Town To Charge for Collecting School Taxes [POLL]

Clarkstown’s proposed one percent to collect school taxes will bring in about $1.8 million to the Rockland town's coffers. 

The town is allowed to add a processing fee for collecting school taxes, a job it is required to do by state law.  

Now, property owners will have to pay one percent more in their school tax bills than they expected, said Clarkstown School Assistant Superintendent for Business, Facilities & Fiscal Management John LaNave. 

The surcharge will add $80 to the average homeowner's 2012-13 bill in the Clarkstown school district. The Nanuet Board of Education late Wednesday afternoon objecting to the Town of Clarkstown’s proposed one percent surcharge for collecting school taxes, which will collect approximately $355,000 from the Nanuet school district. 

LaNave said although the town has had the authority to add a fee for collecting bills it never acted on it because of a reciprocal arrangement with the Clarkstown School District. The district has not charged the town to use school buildings for summer camp programs.  

"Clarkstown was the only Town of the five Towns in Rockland County that did not charge a processing fee," said Gromack. "Upon researching the issue we realized New York State mandates we collect the 1 percent fee unless the Town Board takes affirmative action to rescind it. With the Town facing over $3 million in costs being shifted from Rockland County Government to the Town, the Town Board decided to do what New York State law mandated us to do and collect the 1 percent processing fee."

This surcharge does not need to be passed by the Town Board. The surcharge will go into affect the next school district tax collection cycle (Sept 2012/2013), according to the attached memo.

Gromack said that the school districts that will be affected are Clarkstown, Nanuet, Nyack and a small portion of East Ramapo and that he, on behalf of the Town Board, personally contacted the Superintendents of Schools for Clarkstown, Nanuet and Nyack to inform them of this action.

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