Alexandria hikes tax rate almost 6 cents
April 28, 2009 - 6:07am
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Alexandria's city council has passed a $530 million operating budget that raises the property tax rate by 5.8 cents.
The tax hike approved Monday is expected to increase the average homeowner's tax bill by $76 a year. The average real estate tax bill will rise to $4,303, based on a rate of 90.3 cents per $100 of assessed value.
Some social-service funds cut earlier were restored in the budget, but it also cut 117 city positions and schools finding by $3.4 million.
The budget includes a 10-cent cigarette tax increase to 80 cents.
Overall assessments, including commercial property, fell about 2 percent this year, and officials expect a sharper drop next year.
Information from: The Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com
(Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
More Texas School Districts Want Voters To Raise Tax Rates
August 28, 2008
As reported by the the HoustonChronicle.com
More Texas school districts want voters to raise tax rates By ERICKA MELLON
A growing number of Texas school districts are asking voters to agree to tax rate increases this year to cover employee raises, greater fuel costs, and rising utility bills.
School boards in Austin and Corpus Christi made the decision this week to seek property tax hikes. In the Houston area, the Alief, Humble and North Forest boards are considering following suit.
The Harris County elections would be held after the Nov. 4 general election, meaning lower voter turnout. That could play in favor of school districts that manage to get employees and parents to the polls, but it could also make the proposals vulnerable to small groups of motivated opponents.
Since the Texas Legislature mandated property tax relief in 2006, the number of districts asking voters to raise property taxes has grown to about 230 -- roughly 20 percent of districts statewide, according to TexasISD.com, which tracks the tax elections.
State Rep. Dan Branch, a lead author of the bill requiring the tax cuts, said it is working as intended: Districts must call elections if they want more money than the state-mandated maximum tax rate generates.
"This is what was anticipated," Branch, R-Dallas, said of the upcoming tax elections. "What was not necessarily anticipated was that we would have a spike in inflation."
District officials, though, say they are unfairly strapped for cash. The state has capped their funding at 2005 or 2006 levels.
"It's easy to understand the funding crisis that school districts across the state have when you consider that state funding to schools is frozen, but our costs are not," said Karen Collier, of the Humble Independent School District.
The Humble and North Forest school boards are expected to vote next month on a 13-cent rate increase, the maximum amount allowed.
Alief is considering a 7.5-cent bump, which would cover 3 percent raises for all employees. If voters reject the proposal, the district will have to use about $18 million from its savings.
"In reality, that 3 percent isn't even a cost-of-living increase, but that's all we thought we could afford," said Alief school board President Sarah Winkler. "You hate to have to go ask your taxpayers when you know they're struggling, but we're all struggling for the same reason."
Under the 2006 school funding changes, districts had to lower their maintenance-and-operations tax rate by one-third over two years. For most districts, that meant cutting their rate to $1 per $100 of assessed property value from $1.50.
Districts are allowed to raise their rates by four cents without voter approval but cannot increase the rate by any more than 13 cents even with an election.
Last year, 120 school districts statewide held tax elections, called rollback or tax-ratification elections. Seventy-nine percent of them passed, according to TexasISD.com. Of the 15 districts that held elections in 2006, only one referendum failed.
State Rep. Scott Hochberg, a critic of the school finance system, said he sympathizes with the districts and taxpayers.
"Clearly, I think the people expected that the state would step up to the plate and do its share so that there wouldn't be a constant pressure on property taxes to go up," the Houston Democrat said. "And the state did nothing of that sort."
Galena Park is the only Houston-area district that sought a tax increase last year. The measure, which raised the tax rate by 7 cents, passed with 74 percent of the vote.
If the Alief, Humble and North Forest school boards approve the higher tax rates, the elections would take place in either late November or December, apart from the Nov. 4 general election.
Even if they wanted to, the Harris County school districts could not hold their elections on Nov. 4 because they did not receive their certified tax values from the county appraisal district in time for the deadline.
The appraisal district is supposed to certify the values by July 25, but that was not possible because so many businesses and homeowners protested their appraisals this year, said Harris County chief appraiser Jim Robinson.
ericka.mellon@chron.com
Brought to you by the HoustonChronicle.com
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/5971076.html
Property Tax Reform Measures In Place
Florida
As reported by the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser’s web site
Voters on Jan. 29, 2008, approved an amendment to the Florida Constitution effecting the following changes to the State’s property tax system.
50,000 HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION: Properties with a Homestead Exemption will be automatically upgraded to the new $50,000 benefit. New homeowners must file a first time application, which covers the newly increased Homestead Exemption. The extra $25,000 homestead Exemption does not apply to School Board taxes.
PORTABILITY: Currently, property owners with a homestead exemption receive a benefit known as Amendment 10 or Save Our Homes cap. This Save Our Homes benefit works by limiting the increase of the assessed value of a home to a maximum of 3% regardless of any increase in market value. Under the new law, homeowners will be allowed to transfer this benefit to the next homestead property. This is called portability or a portable cap. Qualified applicants are now able to transfer (or port) this Save Our Homes benefit up to $500,000, whether they are buying a more expensive or less expensive home. Click here for the both the Homestead Exemption and Portability application. To help homeowners estimate these benefits, please visit the Portable Cap Calculator.
CAP ON NON-HOMESTEAD PROPERTY: Starting in 2009, non-homesteaded properties will be eligible for a 10% cap. To receive this benefit, property owners will have to apply. The application will be available in October 2008. This 10% cap will not apply to taxes levied by the School Board.
