Capital District Property Tax Rates
Property Tax Rate Data Qualifications
The New York State Comptroller's Office has released its 2012 annual report on real property tax rates for municipalities.
A range for school district rates is given when more than one district serves a municipality. An average tax rate is used where towns or cities have established special homestead and non-homestead units for assessing real property for municipal and/or school district purposes. Rates for special assessment districts such as fire, sewer, and water districts are omitted, since their boundaries rarely coincide with one another or with the boundaries of the unincorporated areas.
Overall full value rates are determined by multiplying the total overall rate or range by the equalization rate, except in the case of villages, where the village equalization rate applies only to the village tax rate, while the appropriate town equalization rate applies to county, town, and school district tax rates.
Equalization rates represent the average relationship of total assessed value of taxable real property to the total market value of that property.
An equalization rate of 1.0000 implies average assessed value equals average total market value, based on a sample survey. Equalization rates in excess of unity (i.e., >1) for a municipality indicate a decline in average total market values within a taxing jurisdiction or insufficient survey data on average market values following a recent full-value re-assessment.
Finally, a decline in full value rates or ranges from a previous year generally reflects an increase in total market values, not lower taxes for individual properties.
It should be noted that part of the explanation for higher property tax rates in cities is that cities are more likely to include basic services such as fire, water, and sewer in the overall property tax rate, while suburban and rural municipalities are more likely to form special assessment districts for such services.
In addition, an individual's tax burden may vary significantly in relation to properties of similar market value, despite the adjustment provided for by the equalization rate. The data used to derive the equalization rate are not current, and, contrary to New York State Law, the practices of assessing jurisdictions may result in unequal tax burdens on individual property owners. The problem is compounded by the fact that, in most cases, school district boundaries extend beyond municipal boundaries, and, in a few instances, county boundaries.
A community's assessment procedures should be carefully reviewed to determine the impact of its tax rates, including those for special districts, on individual properties. For clarification of a specific community's assessment practices, contact the local assessor of the community in question.
Whereas most localities in New York State impose a tax rate that is uniformly applied to the various types of property in their tax base, exceptions do occur. In accordance with Articles 18 and 19 of the New York State Real Property Tax Law, certain localities impose separate tax rates based on different classifications of property. One type of classification used is homestead and non-homestead property, while other localities classify property according to various classes (typically up to four classes). School districts (S.D.) may impose homestead/non-homestead rates in all or some of the towns and/or cities in which the district is located. The following Capital District municipalities and school districts impose homestead and non-homestead rates (listed by County).
| Albany County | Rensselaer County | Saratoga County | Schenectady County |
|---|---|---|---|
|
• Albany City • Albany S.D. • Niskayuna S.D. |
• East Greenbush Town • East Greenbush Central S.D. |
• NONE |
• Niskayuna Town • Rotterdam Town • Niskayuna Central S.D. • Schalmont Central S.D. |
Villages that reflect a zero tax rate are typically villages that did not file required information with the Comptroller’s Office in a timely fashion. The following is the list of 2010 Village non-filers in the Capital District.
| Village of Victory | Saratoga County | Town of Saratoga |
Additional information regarding Overlapping Real Property Tax Rates and Levies is available on the New York State Comptroller’s Office web site at http://www.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/orptbook/taxrates.htm.
Each map opens in a new window to facilitate comparisons.
Albany County Schools Districts (80Kb GIF)
Rensselaer County School Districts (76Kb GIF)
Saratoga County School Districts (89Kb GIF)
Schenectady County School Districts (58Kb GIF)
Capital District School Districts (257Kb GIF - Oversize Page)
Please note that the Maplewood-Colonie Common School District was annexed by the North Colonie Central School District as of 1 Jul 08. Its boundaries have been retained on the Albany and Capital District school district maps for use with the 2008 and earlier tax rate tables.
The Capital District Regional Planning Commission publishes property tax and other Regional information in its bi-monthly publication, the Capital District Data. For more information and a seven-year cumulative index, see CDRPC Publications.
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