Medina community again tops region with highest tax rate
Holley and Albion also among the highest
MEDINA – The Medina community again tops the lists of communities with the highest tax rates in the Finger Lakes region.
Medina’s cumulative rate of $56.40 for village, county, school and town (Shelby) was the most for 2018, according to a report from the Empire Center. The organization does the ranking annually, and Medina has led the Finger Lakes for several years, with other Orleans County communities not far behind.
The top 10 for highest tax rates in the region include:
1. Medina (Town of Shelby) in Orleans County – $56.40
2. Mount Morris in Livingston County – $55.45
3. Medina (Town of Ridgeway) in Orleans County – $55.37
4. Holley (Town of Murray) in Orleans County – $54.46
5. East Rochester in Monroe County – $51.08
6. Palmyra in Wayne County – $50.47
7. Seneca Falls in Seneca County – $50.29
8. Warsaw in Wyoming County – $49.82
9. Albion (Town of Gaines) in Orleans County – $49.58
10. Albion (Town of Albion) in Orleans County – $49.49
Medina’s cumulative tax rate isn’t the highest in the state. At Sloan, a village in Erie County, the tax rate for village, town school and county is $62.48, the highest in the state. Binghamton leads the Southern Tier with a $58.88 rate and Fulton is the highest in Central NY at $56.65.
Although the tax rates are high in some local villages, the average tax bill in Orleans County isn’t among the highest because the assessed values in the villages tend to be low.
In Medina, with a median home value of $71,300, the median tax is $4,021, according to the Empire Center report
In Pittsford, a Monroe County town, the median tax bill is $10,709, the highest in the Finger Lakes region. That is about 2 1/2 times the tax bill in Medina.
The Empire Center said high tax rates tend to depress home values.
“New Yorkers pay some of the highest property taxes in the nation,” the Empire Center said. “However, property tax burdens within the Empire State differ widely.”
