Blanaid behan communications

Reducing School Taxes for a Large Property Owner
 

A large property owner and employer in a small community believed local school district taxes were increasing at an unsustainable rate, and were not reflective of actual costs. The belief was shared by many in the community, but had no basis beyond a vague “sense” of over-taxation.

School district officials had explained away significant annual tax increases as being the result of mandated expenses and a lack of efficiencies of scale found in larger districts.

Behan Communications Strategic Business Research team took a dispassionate, systematic approach to reviewing tax levies, budgets, student enrollments, district geography and demographics.

A review of the data — all publicly available — demonstrated taxpayers across the school district were hit with a cumulative 75% increase in the tax levy over a 10-year period, compared with a cumulative inflation rate of 22% for the same period. The