Schools

Proposed School Budget Will Lower Average Tax Bill

The average property owner can expect to see a drop of almost a penny on the school tax rate.

The proposed West Deptford school district budget for 2011-12, which district officials originally thought could increase the school tax rate slightly, will actually lower that rate by 0.91¢, Superintendent Kevin Kitchenman said Tuesday.

The administration and school board knew the recent revaluation of all property would affect the tax rate change–initially pegged as a 3.83-cent increase–but didn’t get confirmation from the county tax assessor’s office until Tuesday.

The decrease means the average property owner will see the school portion of their tax bill drop by about $97, though depending on the new valuation, some people could see a higher bill, Kitchenman said.

Find out what's happening in West Deptfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The lowering of the school tax rate is just the third decrease in the rate since 1999-2000, and is the largest of those three rate declines.

Under Appraisal Systems, Inc.’s revaluation, the total tax rate in West Deptford would decrease from $4.397 to $2.35 this year. Under the old tax rate, the school budget took up $2.004, or 45.58 percent of the total tax rate. 

Find out what's happening in West Deptfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Year Tax rate increase (cents) 1999-2000 10.5 2000-2001 12.9 2001-2002 9.9 2002-2003 6.9 2003-2004 12.6 2004-2005 6.6 2005-2006 6.2 2006-2007 9.9 2007-2008 5.1 2008-2009 -0.274 2009-2010 -0.107 2010-2011 (original) 18.5 2010-2011 (amended) 12 2011-2012 (proposed) -0.91*

*based on the revaluation of all property in the township by ASI.


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