pOGDENSBURG — The vast majority of the highest taxed communities in the state’s north country region are located in St. Lawrence County, according to a report recently released by the civic watchdog group Benchmarking New York./ppThe report relied on data from the Office of the State Comptroller from 2014 to compile a so-called “all-in” property tax bill for communities around the state, a figure that includes a combination of county, town, village, city and school taxes./ppThe Benchmarking New York study looked at each region of the state — from the Long Island, Mid-Hudson and Mohawk Valley regions — to the Southern Tier, Western New York and the north country./ppIn the north country, St. Lawrence County had 14 of the highest taxed communities in the multi-county region that includes Jefferson, Lewis, Franklin, Clinton and Essex counties./ppAmong those, the city of Ogdensburg had the highest effective property tax rate in the region, according to the study, with property owners paying $51.36 per $1,000 of home value during 2014. /ppBy comparison, the lowest effective “all-in” tax rate in the north country, was levied on homes and businesses in the Jefferson County town of Orleans at a rate of $11.42 per $1,000. The township is located in the Indian River School District./ppOgdensburg led the region in high taxes with a combined rate of $51.36. The rate means a home with a median assessed value of $68,900 in the community would pay $3,538 in combined taxes, topping the north country tax burden list./ppThe other highest taxed communities in the county following the city of Ogdensburg are the village of Potsdam with a combined tax rate of $49.88, the village of Norwood with a rate of $48.74; the town of Madrid at $45.59 and the village of Massena at $45.58./ppThe communities of Louisville, Hermon, Canton, Oswegatchie, Stockholm, Morristown and Lisbon also made the top 20 list in St. Lawrence County./ppThe town of Lisbon, at number 20 on the tax burden list, had a combined rate of $38.33 of assessed valuation. The rate means a home in the township with an average value of $90,300 is paying $3,461 annually in combined taxes, according to the report./ppOgdensburg City Manager Sarah Purdy said Thursday that she has not yet read the tax report, but said the fact that Ogdensburg tops the list of north country communities with a hefty tax burden is not surprising./pp“It is not new news to us,” Ms. Purdy said. “With 59 percent of our property off the tax rolls due to being tax exempt, it is virtually impossible not to have a higher than average tax rate.”/ppIt addition to living with the burden of a large percentage of tax exempt property, Ms. Purdy said the city’s high tax rate is compounded by the nature the role of government itself. She said the fundamental nature of the city government is to provide services to the citizens that live in the community — even if that same citizenry is hard pressed to pay./ppShe points to the need to provide fire and police protection, street plowing and repair, other infrastructure repair, and the maintenance of public parks, libraries and green spaces./pp“It takes people to provide those services,” she said. “And so it should be no surprise that 70 percent of our budgetary costs are employee-related.”/ppThe remedy to the city’s rising tax burden, she said, is straight forward./pp“When you put these facts together it means that the city has to find new revenue, and we have to take a look at cutting back on service,” Ms. Purdy said./ppThe complete Benchmark, NY’s property tax review can be found http://www.empirecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Benchmarking2014rates.pdf/p
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