We're Number 1!

This past Saturday morning, I started my day by checking out the local news.  I perused the websites of the local newspapers and TV stations.  I looked for stories about New Cumberland to share with the community on my social media pages, New Cumberland News on Facebook and NC17070News on Twitter.  Well, I did find a news item about New Cumberland on www.Pennlive.com.  The headline read, 'New Cumberland budget holds line on taxes, fees.'  I scanned the article and found out that our taxes were being kept at 3.9 mills.  After that, I came across another story about Lemoyne having to raise their taxes.  I read through the article for more details, and found out that they were raising their tax rate from 2.1 mills to 2.3 mills.  That's when a bell went off for me.  Something didn't seem right.  I went back over to the article about New Cumberland and double checked the millage rate.  Yes, I had it correct, the article stated that New Cumberland is keeping the tax rate here at 3.9 mills.  Huh?  Lemoyne's current tax rate is 2.1 mills, soon to be 2.3, and ours is 3.9 mills?  Seems like a big difference between two neighboring towns. 

On a side note, I just to make sure I'm being clear, and want to again specify which tax I am talking about.  All property owners pay a county, municipal and school real estate tax.  The specific tax that I am talking about is the municipal tax, and that money goes to the borough in which one  owns property.  Also, a little information about what exactly a 'mill' is.  I found the following definition on the Cumberland County Website:  "A mill is a way to express tax rate.  One mill equals one thousandth of a dollar.  One mill is expressed as .001.  The tax is computed by multiplying the millage rate set by the taxing body times the assessed value of the property."  Here is the link to the page where I found this definition: http://www.ccpa.net/DocumentCenter/Home/View/6869 .

After discovering the difference in tax rates between our town and our neighboring town of Lemoyne, I decided to do a little more digging.  I wondered what residents in other West Shore and Cumberland County municipalities pay in taxes.

I did an internet search which took me to the Cumberland County Website.  There I found a page entitled "Property Assessment Forms and Resources."  Under the heading 'Real Estate Tax Forms' I found the file 'Current Real Estate Millage Rates.'  I clicked that title which opened the PDF file 2012 County and Municipal & 2012-2013 School Tax Rates.

This file offers a great deal of information about tax rates in Cumberland County.  Looking at ONLY the Real Estate Municipal column, I saw that New Cumberland has the highest Municipal Tax Rate in all of Cumberland County.

That's right, we're number 1 (drum roll, please) in municipal real estate taxes.

Listed below are the top 10 highest municipal tax rates in Cumberland County.
3.9 mills        New Cumberland
3.065 mills    Wormleysburg
3.058 mills    Carlisle Borough & 2nd, 3rd, 4th Annex
3.022 mills    Camp Hill
2.6 mills        Shippensburg Borough
2.58 mills      Mechanicsburg
2.434 mills    Newville
2.1 mills        Lemoyne (To be raised to 2.3 next year)
2.1 mills        Shiremanstown
2.05 mills      Lower Allen & L.A. Annex/Shire

Now, when you combine New Cumberland's municipal tax rate with the school tax and county tax, we fall lower on the overall list.  The West Shore School District, which serves New Cumberland and other municipalities, has one of the lowest school tax rates in Cumberland County at 9.3 mills. 

The view the entire 2012 County and Municipal & 2012-2013 School Tax Rates file, please click this link: http://www.ccpa.net/DocumentCenter/Home/View/8646

I encourage you to visit the Pennlive articles at these links:

New Cumberland Budget holds line on taxes

Lemoyne homeowners to see 9.5 percent increase in taxes next year