Chappaqua Tax Rates Have Narrower Gap for Towns

Chappaqua school taxpayers in New Castle and Mount Pleasant could pay similar tax rates under the district's proposed 2013-14 budget.

The projected rates, included in a presentation for this week's school board meeting, call for a hike of $2.26 per $1,000 of assessed value for New Castle, or 2.25 percent. For Mount Pleasant, the figure is a rise of $35.65 per $1,000, or 2.71 percent.

The difference in tax rates, which the school district cannot directly control, is the result of a complex equation called the equalization rate, which is used because the two towns have differences in how much they assess their properties in relation to their market values.

The rates are merely projections at this point and will not be finalized until the summer.

The projected rates represent relief for Mount Pleasant taxpayers, who had a 10.35-percent rate hike for 2012-13 versus just 2.33 percent for New Castle residents. Since the 2008-09 school year, Mount Pleasant residents have seen a cumulative tax rate increase of 22.24 percent, versus 9.95 percent for New Castle. One solution that could close the gap would be for both municipalities to do townwide property revaluations at once and assess their properties at the same percentages of market value; there is nothing in the works now for such a plan.

Meanwhile, the tax levy, which is the total amount of tax revenue to be collected, is slated to go up by $2,078,859 (rising to a total of $103,110,993) or 2.05 percent. This is less than a hike of $2,625,200, or 2.4 percent, that was initially proposed when an early budget version was unveiled in February.

The levy technically complies with a state-mandated cap on its rise - the cap is the lesser of 2 percent or inflation - because of exemptions such as some pension costs and a change in the local tax base.

Unlike the tax levy, however, the tax rates are not capped.

The total budget cost is planned to be $114,828,088, an increase of $2,625,200, meaning 2.34 percent, from 2012-13.

The school district, in his updated proposal, has good news built in: a rise in state aid. The figure, from the state's recently approved budget, gives Chappaqua an additional $344,765 in aid. Regardless, property taxes remain the biggest revenue source, at 89.80 percent of the budget.

The district's budget also calls for using $2.75 million in fund balance reserve money as a revenue source, a large drop from the $3 million set aside for 2012-13. For the 2011-12 budget, the figure appropriated was $4.25 million.

The budget, which must be adopted by the school board later this month, is subject to a public referendum on May 21. If voters reject the budget, the board can either hold a second vote on June 18 - the proposal can be modified - or to adopt a contingency budget. If the budget is defeated twice, then a contigency budget is automatically adopted. The contigency would ban the district from raising the tax levy at all, which could potentially mean further cuts or use of more fund balance to fill the gap.

A copy of the tax rates presentation, including information on the tax levy, spending amount and fund balance, is attached as a PDF file.