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Re: (erielack)Taxes



In NY, property taxes are levied by cities and villages, towns, counties, 
and school districts. Town and county taxes are usually billed together, 
along with any other similar assessments. Mine in Tioga County include Tioga 
County, the Town of Owego, and an assessment for the Campville Fire District 
and solid waste disposal, which covers the recycling program and expenses 
involved with the transfer station. Those in incorporated villages also have 
a levy from those entities, which is included on the Town and County tax 
bill. Mine usually shows up around the beginning of December for the 
following year. School taxes are levied by the local school district, in my 
case Union-Endicott Central School District, and are billed at the beginning 
of September. The school districts do not directly overlay the towns or 
counties, so it can get confusing. In Elmira, the taxes would be levied by 
the City of Elmira and Chemung County, with the school taxes levied by the 
Elmira City School District. While the New York does not directly tax real 
property, decisions about state school aid and various other economic issues 
have a direct influence on local taxes(don't get me started!!), as does NY 
Municipal Law, which defines the various government entities and what they 
are permitted to do in terms of taxation, among other things.

My understanding is that the assessment for improvements to railroad 
property is significant, so much so that the crossover at QD(Prospect St in 
Binghamton) has never been made a power switch, despite the fact that doing 
so would add operational flexibility, as well as make life a lot easier for 
the crews who use it. NS has a cab under contract just to ferry crews who 
have to throw the switch and get back to the head end. It's no wonder EL 
paid so much in taxes on a line that had a lot of double track and 
associated structures and appliances. They would have paid taxes to about 23 
counties in NY, and probably four times as many towns and school districts, 
plus a smattering of villages and cities.

On 3.65 acres, my taxes were about $1400 for town and county, and my most 
recent school tax bill was $2170, up $170 from last year. I'm headed 
south....

Tom B

- ----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bill Herkner" <gwherk_@_earthlink.net>


> On 10/29/06 2:54 PM, "Janet & Randy Brown" <jananran_@_mymailstation.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I always thought that municipalities, not states, taxed property, and 
>> that
>> they taxed the improvements to the property, i.e.: tracks.  The reason 
>> often
>> given for removal of multiple tracks was "to reduce taxes."
>>
>> If that is so, two questions:
>>
>> 1) Is anyone paying taxres on the cutoff's land?
>>
>> 2) Isn't there a tax history in Elmira which could help support renewal?
>>
>> Randy Brown
>> --------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Taxes may not have been a problem on the cutoff since, when active, the 
>> cutoff
>> was classified as "main stem."  Class II properties, land outside main 
>> stem.
>> was the problem.
>>   Bill H 


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