The Fredonia Central School District’s 2017-’18 tax rates for its five townships are now set in stone.

Business Administrator John Forbes announced the updated rates during a recent board of education meeting. The rates (per thousand dollars of assessed value) are as follows:

¯ Pomfret — $121.55 (an increase of $1.71 over the previous school year)

¯ Arkwright — $45.27 (an increase of $1.80)

¯ Portland — $38.92 (an increase of 3 cents)

¯ Sheridan — $37.60 (an increase of $1.26)

¯ Dunkirk — $32.15 (an increase of 2 cents)

“I will point out that three towns — Pomfret, Arkwright and Sheridan — all had decreases in their equalization rate, and that, combined with the changes of assessed value, does change the rates (from when they were estimated in May),” Forbes explained. “The difference in the town of Pomfret is 9 cents higher, town of Arkwright’s $1.21 higher, the town of Portland’s decreased 50 cents, town of Sheridan is an increase of 76 cents and town of Dunkirk’s a decrease of 41 cents.”

Equalization rates stand as follows: 18.25 percent for Pomfret, 49 percent for Arkwright, 57 percent for Portland, 59 percent for Sheridan and 69 percent for Dunkirk. Those numbers are calculated by New York state based on total assessed value and total market value of a municipality, according to the state Department of Taxation and Finance.

No adjustments were made to Fredonia’s voter-approved tax levy, meaning it still stands at $15,822,024 as presented in May. In addition, no adjustments were made to the total budget, which continues to stand at $31,818,588. The board may raise and/or lower those two numbers for contingent expenses.

Starting today, property owners will be able to pay their school taxes at a new depository and site: Community Bank at 3909 Vineyard Drive, Dunkirk. The hours of collection at the bank are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Mondays through Wednesdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays.

“This will be a new location for tax collection,” Forbes pointed out. “We were unable to come to an agreement with M&T Bank again. It was an audit issue with M&T Bank …”

The tax collection hours at Community Bank last through Nov. 1, with the no-penalty period ending Oct. 6. Between Oct. 7 and Oct. 31, a delinquent tax penalty of 2 percent will be tacked on to the total amount due. Starting Nov. 1, the penalty will increase to 3 percent.

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