GO Bonds and |
| Property Taxes |
2018 Library GO Bonds will cost homeowners The State property tax rate to pay for all G.O. bonds is held constant. In any particular bond cycle, the *DFA and **LFC determine a total capacity available based on paying off bonds sold ten years ago and on current property valuation. Thus, in order to maintain a constant property tax millage rate, they determine a certain amount of bond capacity. This year, that amount was $166,000,000. That is the amount that the legislature divided up into four categories: A.Senior Centers - $10,770,000 B.Libraries - $12,876,000 Since the amount allocated to the libraries in the 2016 bond issue was $10,167,000, this year's amount is 27.5% higher than the last cycle, the amount of millage devoted to paying off the 2018 library bond will be correspondingly more than in 2016. But within the total package, it is still only 8% of the total. The State uses the example of the property tax cost to a homeowner of a home valued at $100,000. There is the variable that when the value of the property increases over past years, the tax will be correspondingly greater. The maximum size of the bonds is $166,013,000 Based on current projections, the State Board of Finance estimates that this is the maximum bond size that can be issued while keeping the State property tax mill levy roughly flat at the current rate of 1.36 mills. If all four ballot issues are approved by the voters in November 2018, the average cost to the owner of a property worth $100,000 over a 10-year period will be $8.91 per year. Of that $8.91 average cost per year, $0.58 is attributable to the senior facilities ballot, $0.69 to the library acquisitions ballot, $0.33 to the school buses ballot and $7.31 to the higher education ballot. Absent voter approval of these bond issues, the State property tax mill rate could be expected to decline slightly. By Joe Sabatini
*Department of Finance and Administration - The Executive Department that manages state finance |