Joseph Spector

Albany Bureau Chief

ALBANY — The Rochester area last year ranked second in the nation in the amount of property taxes that homeowners pay compared to property values, a report Thursday found.

The average property taxes were $4,525 in the area. The average home value was $151,191.

That put the region's effective tax rate near the top of the nation's largest metropolitan areas. Binghamton was first, and Syracuse was fifth, the report from ATTOM Data Solutions, the parent company for RealtyTrac, said.

High property taxes put upstate at a competitive disadvantage, business and government leaders said.

"Unfortunately these high tax rates inhibit potential new residents from moving into the region, or new home buyers from purchasing their first new home," said Jennifer Conway, president of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce.

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Top of the heap

The issue of the amount of taxes paid compared to home value is a significant problem in upstate New York, where values are relatively low and taxes are high.

So the report found that of the 217 regions in the nation with a population exceeding 200,000, the Binghamton and Rochester areas ranked first and second in property taxes compared to the value of houses, called the effective tax rate.

Buffalo was 18th and Albany was 20th.

There has been some improvement: New York ranked seventh in the highest effective tax rate, which is the property tax as a percentage of home value. In the group's report in 2014, New York ranked first.

Monroe County Executive Cheryl Dinolfo said unfunded mandates continue to impact property taxes.

"In a county where job-killing state and federal mandates account for 85 percent of our budget, I fight everyday so taxpayers and residents in this community can have a strong economy with good-paying jobs," she said in a statement.

"Here in Monroe County, we have been doing our part to hold strong against property tax increases for years and will continue that record going forward."

Fighting property taxes

Part of the problem is a declining upstate population: With fewer residents, more of the tax burden falls on those remaining, Conway said.

"The high tax rate will continue to grow until we start to turn the tide on population decline in the region," she continued. "In order to grow the economy and bring residents back to Broome County, we need property tax relief for all."

Downstate, there's a different problem: Westchester County ranked first in the nation last year in total property taxes paid, the ATTOM report said.

Residents in Westchester, one of the nation's most affluent counties, paid on average $16,500 a year in property taxes, the report said.

"Property taxes are a major cost of home ownership and factor into a buyer’s decision to buy or not buy," said Daren Blomquist, a company spokesman. "They also impact a borrower’s debt-to-income ratio, which can impact a lender’s decision to lend or not lend."

New York's ranking

The figures are not surprising. State and federal reports over the last decade or more have shown that the lower Hudson Valley is tops in the nation in property taxes because of the high cost of its homes and money spent on its schools, which typically make up about two-thirds of a homeowner's bill.

State and local officials have tried to combat the issue, which critics say has aided the state's declining population.

The state Legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lives in New Castle in Westchester, implemented a property-tax cap in 2011. It limits the growth in property taxes to less than two percent a year.

Cuomo has railed against local governments for not doing more to share services and cut taxes. He is pushing a plan that would force them to do more to cut expenses.

"I have no problem looking at any town supervisor, any mayor, and saying, 'You owe the taxpayers this obligation, that you do everything you can to cooperate and find efficiencies before you ask them for more money to raise their property taxes,'" Cuomo said during a speech Jan. 23 in Plattsburgh.

Overall, New York ranked second in the nation in average property taxes at about $7,000. That was behind New Jersey at about $8,470 and slightly ahead of Connecticut at $6,960, according to ATTOM's report.

Nine counties had average property taxes of more than $10,000 a year: Westchester, Rockland and Nassau counties in New York; four counties in New Jersey; Fairfield County in Connecticut; and Marin County, California.

The report analyzed property tax data collected from county tax assessor offices nationwide.

The lowest property taxes were in the South, which does not rely heavily on property taxes to pay for programs and schools. The average property taxes in Alabama were the lowest: $776.