Town to set tax rate today
Toolbox
By PATRICIA MINICHIELLO STAFF WRITER - Published: September 23, 2009
During a special meeting today at Town Hall, the Rutland Town Select Board plans to adopt a 2009-10 residential tax rate. If adopted, the new rate would take effect immediately.
The new proposed total town tax rate is $1.53 per $100 of assessed value for residents, a reduction of nearly 40 percent from last year's total residential tax rate of $2.54 per $100.
Broken down, the new proposed town rate is 24 cents per $100 of assessed value, the education rate is $1.28 per $100 of assessed value and the local agreement rate is $0.0018 per $100 of assessed value.
The new proposed total town tax rate for nonresidents is $1.61 per $100, also a nearly 40 percent reduction from last year's $2.64 per $100 of assessed value for nonresidents.
Marie Hyjek, town clerk and treasurer, said once the tax rate is set, tax bills will be printed and mailed to property owners by Sept. 28. Taxes are due by Oct. 28. The bills this year include special wording indicating that payments will be later than usual because of a delay in lodging the grand list.
Hyjek said people can calculate taxes before bills are mailed. To do so, she said residents can divide their property value by 100 and times it by the tax rate.
For example, taxes on a house appraised for $200,000 would be $3,060. Hyjek said townspeople are welcome to call her to find out their tax before the bills are mailed.
Residents who are not happy with their taxes this year should keep in mind that they can grieve their property assessment next year, if they did not already do so this year.
"Every year you can grieve, you don't have to be in a reappraisal year to grieve. I recommend people call the lister's office in late April or beginning of May and ask." She said grievance hearings are usually set for July each year.
To set the town tax rate for residential property owners, the state takes the base tax rate, multiplies by the local spending multiplier and divides by the common level of appraisal or CLA.
This year, following a townwide reappraisal, Rutland Town's CLA is 99 percent. Put another way, town taxpayers are paying taxes on about 99 percent of what the state believes they can sell their property for. Last year, the town's CLA was 60.03 percent.
The CLA is a calculation the state uses to equalize property values from community to community for school-funding purposes. If the state believes a municipality's valuation of its property isn't current, it raises the tax rate a corresponding percentage.
Hyjek said she has been calculating taxes for people who call and ask. Most people are not as upset as they thought they would be, she said.
"Everyone thought that since appraisals went up so much, taxes would double. But when the grand list goes up, the taxes go down," Hyjek said. "The response has been very good with people."
patricia.minichiello@rutlandherald.com.
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