Mt. Pleasant Part of Chappaqua School District May Get 9.6% Tax Hike

Residents who live in Mount Pleasant's northern section but are part of the Chappaqua Central School District could see a large tax increase under the proposed 2012-13 budget.

Under tax rates for each town that were posted Tuesday on the district's website, the Mount Pleasant section could see a 9.6-percent increase in the tax rate, while New Castle residents are only facing a 1.63-percent raise. The rates are estimated, however, because each town's final assessment roll is not in yet.

The tax rate, which is the amount of taxes that residents pay per $1,000 of their property's assessed value (AV), is a direct measure of what taxpayers owe but it is not limited by the property tax cap. That restriction only covers the tax levy, which is the total amount of property tax revenue that the district is seeking for its budget. For the coming year, the district is proposing a levy increase of 2.11 percent, to $101,032,134. Technically, the tax levy cap for this year is two percent but the proposed levy includes several exemptions, such as a change to the taxable base and pension costs.

In absolute dollars, the proposed tax rates are $98.06 per $1,000 AV for New Castle, a raise of $1.60, and $1,191.60 for Mount Pleasant, which is a raise of $114.41 from 2011-12. 

Because most of the district's taxable property falls within New Castle, most of the tax levy will come from the town's properties. It means a difference of $92,194,155 or 91.3 percent, versus $8,837,979 (8.7 percent) for Mount Pleasant.

Why is there a large discrepancy between what taxpayers in each towns owe? The reason is because the tax rates were arrived at by using an equation called the equalization rate. Because New Castle and Mount Pleasant assess their properties at different percentages of full-market value, the equalization rate, according to a state guide, is used to create a common market standard. Its purpose includes serving as a tool to apportion the tax burden among each town (click here for the explanation).

The equalization rate for this year is 20.05 percent for New Castle and 1.53 percent for Mount Pleasant. According to a state guide, the rate is arrived at by dividing a municipality's assessed property value by a state-estimated total market value number for the community.

With the rate in place, Mount Pleasant has been a considerably higher tax rate increase over the past four school years, according to the district's presentation data. The cumulative increase, from the 2008-09 year to the proposed 2012-13 budget is 18.2 percent, versus 6.79 percent for New Castle. 

A copy of the tax rate presentation is attached as a PDF file.