In this section, I want to provide you with
the basic understanding of the tax system that I have figured out over the last few years.
This is what I would tell you if I ran into you at the Food Emporium and I took five minutes of
your time to explain how it works.
1. Property taxes are flat taxes that are supposed to be based on the fair market value of the
property. This means that if a house is worth $2 million and is taxed at $30,000 a year, a $1
million dollar house should be taxed at $15,000 a year and a $3 million dollar house should be
taxed at $45,000. The different taxing authorities do not have to assess the properties in
their areas at full market value but they are obligated to assess at a uniform percentage of
fair market value. The taxes are then calculated as a set percentage of the assessed value.
The assessments cannot be adjusted for social considerations such as an estimate of the
services each property receives. It doesn’t matter if people do or do not have children in the
school or put out more or fewer boxes of newspapers for recycling. The tax is a flat tax based
on fair market value. This may be a crummy way to finance local government and the public
schools but it is the system we have.
2.
The Village of Bronxville has an entirely
separate assessment system from the Town of Eastchester system. It is amazing how few people
know this. The Village assessment is used as the base for Village taxes and Bronxville School
taxes. The Eastchester assessment is used as the base for Westchester County taxes,
Eastchester Fire District Taxes, Town of Eastchester taxes, County Work Taxes, and my personal
favorite, Bronx Sewer tax. Apparently, back in 1967, when the last reassessment was done, the
Town and the Village shared the cost of reassessing Bronxville and there was a common starting
point for the assessments. Since that time, the Village and the Town have each gone their own
way. A change to one assessment will not affect the other.
3.
At our house this year, the Village tax is 13.54
% of our property taxes and the school tax is 64.99% of our property taxes. Combined, that is
almost 80 % of our tax bill. Presumably other people are in a similar situation. This is one
reason why I am very concerned that the Bronxville assessments be fair. I am much less
concerned with the Eastchester assessments.
4.
When property owners improve their property
their assessments should go up. Very few people will invest money in their property without
believing that they will get a good portion of it back on resale of the property. Some
improvements increase the fair market of the property by more than the cost of the improvement,
some increase it by less, but either way the improvement should be reflected in the assessment.
5. The Village has not been keeping the assessments up to date. If you take a look at
the Bronxville assessment roll you will see some very strange numbers. Certain older homes
that were not considered so desirable back in 1967 have not had their assessments updated to
reflect changing market conditions. Also, in a number of cases, property owners who have made
massive improvements have not been reassessed. This data shows up in the property record
cards. The owners may think they have been reassessed because the Town of Eastchester has
reassessed the property and some of their taxes have, in fact, gone up, but they have not been
reassessed by Bronxville. The taxes that these property owners would have been paying are being
paid by the rest of us.
6. Under state law, apartments and the townhouses that are condominiums are taxed as part of
the commercial class. The rationale for this is that it would not be fair for a rental
apartment building to have one assessment while an identical building next door that is co-op
or condo has a different total assessment. This ignores the difference between wholesale (the
rental building) and retail (the co-op or condo building) but it’s state law nevertheless.
7.
The Village’s failure to reassess is causing
problems for the school budget. The current budget includes approximately $1,000,000 in
current spending for repayment of property taxes. That is money that could have been spent on
having smaller classes and better supplies. This happens because taxpayers who believe they
have been over-assessed can challenge their assessments in what are generally called certiorari
cases. Commercial property owners have been fairly successful in getting reductions in their
assessments. The Village handles these cases then turns over the bulk of the repayment bill to
the school. The school district has a right to participate in these cases but so far has not
done so. If the Village were to do a comprehensive reassessment and then keep the assessments
up to date, the certiorari cases should mostly go away.
8.
Everybody has an agenda. This is probably the
most important thing I have learned. Before you listen to anybody’s opinion on reassessment
you must find out what they personally have at stake, whether it is protecting the benefits of
a gross underassessment or some other angle. My agenda is that I want the school budget
straightened out and not burdened with certiorari payments and I want the option of someday
downsizing to a smaller house in the Village. Right now there is little point in downsizing
because the smaller houses are mostly very
overassessed. I also want to live in a community
where things are done fairly.