Quote:
Originally Posted by John Mercier
Because the State uses it for accounting purposes.
Should a school district not raise enough from the State Ed Property Tax to cover the per pupil education grant number with modifiers from the State, the State sends money (usually collected from Business Taxes... but other non-dedicated sources can be used) to cover the difference.
The ConVal lawsuits, I put them together but they are separate, argue that the State education adequacy numbers do not cover the mandates as required; and the other argues that allowing the district to retain excess State Ed property tax is unconstitutional.
You will know when it changes... the State Ed rate will jump by an estimated three to four times the current amount, and your School rate will increase for the offset of what it does not get to retain.
It sounds like more of you need to pay attention to your taxes and what they are being used for.
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We are dancing around semantics here.... and accounting practices... bottom line is money does go to the state, and then is supposed to be funneled back to the town..... The thought is it never leaves the town, and on paper is drawn that way.... I will agree with that
However as I have been looking at the numbers for Moultonborough, I can see that there is more going to the state then needs to, because of where the state set the rate for Moultonborough... Now this is because the numbers are likely adjusted to account for a percentage of property Taxes not getting paid etc., in short accounting in the margins....
There is gray area between what you state/believe and reality, just like there is gray area between what I state/believe and reality....
I have been following the ups and downs of the Property Tax on my families property since we bought in 1994, I have never seen Property tax fluctuate Year to Year the way I see it happening in NH... At the end of the day, that is what speaks volumes to me... It isn't always about education, although that is what we have focused on here. There are many factors involved, NH has a cash cow, which is non-resident second home owners.... and they tap into it at will....
They have no reason to worry, because we desire to own our property and when we decided to no longer desire it, there are plenty of people waiting in the wings.... This has lead to poor money management....... I have lived in a variety of different places, and own property in a variety of different states.... Why is it Property Tax in NH is always a hot topic? IMHO, because NH needs to revamp properly many of their funding schemes, from infrastructure, to schools, to the government itself, etc.