TANGIBLE PERSONAL PROPERTY EXEMPTION: A $25,000 exemption on business equipment such as computers, office furniture and fixtures is available for 2008. To receive this benefit you must file your Tangible Personal Property Tax Return by April 1st.
NTRG Sponsors The Annual Moonlight Fund Airshow Benefiting Burn Survivors and Their Families
October 2007
Click here for annual Moonlight Fund Airshow flyer
DLGF Announces Plan for Reassessment of Marion County Properties
Media Release
August 1, 2007
Contact: Stephanie McFarland, APR 317.234.3793
INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 1, 2007) – The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) issued an official order today to the Marion County Assessor to reassess residential and commercial and industrial properties. The order comes after a required public hearing to outline the need for a countywide reassessment.
Governor Mitch Daniels ordered the DLGF on July 18 to begin the process to implement a reassessment after more than 72 percent of commercial properties in Marion County showed no change in assessed value over a six-year period.
The DLGF’s order requires all residential and commercial and industrial properties in Marion County to be reassessed by Feb. 1, 2008, and voids Marion County’s 2007 certified tax rates that were previously approved. The new tax rates will be based on the results of the reassessment.
“In general, Marion County taxpayers will need to pay the amount of their 2006 bills for their spring and fall 2007 installments, until the reassessment is completed and bills are issued based on the new values,” DLGF Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave said.
The spring 2007 installment, at the 2006 amount, will be due Aug. 10, 2007, and the fall 2007 installment, also at the 2006 amount, will be due Nov. 13, 2007. In addition, county homeowners who were eligible for homestead deductions in the 2007 tax year, but not in 2006, will be allowed to pay the lesser of the two bills.
In following the order, the Marion County Assessor will reassess the residential property, but must hire a professional appraisal firm to conduct the reassessment of commercial and industrial properties. The DLGF will approve and oversee the commercial and industrial contract.
Indiana Property Tax Crisis
Media Release
July 18, 2007
Governor orders property reassessment in Marion County
INDIANAPOLIS (July 18, 2007) - Governor Mitch Daniels today ordered a reassessment of all real property in Marion County property based on evidence that business assessments were either left undone or performed inaccurately, contributing to an unfair tax burden on homeowners. The governor also said he will freeze tax bills for Marion County at 2006 amounts and recommended that the county issue provisional bills until the reassessment is completed and new bills are issued. "We're here to solve problems, and we're beginning with the immediate -- at least in Marion County -- today. People need relief now, and we can't have people losing their homes because of unfair taxes," said Daniels.
As he addressed immediate property tax problems in Marion County, Daniels also announced a plan to seek long-term solutions for reform and restructuring of local civil and school government. He named Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall T. Shepard and former Governor Joe Kernan to co-chair a commission that will examine and make recommendations on such topics as what local government offices could be eliminated to achieve efficiencies and cost-savings and how local governments might restructure or consolidate to reduce overhead and other expenses.
Daniels decided to order the Marion County reassessment after receiving a recommendation from Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) Commissioner Cheryl Musgrave. The DLGF and the state's government efficiency group have been poring through parcel data for the county in recent days. Musgrave outlined findings that prompted her recommendation in a memo to the governor. For example, assessed value for nearly three-fourths (16,000 of 22,100) of commercial and industrial parcels in Marion County did not change at all over a six-year period.
The state will take charge of the commercial and industrial reassessment in Marion County using professional assessment assistance and instruct county officials to do the residential work. Marion County property taxpayers will receive bills with a new 2007 amount promptly after the reassessment is completed and tax rates certified, a process that is expected to take six to eight months. To begin the formal process of initiating a Marion County reassessment, the DLGF has issued a resolution that calls for a public hearing in 10 days. Following the public hearing, DLGF will issue an order to reassess.
The governor said it is likely that reassessments will be ordered for other counties, but so far, many have not complied with state law to provide the detailed parcel information they are required to send that will enable analysis of assessments. The DLGF has begun to review information for Gibson County, whose homeowners have received property tax bills with average increases of more than 35 percent. Aggregate tax data for that county indicates a problem similar to that of Marion County. The DLGF will send a demand letter to counties that have not sent their data to the state or have provided noncompliant data.
Counties for priority attention include Elkhart, Delaware and Jefferson, but all will be closely examined. There are only 18 counties in complete compliance.
Daniels again asked legislators to consider his proposals for use of a local circuit breaker to provide direct relief to those who need it most and to convert the rebate to a property tax credit that would be more immediate. On July 14, the governor sent legislative leaders a letter suggesting that counties be given the ability to use their share of $300 million appropriated for property tax relief this fiscal year to target property tax relief to those hardest hit through a locally-designed "circuit breaker". That could come in a number of forms, including capping bills at a certain percentage of a home's gross assessed value, at a certain percentage of the owner's adjusted gross income, at a maximum percentage or dollar amount increase, by setting aside a certain percentage of the county fund for those on fixed incomes, or by any other method fitting the local situation. Counties not choosing a targeted approach would stay with the formula established by the General Assembly, which would provide relief to every homeowner, whether their taxes went up or not. But Daniels has proposed converting the current rebate checks into a credit to deliver the relief sooner and with less administrative expense. Earlier, the governor took these additional actions:
- Extended by two months the deadline for counties to decide to use other available revenue tools to help them reduce local property taxes. Legislation enacted this year gives counties the authority to adopt local option income taxes. The August 1 deadline has been moved to October 1.
- Directed the Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) to approve any county's application to permit homeowners to pay their property taxes in installments and to extend bill due dates.
- Directed the Indiana Bond Bank to facilitate short-term financing by local governments that need cash while awaiting installments.
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