County tax bills alarm residents

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January 25, 2012

— Medicaid inclusion causes confusion

LOHR McKINSTRY Press-Republican The Press Republican Wed Jan 25, 2012, 06:41 AM EST

ELIZABETHTOWN — Essex County lawmakers now say they regret their decision to break out Medicaid mandates on county tax bills.

That's because the bills that just went out show a 16.9 percent tax hike, instead of the 10.54 percent the County Board of Supervisors approved in December, prompting taxpayer alarm.

And some people even think the amount listed for the Medicaid share is a new tax the county just came up with.

SHOWING THE NUMBERS

The county may have shot itself in the foot with the action, Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah) said.

"I have had people question (this). Some people think that we have added a new tax, and I explain that we have been paying this (Medicaid share) forever; we are just showing you now how much we are actually paying."

CONFUSION

County Manager Daniel Palmer said his office started getting calls soon after the bills went out.

"Any time you get into math and percentages, people get lost, and they really don't understand it."

He said he may issue a press release or put a notice on the county website to clarify what happened.

"So it is difficult to explain, but I am going to try to see what we can come up with that we can get out there, and hopefully that will show what it (the county increase) really was."

COMPARISONS

The actual county tax-levy increase was 10.54 percent, but with state and Medicaid mandates figured in, it totaled 16.9 percent, and that was automatically printed on the bills.

The Medicaid amount is already figured in the county tax rate; supervisors just wanted to show constituents how much of a burden it is.

To make callers understand, Supervisor Daniel Connell (D-Westport) had to get people to compare their 2011 county tax bills to the ones for this year.

"If you can get them to look at last year's bill and then this year's bill and do the percentage, then they were OK."

JUMBLED FORMULA

County Real Property Tax Service Director Charli Lewis said the reason for the 16.9 percent showing on the bills is very complex.

"You have to compare this year's Medicaid amount to last year's Medicaid amount, which is a 2.5 percent increase. But that (Medicaid) is 41.4 percent of the total levy, so 2.5 percent times the 41.4 percent is a 1 percent increase.

"Then when you do the county tax line, which is 58.6 percent of the levy, which went up 16.9 percent, then it is 16.9 percent times the 58.6 percent, which is 9.5 percent, and you add the two together and you have your 10.5 percent increase."

Scozzafava said he felt that would be too difficult to explain to taxpayers.

"After I would tell that to one of my constituents, they would throw me out the window. We have to find a way to simplify this to better explain it that the 16.9 percent is not the amount that this Board of Supervisors voted to raise the levy."

MANY CALLS

County Treasurer Michael Diskin said he may be able to help with that, since his office has been getting a lot of phone calls about the amount on the tax bills.

"What I did was a little sheet for the people who answer our phones that actually has the dollar amount that we paid in Medicaid last year. We tell them this is what you paid last year in Medicaid — it doesn't show on there — (and) this is what you paid in county taxes last year, add those two together, and then add these two together, and you will come up with the (correct) figure."

Diskin said that explanation seems to work best.

"It has been helpful to explain it to them that way. Most people understood it when you broke it out that way."

Email Lohr McKinstry at: lmckinstry@pressrepublican.com