August 25, 2017
Dear Residents,
We are pleased to announce the hard work and advocacy by my office and the office of the Town Assessor on your behalf has resulted in the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance amending 2017 tax equalization rates for the upcoming school tax bills, thereby reducing what was anticipated to be an almost 14% tax increase in the Orangetown portion of the Nanuet school district to an 8% increase. In the Nyack School District the rate was reduced from an anticipated 9% to 4.4%.
This equalization decision affects not only school tax levies but also the upcoming 2018 Town/County levy and tax rates for sewer, library, fire, and other special districts. It also affects rates the Town pays to other municipalities for services such as waste disposal. The impact is not only the immediate reduction, but overall cost savings.
We are quite appreciative of the State Board of Real Property Tax Services for hearing us, our elected officials, and the many property owners who wrote to express their dismay at the potential for a catastrophic tax increase and rendering their decision in favor of Orangetown’s taxpayers.
We understand that these projected increases in school taxes this year will still be burdensome for many; we are not sitting back on our laurels and accepting these significant swings in tax rates. We have a meeting scheduled with Assemblywoman Jaffee and State Senator Carlucci to discuss future legislative action to address some of the problems we see with NYS Real Property Law and property equalization rates and that we hope will curtail annual property tax increases.
We encourage property owners to remain involved, to speak up on this issue, to remain in contact with our offices, with the offices of Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee and State Senator David Carlucci; and with the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance. Contact information is found on our website: https://www.orangetown.com/groups/department/assessor/.
Sincerely,
Andrew Y. Stewart, Ph.D. Brian Kenney
Supervisor Town Assessor