The state Comptroller’s Office has revamped the property tax-cap reporting form to make it easier for local governments with fiscal years that coincide with the calendar year to calculate their tax-levy limit—the total amount raised through property taxes on the municipality’s taxable assessed value of property. Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said today that the form was revamped for 2012-13 following an analysis of reporting errors the first year the property-tax cap was in place.
There is an annual limit on how much local governments can increase the tax levy. It is 2 percent or the rate of inflation, whichever is less. DiNapoli’s office determined the inflation factor was 2.93 percent, so the limit will be 2 percent for the 2013 fiscal year. There are some exceptions. Local communities can override the cap.
Certain information will appear on the form automatically, such as the tax base growth factor and allowable levy growth factor. Eligible local governments will be able to automatically calculate on the form their exclusions for certain pension costs. Forms have to be filed with the Comptroller’s Office electronically for review before annual budgets are adopted.
“By reducing reporting errors, municipalities can assure they are not confined to stricter fiscal constraints than necessary and that their residents are not improperly taxed,” DiNapoli said in a statement.
Last year, the majority of New York’s 882 fire districts adopted budgets without filing the required property-tax cap data, the Comptroller’s Office found.
DiNapoli’s office will conduct two training webinars for municipal leaders. They will run from 2-4 p.m. Sept. 27 and Oct. 11. There will be two training sessions at the 2012 Fall Training School for City and Village Officials Sept. 10-14 in Lake Placid. They are co-sponsored by DiNapoli’s office and the New York Conference of Mayors.
Tax Cap Dates
