It was interesting reading Niki Cervantes’ Buffalo News article titled “Tax rate cut can mean higher bill.”
http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/04/2...gher-bill.html

I would like to comment on some of the statements made in the News:

“Taxpayers in some local communities will be relearning a painful lesson this year: Sometimes a property tax-rate decrease means a higher tax bill. Credit the aptly named "stealth tax." The stealth tax is called many things, some of them not nearly as polite. But in essence it's a backdoor tax attached to revaluations that provide public officials a way to give the impression tax bills are going down when in fact only the tax rate is. The lower rate can easily be offset by a rise in a property owner's assessment.”
I had been warning readers about this for some time; giving them new tax rate/assessment examples and telling them to do their own math. Now taxpayers are using the school districts calculator and getting an awakening.

At last week's Williamsville Village Board meeting, trustees focused on a 2.7 percent drop in the tax rate for the proposed $3.16 million budget but barely touched on a dramatic rise in Amherst property assessments that means some tax bills will be higher. Nor did they highlight the 9.3 percent jump in the tax levy. As Kevin Gaughan stated, “The tax levy is the number that matters. It's the true cost of what the government is going to take from you," he said.
That is true, that is the bottom line.

For Lancaster, it's all about the May 18 school budget vote. Faced with a $4 million loss in state aid and millions more for rising fixed costs, mostly for payroll, the district at one point pondered a record 22 percent increase in the tax levy. But officials began cutting. In the $85.84 million budget approved by the School Board last week, the tax levy is projected to go up 5.8 percent. The estimated tax rate, meanwhile, would decrease. It would be $14.51 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in Lancaster, down $1.42, or 8.9 percent; $23.41 in Cheektowaga, down 22 cents, or just under 1 percent; and $300.86 in Elma, down $2.90, or just under 1 percent. The rate decrease is due to the townwide reassessment and new construction in Lancaster, Superintendent Edward Myszka said.
The school district did a commendable job in reducing the budget deficit and bringing the increase in spending down to 1.32% and reducing the tax levy from 22% to 5.8%. However, the tax levy is still a 5.8% increase. The only way to lower the spending number and to get the tax levy down is to go to a contingency budget where there is no increase in spending. Going from a nine period day to an eight period day would save another $900,000 and still leave a spending increase of 0.32% and a tax levy of 3.2%. Another $300,000 would have to be cut from the budget and it still appears the tax levy would be above 0%. How can that be?

At any rate, Chowaniec said the district's calculator shows what Cansdale learned: Tax bills start rising when assessments increase about 10 percent, a fairly minor increase, he noted. "There are going to be some very unhappy people out there," Chowaniec said.
Yes, I have said that on numerous occasions.

If the public defeats the budget, Myszka has said the district will not be able to keep the ninth period, which is extremely popular with students and their parents, who say those courses help students gain entrance to college.
Yet an administrator and former teacher/BOE member said the program would continue with scheduling changes. With reassessment, there will be many unhappy campers. Throw in the seniors who received no increase in Social Security, taxpayers who lost jobs or haven’t seen a pay increase in years, and low income families that are already taxed to the max and can’t make any more sacrifices and the support pledged to get the proposed budget passed may not be enough.

District officials also created a community task force, which it first asked to bring the district ideas for cuts and which is now expected to beat the drum for a "yes" vote on the budget.
That is true. As a member of the Task Force Committee, I too supported retaining a nine period day. But the bottom line is the bottom line and the public will have their say on what services they want provided and what they are willing to spend. The Task Force Committee served its purpose and will morph into a school district Advisory Committee.

But the district is still extremely nervous, and with good reason. As Myszka notes, the community has a history of rejecting school budgets whenever it has been through a reval.
Taxpayers defeated the school budget the last three times when reval took place.

Chowaniec said that despite the hard work the district did to cut spending and taxes, this budget will still be a tough one to get past voters. "They've been spending out of control for years," he said. "It has finally caught up with them."
Yes, I have said that numerous times in the past. However, we did not see big tax increase because Albany provided the big bucks and other revenues were higher.