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Health & Fitness

Are your taxes subsidizing other taxpayers?

Almost half of your total tax bill may be for special district taxes. BUT are those taxes being assessed fairly? If you're in one, two or three of the major special districts, you may be subsidizing taxpayers who aren't in any of the districts.

Are your taxes subsidizing other taxpayers?

Are you paying more than your fair share of town taxes? Are you being overtaxed in order to subsidize other town taxpayers?

There’s only one way to find out.  

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At the December 10 budget public hearing, insist that the supervisor and four councilmen adopt an honest budget that honestly charges the special districts for the services they honestly use.

Let me explain.

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In addition to your town tax— which every property owner pays — all homeowners pay an additional Refuse district tax and, depending on where you live, you may also pay a Water district tax and a Yorktown Sewer district tax.

If you’re one of the thousands of homeowners who are in all three special districts, your special district taxes account for almost half of your April total town tax bill.

Each year, the three special districts are charged a “special district administrative fee” that’s paid to the town’s general fund. The fee is supposed to reimburse the general fund for certain services, such as payroll and purchasing, that are paid for by the general fund which all taxpayers pay into.

The administrative fee is an expense in the special district budget; increasing the fee increases your special district tax. But, because the fee is a revenue in the general fund budget, when the fee is increased, it has the effect of lowering the town tax rate paid by all taxpayers. Some taxpayers end up paying more while others pay less.

Which is exactly what happened in 2013 when the special district fee was increased; the total town tax bill for some special district taxpayers went up while it went down for other taxpayers. There were winners and losers.

The same increase in the administrative fee is included in the 2014 budget.

Charging an administrative fee is legal; the special districts should reimburse the general fund for the cost of the services they receive.  But here’s the problem: 

No one, not the supervisor, the four councilmen or the Finance Department knows exactly what administrative services the special districts are using and at what cost.  The fee is based on pure guesswork – a simple flat percentage of each district’s budget.


No one knows if the special districts are being overcharged or undercharged or if some taxpayers are being unfairly taxed to subsidize other taxpayers.

 

And Supervisor Grace has shown, by his actions and statements, that he’s not interested in finding out what a fair and equitable fee should be. Over the past 12 months, he’s

  • ignored a Town Board resolution directing the supervisor  “to undertake a study to determine exactly what general fund services are provided to the special districts and at what cost.”
  • ignored the advice of the town’s auditor that the administrative fee should be based on the cost of actual services.
  • ignored a directive from the state comptroller’s office that the administrative fee must be based on the cost of direct services provided to the special districts — and that using a flat percentage of a district’s budget to calculate the fee (the way it’s done now) is inequitable.

 

Pulling a number out of a hat may work to the supervisor’s advantage, especially when he needs more revenue in the general fund budget to lower the politically sensitive town tax rate, but it’s certainly not a fair and equitable way to tax homeowners.

As taxpayers, you have a choice.  You can remain silent and accept the status quo, never knowing if you’re being overtaxed in order to subsidize other taxpayers.  Or, you can raise your voice and insist that the special district fee be calculated in a way that’s fair and equitable — for all taxpayers. 

Note that the budget hearing has been rescheduled to Tuesday, December 10 beginning at 6pm.  If that time doesn’t work for you, you can call or email Town Board members with your comments.  You can also speak to the Board directly during the hearing by dialing into the board room at 962-5722, ext. 216

For more information about the special district administrative fee, visit yorktownbettergovernment.org

 

 

 





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