Dorchester Times: Not Even Close: Dorchester Has Lowest Property Taxes In County

Monday, July 25, 2016

Not Even Close: Dorchester Has Lowest Property Taxes In County

Over the years, this publication has tracked property taxes and how our tax dollars are spent.

Today, we take another look at property taxes levied in Saline County, specifically by our public school boards. (Remember, property taxes are levied and collected by local government -- not the state or federal government.)

In 2015, the latest year available, Saline County's taxing entities collected more than $33.4 million dollars in property tax revenue. School districts took nearly 64% of that amount -- or $21.1 million.

Here's where your property tax dollars go if you live in Saline County, by percentage:

* Your school district: 64%
* County government: 20%
* Your city: 7%
* Your community college district: 5%
* Misc. (NRD's, ESU's, etc.): Remaining 4%

Since we now know that almost 64% of our property tax dollars go to pay for our local school districts, how do area schools compare when it come to tax rates?

Here's a look at the rates of area schools. (Generally speaking, these tax rates tell us about the financial condition of each school district and their board members willingness to tax and spend. Remember, only voters in a particular school district can hold a school board accountable for its taxing and spending decisions.)

School District 2015 Tax Rate

CRETE $1.29 for every $100 of valuation (includes bonds of $0.07 and $0.16)
FRIEND $1.08 (includes bond of $0.14)
MILFORD $0.99 (includes bond of $0.04)
WILBER-CLATONIA $0.91 (includes bonds of $0.01 and $0.08)
MERIDIAN $0.72
DORCHESTER $0.70 (includes bond of $0.08)
EXETER-MILLIGAN $0.68

What does this mean in real life?

CRETE: If you have a $150,000 residence or commercial building in the Crete School District, you're paying $1,935 -- and that's just the school portion of your property tax bill. Add the remaining liabilities and you'll own more than $3,020 on your $150,000 property in the Crete School District.

FRIEND: Move that same $150,000 property to the Friend School District, you'll pay $1,620 for the school portion of your bill, and more than $2,530 overall.

WILBER: That $150,000 property in the Wilber-Clatonia School District means you'll pay $1,365 for the school portion, while you dish out roughly $2,130 overall.

DORCHESTER: That $150,000 property in the Dorchester School District means your bill will come down to $1,050 for the school portion, and roughly $1,640 overall.

Now here's the real kicker.

Over a decade of property tax payments -- based on 2015 figures -- your total property tax bill for that $150,000 property in the Crete district would be $30,200.

In the Friend district, your total would $25,300.

In the the Wilber-Clatonia district, $21,300.

And in the Dorchester district, $16,400 -- or about $14,000 less than you would have paid in the Crete district, or $9,000 less than the Friend district, or $5,000 less than the Wilber-Clatonia district.

Why the big difference?

No matter what the elites in Omaha and Lincoln -- and the state Legislature -- say, smaller schools really are more economical in most cases. Crete is Class B and Wilber is C-1.

Moreover, Dorchester school board members and district voters made a good call in 2007 when they chose build a new school at a time of lower costs. School boards that chose to expand more recently -- and voters who gave them the OK -- have paid a high price.

2 comments:

AnonymousJuly 26, 2016 at 1:56 PM
That is WAY less than I pay in income taxes... Why are so many people pissed about their property taxes when we're getting hoodwinked on income taxes??? Someone needs to explain it to me!
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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."