out exemptions for pension and health-care costs. Even still, local governments in New Jersey have indicated they will be hard-pressed to stay within the cap without additional mandate relief. But Cuomo's cap would be much more stringent, leading to questions about whether he would have to accept additional exemptions in order for it to pass in the Democratic-led Assembly, which under Speaker Sheldon Silver, D-Manhattan, has resisted a tax cap. "I think the speaker would want to make (exemptions) a key component of it," said E.J. McMahon, executive director of the conservative Empire Center For New York State Policy, which supports a tax cap. But McMahon said, "I think Cuomo understands that if you make exceptions, you basically don't have a cap and then he's the one who is going to be punished by voters when they say your cap is bogus." For example, the Empire Center said in a report last week that the rise in pension costs alone in the coming years would equate to a yearly property-tax increase of about 3.5 percent. Cuomo's cap would apply to schools and all local governments, including fire and other special districts. The only exemptions would be for "large legal settlements or extraordinary capital expenditures," according to his campaign policy book. (2 of 2) He would allow for exceptions if governments sought consolidations as a way toward long-term savings. The state Senate has passed a 4 percent tax cap several times in recent years, also offering few exemptions. Local governments and schools in recent days have warned that a tax cap is untenable if mandates imposed on them, such as Medicaid costs and inflexible labor relation laws, aren't reduced. On Thursday, taxpayer groups railed against the tax cap, saying it would not provide the savings that homeowners need. New York's property taxes are 79 percent above the national average, reports have shown. The groups instead want a program that would tie property taxes to household incomes, a plan known as a circuit breaker. But that program would cost at least $1 billion a year to establish at a time when the state is facing a $9 billion budget gap. Legislator Susan Zimet, D-New Paltz, said a tax cap is a nice political sound bite, but it wouldn't help taxpayers or local governments cope with rising costs. She warned that a tax cap with exemptions would also be a failed policy. "If you put forward a plan that needs exemptions, then it's obviously not a good plan," she said. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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