Dorchester Times: Saline County Property Taxes Above Average -- For Nebraska And U.S.

Monday, December 9, 2013

Saline County Property Taxes Above Average -- For Nebraska And U.S.

Ever wondered how Saline County's property taxes compare to those in other parts of the country -- or even other Nebraska counties?

CNN Money has an interactive map showing the average amount of annual property taxes paid in every U.S. county from 2007-2011, based on data from the Tax Policy Center.

Saline County's annual property tax bill was an average of $1,816 per property. That's above average compared to the rest of Nebraska. While Saline County is considerably lower than Lancaster and Seward counties, and slightly lower than Gage, it is much higher than York, Fillmore, Jefferson and Thayer counties. Thayer County, for example, saw an annual property tax of $1,020.

(Note: Recall our story from August that Crete and Friend school districts have significantly higher property tax levies than Dorchester. That must be kept in mind when analyzing the Saline County figure.)

In our state, the counties with the highest average annual property tax burdens were Sarpy ($3,348), Douglas ($2,853), Washington ($2,849), Lancaster ($2,793) and Cass ($2,732). The Nebraska counties with the lowest average annual property tax burdens were Wheeler ($790), Blaine ($815), Hitchcock ($859), Grant ($862) and Hooker ($867).

On the national level, 60% of U.S. counties reported annual property taxes averaging between $500 and $1,500, says CNN Money.

The CNN Money map also shows property tax burden as a percentage of home price in each county; in this category, it is clear Nebraska has some of the nation's higher property tax burdens -- with several counties either at or near the 2% of home value range. Saline County's average property tax burden was around 1.9% the average home price. Over a decade, that certainly adds up.

See the map here.

In Nebraska, the property tax is levied only by local governments -- mostly school districts, counties, cities, and NRDs. The tax on real estate is levied based on the actual or market value of the real estate. Most is assessed at 100% of actual value, but ag land has been assessed at only 75% of actual value since 2007.

1 comment:

AnonymousDecember 9, 2013 at 5:43 PM
Enlightening. THank you for posting this information. Now we know why few people build expensive homes in Nebraska. THey end up paying for it several times over with our property taxes.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."