District Eyes Assessed Valuation
Huntington School District officials are keeping a close eye on the district's assessed valuation. The figure has been trending lower in recent years, meaning the tax base is shrinking. That puts upward pressure on tax rates.
Town Assessor Bryan J. Monaghann sent a letter to the district earlier this month informing school officials that the tentative 2012 assessed valuation for Huntington is $45,291,651. The figure is below the current tax year assessed valuation of $45,381,530, but higher than the estimate of $45,081,530 used to develop the recently passed school budget for 2012/13.
If the tentative figure held, it would be good news for district taxpayers. But, Mr. Monaghan expects a further decline before tax rates are set in the fall. The assessor gave three reasons he believes assessed values will fall:
• New and renewal exemption applications that were timely filed and are still being processed;
• Prior year finalized litigation and court-ordered reductions (commercial and residential);
• Corrections/decisions approved by the Town's Board of Assessment Review.
The final tax roll and assessment figures will be available in September. If the district's assessed valuation falls below the figure used to develop the 2012/13 budget, Huntington School Board members could cover the tax shortfall by appropriating money from the fund balance or setting the tax rate higher than $213.14, which is what officials estimated the rate would be.
"In light of a multitude of variables, it is difficult to predict with a great deal of certainly where the final assessment will settle in September," Huntington Superintendent James W. Polansky said. "With the May 1 assessment in mind, the Huntington School Board's decision to incorporate into the recently approved budget a projected $300,000 assessed value decline seems more than reasonable."
In recent years, whenever the assessed valuation fell below the budgeted amount, trustees appropriated more monies from the district's reserves.