From the Eagle-Tribune;
Atkinson's tax rate climbs 21 cents
By Meghan Carey
mcarey@eagletribune.com
ATKINSON — The town's portion of the tax rate is going up — 21 cents per $1,000 of valuation — for the first time in years.
The state Department of Revenue Administration confirmed the tax rate at $14.86 per $1,000 of valuation last week, selectmen Chairman Paul Sullivan said. That's a 76-cent increase over last year's rate.
The owner of a $300,000 home would see a $4,458 tax bill under the new rate, a $228 increase.
"We wanted to keep it down," Sullivan said. "We took $450,000 from the general fund and applied it to help with the tax rate."
That's something the selectmen have done before, Sullivan said. This year they left a balance of $899,200 in the general fund for anticipated expenditures and to make sure they retained at least a 5 percent savings for the future, he said.
The town's portion of the tax rate is $2.15 per $1,000 of valuation, up from $1.94. The local school rate increased 67 cents, from $9.02 to $9.69.
The state education component dropped from $2.28 to $2.16. The county rate remained steady at 86 cents per $1,000 of valuation.
Atkinson Town Hall
The Norman Rockwellian picture of Atkinson
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
13 comments:
Before anyone else complains, you all need to understand that the $899 thousand retained by the Selectmen is pretty much required by the State. In this wonderful recession, $.21 isn't bad.
Property values are plummeting, so you are all paying on overvalued homes. Not me, I got my re-evaluation last year. If the assessments were in line with real values, the tax rate would prove to be much higher than this. I would prefer it to be based in reality across the board.
Also, with the economy being what it is, I'd like to challenge the town depts. to look for ways to cut spending and costs and save the taxpayers some money. Now we'll see who the real town heros are.
I think the first thing to go is the COLA. They remind me of the Congress.
Why are town employees getting COLA raises this year when the private sector is not?
Maybe if we had selectmen and budget committee members who asked tough questions, and demanded tighter belts, instead of just sitting there like bobbleheads, this wouldn't be the case!
The only person on either of those boards who asks tough questions is Ms. Princotte, I think that is her name, on budget!
Our bloated pork barrel spending in the PD is disgusting. We could trim half the PD budget without any impact in services right there. Cause all Phil does is Elderly Affairs work and we know it, so his work gets pushed off to other officers. We have zero need for a full time detective. And if he stopped hiring part timers, I think we are close to 30 now, we wouldn't have to train, provide uniforms, etc for people who we don't need on the payroll. Our entire PD needs to be revamped. What a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Plus we have like 5 or 6 cars we don't need. Plus other towns have eliminated the take home benefit for vehicles. Everyone needs to buckle down and the extra gas and wear on the vehicles is not a God given right to any town employees.
Time to cut back and trim the fat.
To be Fair, unless my numbers are out of date, there are 5 Fulltime officers, including the Lt., The Det. Sgt. and 3 other officers. I believe there are 17 PT Slots, but most of them dont work regularly.
There are 8 or so that work regularly. Also the last time there was discussion about reducing the size of the fleet, it was an attempt to get rid of 2 cars, out of the 8 the PD owns. Elderly has another 3, for a total of 11.
I could be mistaken, but that is, I think the numbers.
In 2001, we had a $400,000 police budget, and one patrol officer on every shift.
In 2007, we had an $800,000 police budget but still only had one patrol officer on every shift.
What is wrong with this picture?
Must be that crime has risen 100% in Atkinson.
Good thing we have all those unnecessary cars and extra, useless part time officers to protect us. And thank goodness for detective secret squirrel who solves all those crimes. I bet his volume of solved crimes went up 100% last year. From one to two.
Lower your own tax rate! I was smart enough to file for a real estate abatement and got a BIG check back and tons off my assessment. Next year I am going to file yet again and I will get even more off and another FAT CHECK! Those of you who did not file for an abatement will continue to pay outrageous taxes based on the corrupt over-assessment practices of Purvis and Associates "tax assessment practitioners", who are not even bonded by the town selectmen. Look at all the myriad mistakes on your own tax card. (Get help reading your tax card.) You don't know what a tax card is? Go get it from town hall and learn! Don't listen to snake eyes wooden-head, pin-head Mr. Wood (their point man) when he says everything is "fine" with your tax card! Do research and outmaneuver their organized and polished arrogance and indifference. Fight your way out of their nefarious schemes. FILE FOR AN ABATEMENT OF YOUR REAL ESTATE TAXES THIS YEAR.
Re: abatement idea.
If the entire town follows your lead and all of us get our values dropped by 30%, the town will then have to increase the tax rate by 30% to make up the loss. Simple math. The budget will not change unless we use our good ideas to cut costs, not cut assessments.
Now if they made a mistake on your property, like taxing you on a lakefront lot that can not be built on, you may deserve a huge refund. But if we all play the real-estate value game, only the first to file wins in the short run. Those of us who are not as "smart" as you have to pay your tax until we file too.
I would love to know how much "you" saved. Then I can compute how much of "your" bill I'm now paying.
Here's a question...How much was the total abated value issued by the town in the past year? Add to that how much new property came on line. Then we can figure how much of this $.21 was due to increased budget costs and how much went to cover "your" savings.
Filing for an abatement, if you think you are over assessed, corrects the tax rate. If accurate property values were to be reflected on the tax cards, the tax rate would be much, much higher. I think people feel comfortable when they think their town's rate is low, hasn't changed and their house is valued so high. In reality, the numbers are all skewed.
Ha Ha Ha 9:31. You want to know the real details. Look up the large number of abatements granted this year and figure make a bar graph and you will see the truth. And I am the one sitting here with a FAT CHECK (gloat, gloat). It looks beautious! And the big reduction in my property tax assessment will continue year after year after year after year after year after year. So please continue to encourage others not to go after the corrupt tax company Purvis & Asses. Go ahead and talk about how much money YOU will now have to pay because I caught them in their arrogant maleficence regarding my property. Here are some words of truth for you: If you file for an abatement and GET HELP from the Atkinson Taxpayer Committees t...you will get money back. That is because Purvis & Asses makes so many stupid mistakes that are always in favor of the Town. So I am just getting my property down to its true value. What are YOU doing? You are making comments to discourage others from fighting to get the money back that they deserve. I made a copy of my BIG FAT CHECK and it is taped to the bottom of my computer screen. I glance at it now...as I write... and am overcome with gratitude for those who helped me with my abatement. Those puden-heads Purvis Pukes got nailed right where it hurts. And If everyone files for an abatement in this town then the over assessments will stop and Purvis & Asses will go "by-by". The Town of Atkinson needs to be revalued...unless you love and adore paying much more than your fair share in taxes.
Post a Comment