1. Does anyone know if school taxes are based on assessed value or does everyone pay the same?
My school taxes run $1,500 per year ($11.7 per thousand assessed value), with my regular other taxes running around $13 per thousand.
Is this similar to what everyone else pays?
On the tax info website it doesn't list school taxes.
2. Do commercial properties pay the same rates for school taxes?
School taxes are calculated on assessed value minus any STAR exemption. But taxes are also based on what people in each district are willing to pay based on the budget votes, and then you need to consider the percent turnout for budget votes. Budget proposed, 5% voter turnout perhaps. City of Schenectady often has turn out of about 1,500 voters (out of probably 30,000+ eligible), and if 800 people vote yes, it's approved. So many variables because even voting on a budget means different things because there will be a vote on the "budget" and then perhaps a separate vote for purchasing buses for example.
Then, yes, it's a dollar amount per thousand of assessment.
Commercial may or may not pay the same rates as residential, depends on the municipality. Years ago, the city of Schenectady had two rates. And the funny thing was that know-nothing DEM councilman Joe Allen. He voted at some point to eliminate the "two-tier tax" system (a residential tax rate and a separate and higher tax rate on business properties) in the city; I can't remember what year that was done. But sometime during his last couple years as a councilman, he made a comment at a city council meeting that he was surprised that the absentee landlords (meaning the ones who own many houses) don't pay the higher "business tax rate" because they are a business. The stupid dem councilman was clueless, he didn't even know that there was no such thing as a "business tax rate" in the city, he didn't even know that he voted to eliminate the two-tier tax system. DUH, how DUMB can a DEM councilman be?
You can find the tax rates for each district by going to the district's website and looking for minutes of meetings and typically the rate would be set after July 1 of each year because July 1 is the date of final tax roll on which the tax rate is calculated.
But in places like the DEM crony Schenectady, the school district is in a dreadful position because it must calculate the tax rate as soon as the assessment roll is "final" on July 1, however you have to remember that AFTER bills have gone out shortly after July 1, homeowners are in the process of taking the city to court. See, the stupid DEMS in the city have their puppets on the assessment board who tell grievants "denied, insufficient data" despite homeowners providing dozens of sale prices of comps that prove that the home values in the city are tumbling. Because homeonwers go to court, those court cases aren't held until after July 1. So when the judges are ruling (or the city assessor making offers that are accepted), that assessments are reduced, that then changes the total taxable value number used in calculating the tax rate. However I believe that the losses to the school district are just added to next year's school budget
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