School taxes go down

The local taxing jurisdictions passed their budgets last month, which included changes to tax rates residents pay. Many governmental bodies were able to reduce their tax rates without losing revenue because the property tax valuations have risen.

Under the current tax rates, Washington residents have the greatest local tax liability at $42.39 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. That includes city, county, and school taxes plus four other minor taxing jurisdictions. If a Washington resident owns a house worth $100,000, he would pay $4,239 in taxes. That is slightly lower than what he paid last year when the tax rate was $42.50 per $1,000 assessed valuation.

Crawfordsville and Coppock residents pay $40.56 per $1,000 valuation in local taxes, which makes them tied for the second highest in the county. Brighton is fourth at $37.84, followed by Ainsworth at $35.35 and Wellman at $34.97. Kalona comes in at $33.71, trailed by Riverside at $32.25.

For a Washington resident, the school district consumes more of the tax bill than any other item. Residents pay 40 percent of their bill to the school district compared to 35 percent to the city. However, the district has proposed lowering its tax asking for the next fiscal year while the city has proposed raising its tax asking.

Roughly 19 percent of a Washington resident?s bill goes to the county government. The remaining 6 percent is divided up among the Washington County Hospital and Clinics (2 percent), Kirkwood Community College (2 percent), the county assessor (1 percent), county agricultural extension (less than 1 percent) and then a small fraction is left over to fund tuberculosis and bronchitis vaccines.

Property owners who have property that is within a city?s taxing jurisdiction but which is considered agricultural land pay a special property tax rate to that city. In most of the county, this rate is $3.00 per $1,000 valuation with the exception of Wellman which does not charge any city tax on that kind of property.

The Washington School district submitted a budget that would reduce the tax rate 34 cents from this current year. The district is now charging $16.76 per $1,000 valuation. Washington Schools Superintendent Mike Jorgensen said earlier this year that higher income tax figures from the state were able to reduce the school?s levy. He also said that property values are also higher than last year, and attributed the increase to the rising value of agricultural products. Jorgensen said he believed the school?s tax askings from the district will continue to fall for the next few years.

Mid-Prairie School District proposed reducing its tax rate $1 from $13.84 to $12.83. Business manager at Mid-Prairie School District Cindy Steege said the district was able to reduce its askings because the property tax valuation in its jurisdiction rose by a total of $13 million. Mid-Prairie now has the lowest tax rate of any school district in the county.

Keota was another school district with a low tax asking last year at $13.83. Its proposed decrease is more modest than Mid-Prairie?s this year at $13.63.

Highland Community School proposed an increase to its tax rate of 12 cents, from $16.50 to $16.62.

WACO School District reduced its tax asking by 4 cents but it would still be the highest in the county at $21.75. Carrie Coble, the business manager at WACO, said the district was able to reduce its rate slightly because of the new property tax assessments. She said there are a few reasons WACO?s tax rate is higher than surrounding districts. Among those are the fact that WACO does not have an income surtax, which would offset property taxes, and the district is still paying off a general obligation bond.

A few taxing jurisdictions have raised their property taxes in the past year. Washington County charges $7.96 per $1,000 for urban residents and $11.52 to rural residents. Both of those numbers will increase under the budget passed by the Washington County Supervisors last month. The proposed rates are $8.08 for urban residents and $11.83 for rural residents.

The Washington City Council approved a property tax increase of 84 cents per $1,000 of assessed valuation for the 2012-2013 fiscal year. The new tax rate would be $15.82 per $1,000 if approved by the state, the highest in the county.

Of the other towns in the county, Wellman has the highest current tax rate at $10.48, followed by Brighton at $10.43 and then Kalona at $9.22. Coppock, West Chester and Ainsworth charge $8.10, Crawfordsville is at $7.49 and Riverside enjoys the lowest taxes in the county at $5.10.