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Should New York State do more to help Western New York deal with the growing tax burden?
We know property taxes are high but the question is just how high? It might surprise you, but homeowners in Western New York are faced with a higher property tax burden than anyone else in the state.
“How is that fair to live in Medina and have the highest tax rate and nobody help us? I don’t understand that.” Molly Pritchard lives in the Village of Medina were residents have the highest tax burden of anywhere in the Finger Lakes region.
According to a report by the Empire Center, a fiscal watch-dog group, home-owners of the Orleans County village pay on average over $4,000 a year in property taxes. With an average home value of $73,000, Medina taxpayers fork over $57 per $1,000 of home value. That’s a significantly higher tax rate than the worst towns in the Albany region or in New York City.
Village of Medina Mayor Andrew Meier said, “There are precious few ways to reduce taxes inside the village short of eliminating services. Dissolution is one of those ways.”
Voters didn’t go for it but we want to know, should these communities be forced to dissolve and in turn eliminate vital services? What responsibility does the state have to help? We took that question to Ken Adams the commissioner of New York State Department of Tax and Finance. We’ll show you what he had to say coming up tonight on News10NBC at 5 and 6.
© 2015 WHEC
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