Schools

West End May Get Small Tax Hike in Ossining School Budget

New Castle residents could see a tax rate increase of just 0.83 percent.

While high Ossining school tax rates have , this year's proposed budget has a small change from last year.

Under the proposed 2012-13 Ossining school budget, West End residents could see a tax rate increase of just 0.83 percent, or $0.96 per $1,000 of assessed value (AV). In contrast, Ossining town residents could see a hike of 4.03 percent, or $15.38 per $1,000 AV, and Yorktown residents could see a rise of 5.23 percent, or $44.58 per $1,000 AV. The rate increases are different because of a formula called the equalization rate, which is used to apportion the district's tax levy, or total number of tax revenue raised, among multiple towns that assess their properties at different percentages of their full-market value.

The levy for Ossining's school district is proposed to increase by 2.92 percent, which is technically under the 2-percent levy cap because it includes exemptions. The levy is proposed to increase by $2,509,973, to $88,449,504. The proposed budget is $106,588,570, an increase of 2.98 from the current school year.

Find out what's happening in Chappaqua-Mount Kiscowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The small tax rate increase for New Castle, coupled with last year's decrease of 0.23 percent, is a departure from the trend of the last decade, when residents experienced double-digit or high single-digit hikes every few years, according to district records. The largest increase in the past four years (for 2008-09) was 10.53 percent.

Other budget highlights include the reduction of 11.4 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs.

Find out what's happening in Chappaqua-Mount Kiscowith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Voting will take place on Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. at . For more coverage of the Ossining school budget and the district in general, click here for our sister site, Ossining-Croton-on-Hudson Patch.


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