Tax Bills Smaller Than They Appear

Residents opening their 2011 tax bills may have gotten a bit more of a surprise than they anticipated.

According to Department of Finance head Lou Neely, the tax bills, sentout in July, may seem larger than anticipated because they reflect two quarters, rather than just one quarter.

“The township works on a calendar year basis, from January to December. But because the state is so late in telling us our state aid information, we don’t know what the tax rate is until it becomes the third quarter,” said Neely. “

He said the problem occurs every year because the state works on a fiscal budget year, July 1 to June 30, where most municipalities work on a calendar year, January to December.

Neely said the lateness of the current tax bills means residents are seeing what appears to be a 12 percent increase, rather than a 6 percent increase.

“It makes everyone think we got this big increase, when in fact the increase is half of what it looks like, so they’re paying double,” he said.

The current year’s overall tax rate is 9.11 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. That means the owner of a home assessed at $100,000 can expect to pay $911 in total taxes each quarter. The overall tax rate break down is as follows: 64.95 percent goes to the schools, 18.80 goes to the township, 14.56 goes to the county, 1.48 percent to the library and .22 to the Municipal Open Space fund.

The total tax rate includes a 1.2 cent county tax, a .119 cent county open space tax, 5.907 cents for the school tax, 1.708 for municipal purpose taxes, .020 of a cent for the township open space tax, and .135 for the municipal library.

For more information on your tax bill, check out this article on the township’s website.