Property Taxes Are On The Rise in Niagara Falls

If you own a house or business in Niagara Falls, get ready to start paying a little more in property taxes in 2021.

According to reporting by the Buffalo News, officials in Niagara Falls passed a property tax increase for the 2021 Fiscal Year. The City Council's five members voted unanimously to raise tax rates for both residential homes and commercial structures in the coming year.

Tax rates for properties with a homestead designation are increasing by almost 3.5%, while rates for properties that do not have a homestead designation will increase by 1.5%.

In real money, homesteaded properties will pay $19.15 per $1,000 of assessed value and non-homesteaded properties will pay $28.08 per $1,000 assessed value. This means the property tax bill for a residential owner-occupied home in Niagara Falls with an assessed value of $100,000 will be approx. $1,915 per year. The tax on a non-owner-occupied home or a business with the same value would be approx. $2,808 per year.

Those numbers may not seem like a lot, but keep in mind that these figures do not include school taxes, or other taxes like water, sewer, garbage, or user fees.

Property tax rate increases can have an effect across all communities. Ultimately if landlords and businesses need to pay more in taxes, you can be confident those charges will be passed on to renters and consumers in the forms of increased rents and higher prices for goods and services.