White Plains last year had the highest total taxes per capita among cities in New York, while Binghamton had the highest effective property-tax rate in the state, a review Monday found.

Albany had the highest effective property-tax rate — which is the total raised through property taxes divided by adjusted full value of the municipality’s total property — among large cities at 1.22 percent. Overall among cities, Binghamton led the pack at 2.51 percent, the Empire Center for State Policy found.

Among the state’s 62 cities, White Plains had the highest per capita taxes at $1,898, and the Westchester County city also had the highest per capita spending at $3,716.

White Plains Mayor Thomas Roach disputed the report, saying White Plains is a commercial hub. He said White Plains has more than 200,000 people during a workday, and residential property owners only provide about 30 percent of the city’s revenue.

He said to take the amount collected in taxes and divide it by the number of residents, which in White Plains’ case is about 58,000, paints an unfair picture. For the per capita rate, the report includes any sales tax or usage tax collected by a municipality.

“We’re a huge economic engine for the region, which benefits our taxpayers,” Roach explained, adding that the city has strong bond ratings and has stayed under the property-tax cap.

Rye ranked second in taxes per capita at $1,500, and Yonkers ranked third at $1,381. They are all in Westchester, which has among the highest property taxes in the nation. The city of Rochester ranked eight at $2,675 per capita, the group said.

Geneva, Ontario County, had the highest per capita debt at $3,318. The group calculated the rates through its Benchmarking New York online tool.

“New Yorkers are paying some of the highest property taxes in the country, and Benchmarking New York is a powerful tool that lets them see exactly how their taxes compare to those in other communities,” said Tim Hoefer, executive director of the conservative, Albany-based group.

It found that Lewis County in northern New York had the highest expenditure among counties in New York, at $4,659 per capita. Westchester ranked fourth at $2,670, while Broome County ranked fifth at $2,655.

The small Adirondacks town of Newcomb had the highest expenditure and taxes per capita among New York towns. Among villages, the Fire Island village of Saltaire had the highest expenditures and taxes per capita — a whopping $58,566 per home owner, which totals about 37 year-round residents.

Elmira ranked eight in highest effective property-tax rate at 1.7 percent, the group said.

Binghamton Mayor Richard David, who took office this year, said the prior administration raised property taxes by 52 percent over the prior eight years. He said the city expects a 0.48 percent property-tax increase next year.

As for the findings in the report, he said, “Unfortunately it’s not surprising because of these recent increases we’ve had in the city.”

© 2014 Gannett News Service