Tax rankings show burden shifts a bit

Comparisons within counties show who’s paying more, or less

Link: http://www.jsonline.com/realestate/39528637.html
Source:Front page of the Real Estate Section of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 2/15/09
by: Tom Kertscher of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Posted:Feb 13 2009

We’re not necessarily saying that if you live in Bayside, Saukville, Erin or Delafield that your property taxes have gone down.  But those residents can take some solace in the Journal Sentinel’s property tax rankings.  To make the annual comparison, the Journal Sentinel uses consolidated tax rates that have been equalized – in other words, assessed tax rates that have been adjusted to reflect 100% of the full market value of a residence. Each community’s equalized property tax rate is then applied to a house worth $200,000.  This is the most accurate way of comparing communities, since assessment practices vary by municipality and can be less than the full market value of a residence.  In the newspaper’s comparison of 2008 vs. 2007, parts of Bayside in Milwaukee County, Saukville in Ozaukee County, Erin in Washington County, and Delafield in Waukesha County saw the largest reduction in their ranking.  That means that, relatively speaking, those areas have reduced their level of taxation significantly in comparison with neighboring communities.

Here’s a breakdown by county:

MILWAUKEE COUNTY

Residents of the Milwaukee County part of Bayside enjoyed a reduction in the rankings.  The part of Bayside that is served by Fox Point-Bayside schools dropped the most, from fourth to 11th, among the 29 taxing areas in Milwaukee County.  The part of Bayside in the Maple Dale-Indian Hills School District also dropped, from 15th to 19th.  The theoretical tax bill in both parts of Bayside was around $4,300 – nearly $1,000 less than top-ranked West Milwaukee, where the bill was $5,222.

OZAUKEE COUNTY

Among cities and villages, the largest drop was recorded in the Village of Saukvillethat is served by the Port Washington-Saukville School District. The ranking went from fifth to 11th among the 15 cities and villages.  The theoretical tax bill in that part of Saukville was $3,280 – nearly $550 less than the bill in the part of Bayside that is in Ozaukee County, which ranked first among cities and villages.  Brian Biernat, development director for the Village of Saukville, said it is difficult to know why the rankings change because there are a variety of taxing entities. But he noted that, until the recent economic downturn, Saukville had seen commercial development increase at twice the rate of residential development.  “We had a very good run for about three or four years,” Biernat said. “Clearly the village has benefited from that surge.”  Among the 13 town taxing districts, three dropped three places in the rankings.  The part of the Town of Grafton that is served by Grafton schools dropped from second to fifth, while the part served by Port Washington-Saukville schools dropped from sixth to ninth; the Town of Port Washington dropped from third to sixth.

WASHINGTON COUNTY

The tax bill in the part of Erin that includes the Richfield School District dropped 10 places to a rank of 27. That moved that part of Erin from the top half to the lower half among the Washington County taxing districts that encompass towns.  Its theoretical tax bill was $2,572. That’s $760 less than the bill in the part of the Town of Addison that ranks first among town taxing districts.  Elliott Moeser, district administrator for Richfield schools, said he didn’t know why the ranking dropped because the school district raised its levy after its enrollment increased. But the increase follows growth in enrollment, which is good, he said.  “I think we’re a quite healthy school district, and I intend that it’s going to stay that way,” Moeser said.

WAUKESHA COUNTY

Considering the city, village and town taxing districts together, there were some plunges in the rankings.  For example, the part of the Town of Delafield that includes Lake Country schools dropped from a ranking of 51 in 2007 to 110 in ’08.  Similarly, the part of the town that is in both the Lake County schools and the Lake Pewaukee Sanitary districts dropped from 47 to 105.  In both those areas, the theoretical tax bill was under $2,300.  Mark Lichte, superintendent of the 540-student Lake Country district, said his district levied about $80,000 less this past year, which would partially account for the decline in the rankings. But Lichte said he believes the rankings are more affected by school districts that raise their property tax levies as their enrollments grow.