• City of Johnstown,   $21.72 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Town of Johnstown, $19.92 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Town of Ephratah,   $23.17 per $1,000 of assessed value
• Town of Palatine,    $24.23 per $1,000 of assessed value
• City of Gloversville, $14.54 per $1,000 of assessed value

2008/09 Tax Levy Drops $50,000 from April Projections
At its August 14, 2008 business meeting, the Board of Education adopted a tax levy of $6,990,887 for the 2008/09 school year, down $50,000 from the April projections. Per Superintendent Katherine Sullivan, "The $50,000 decrease in the approved levy reflects a grant secured in May through Senator Farley, funds from which District officials announced would be used to reduce the tax levy."

The 2008/09 tax levy will increase by 1.97 percent, instead of the April projection of 2.7 percent. The tax levy comprises approximately 24 percent of the required revenues needed to balance the budget of $29,061,903, with the remainder coming from state aid and miscellaneous sources. As a result of reassessments and changes in equalization rates within the five municipalities comprising the Greater Johnstown School District, the full value tax rate drops 4.66 percent, from $15.25 per $1,000 of assessed valuation in 2007/08, to $14.54 per $1,000 of assessed valuation for 2008/09.

The tax rates for each of the five municipalities located within the school district vary dramatically when the state adopted equalization rates are applied. The City of Gloversville tops the equalization rate list at the full value rate of 100 percent. The lowest equalization rate in Fulton and Montgomery County towns rests in the Town of Palatine at 60 percent. Utilizing the equalization rates established at the state level in July, the 2008/09 tax rates in the Greater Johnstown School District vary from a 4.4 percent increase in the City of Johnstown to a 20.9 percent decrease in the City of Gloversville.

The STAR program with an enhanced exemption continues, along with the senior citizen exemption. However, equalization rates are also a factor in the STAR reductions, with a parcel assessed at less than full value slated for less than the full STAR exemption after the equalization rate is applied.

(top of page)