Surplus keeps Schalmont tax hike as planned

PHOTOGRAPHER: Michael Goot

Schalmont Central School District officials will spend more than $300,000 in surplus funds to maintain the tax levy increase at a level voters approved in May — less than 2 percent.

Residents backed a $41.9 million budget at the polls in May, with about $29.15 million to be funded through property taxes. In June, however, the district’s Board of Education agreed to settle a lawsuit with General Electric that reduced the assessment on the company’s property in town.

As part of the agreement, which was also backed by Schenectady County and the town of Rotterdam, the assessment of the entire 322-acre GE campus was lowered by $6.5 million, to $132 million. Schalmont also agreed to repay $721,635 in taxes it collected from GE from 2007 to 2011.

The settlement left a hole in the district’s 2012-13 budget, and the board agreed to use $331,500 from its fund balance to fill that gap.

The homestead tax rate for Rotterdam residents has been set at $18.31 per $1,000 of assessed value — an increase from the current rate of $17.95. As a result, the average house assessed at $150,000 would pay about $54 more in taxes, a total bill of $2,747 — before any STAR exemptions.

The non-homestead rate is $22.10 per $1,000.

For Guilderland residents, the homestead rate is $20.71, and the non-homestead rate is $24.44; the rate in the Montgomery County town of Florida is $34.42 for homestead and $39.80 for non-homestead; Duanesburg is $54.18 for homestead and $64.26 for non-homestead; and Princetown is $53.35 for homestead and $62.40 for non-homestead.