As can be seen, the range of property tax rates from the lowest to the highest is almost threefold. However, if tax rates were not equalized to the extent they now are, the potential variation from low to high could be seven-fold. It is important for boards and communities to understand that the great variations in tax rates do not result from superior or inferior financial management. This is not to say that certain amounts of expertise do not have some effect, but the large range in rates largely results from conditions beyond local control. All too often this consultant finds board members being critical of their own tax management efforts, when in reality they have usually not been causing what they perceive as high rates.
Reorganization is difficult enough without adding taxing problems to it.
This consultant's strong advice is that boards, administration, and citizens lay the taxing conditions on the table. Study them and make the necessary decisions. Almost always reorganization moves the tax rates of the two combining districts to their average, or slightly lower. This means that property owners of one former district will have a rate increase and the other a decrease.