GLENWOOD POWER PLANT DECOMMISSIONING WILL HAVE "MINIMAL" IMPACT ON HOMEOWNERS' TAXES THIS YEAR, SCHOOL DISTRICT OFFICIALS SAY
September 29, 2014 -- The decommissioning and demolition of the Glenwood Landing power plant will not come close to having the devastating impact on residential property owners' school tax bills this year that some had once feared. Last week, the Nassau County Assessors office provided final numbers to the North Shore School District on the amount of the school tax levy for which each of the four property classes would be responsible in 2014-15.
Although the assessed valuation on class 3 utilities declined by 30%, while the average homeowner (class 1) saw only a 2.4% decrease, the burden passed onto homeowners was "minimal," school district officials said, because of New York State Real Property Tax Law 1803a, which limits the shift from one tax class to another to 1%, The proportion of the total tax levy that homeowners (class 1) pay increased from 64.26% to 65.32% and the proportion that utilities (class 3) pay decreased from 28.59% to 27.37%, while coops and condos (class 2) increased from 1.28% to 1.31% and commercial properties (class 4) from 5.87% to 6%. Despite the 30% decrease in assessed valuation, the overall tax rate for utilities, including LIPA and American Water, will skyrocket this year as a result of the tax burden shifting to other properties within that class rather than to other classes. School district officials only a year ago had warned that the decommissioning could result in a single year tax hike as high as 19% - even with no increase in the overall tax levy. And while the average homeowner will see a 3.21% increase in their tax bill, even though the overall levy is rising by only 1.53%, the increase is a far cry from the worst case scenario, and lower than last year's tax levy increase of 3.49%. Utilities' overall burden will decrease by 2.81% while commercial properties will see a 3.7% increase, and Coops and Condos a 4.13% increase this year. Under New York State Real Property tax law, the shift in apportionment from one tax class to another is limited to 5%. However, for the last several years, that number has been reduced to 1% by legislation (1803a) that has been renewed annually, as it was this past June for 2014-15. If the legislation is not renewed for 2015-16, the maximum shift will return to 5%. Assistant Superintendent Olivia Buatsi said taxpayers are protected "for now", but that was no guarantee that the legislation would be renewed or that the county assessor would apply it in future years as the plant is further demolished. BACK TO HOME PAGE |
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