Though the value of your property affects your share of taxes, the actual amount you pay is determined by the budget needs of the schools, city, county, technical college, and state reforestation. All of these taxing units decide what services they will provide in the coming year and how much money they will need to provide those services. Once this decision is made, a tax rate is adopted that will generate the needed dollars. Your property taxes are then determined by applying the annual tax rate (in the form of dollars per thousand), multiplied by your total assessment divided by 1000. Example: If the total assessed value of your property were $75,000, you would multiply the tax rate (also known as mill rate) per thousand times 75. ($75,000/1000).
Utilizing the 2005 City of Superior tax rate of $19.54 per $1,000 would result in the following real estate tax estimate:
(75,000/1000) 75 X $19.54 = $1465.50
Tax rates change on an annual basis. The total tax dollars (levy) to be collected is determined by the overall budget needs of the governmental and educational entities that require our tax dollars to provide the services we demand and expect. The total amounts of the levy (budgets) are then divided by the total assessed value of the community to determine the overall tax rate for that given year.