BY TIMOTHY LAROCHE
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CLAREMONT — A recent report named Sullivan County as having one of the best values in the state on return for tax dollars.
SmartAsset, a New York City-based data analysis group, gave Sullivan County the third spot on its list of best New Hampshire counties for return on tax dollars. Out of the state’s 10 counties, Rockingham County earned the top pick.
The study was based on 2016 census data, Federal Bureau of Investigations crime statistics and data from the New Hampshire Department of Education.
Analysts weighed the average school rankings, crime rates and property taxes of municipalities in each county to assign a value index score.
Rockingham County received the highest score in the state of 24.62, while Strafford County saw the lowest value index score at 2.22.
Sullivan County received a value index score of 21.72 for its average property tax rate of 2.61 percent, third best school rating and a crime rate of 2,151 per 100,000 people, sixth best in the state. Median home values for the county were $171,100, giving taxpayers in the county a median property tax payment of $4,151. The average tax rate was the second highest in the state.
School rankings were calculated by averaging the math and reading proficiency scores for all school districts in each county. The counties then were then ranked based on the average scores.
The school rankings and violent and property crime rates per 100,000 people were combined into a “community score” for each county. The study combined the community scores and per capita tax rates to give a value index score.
“This shows us the counties in the country that where people are getting the most bang for their buck, or where their property tax dollars are going the furthest,” the study said.
While the state has no sales or income tax, property tax rates in New Hampshire are the third highest in the country, behind New Jersey and Illinois. With few other sources of income, property taxes foster the brunt of the state’s revenue burden.
In Claremont, the largest population center in Sullivan County, the 2014 tax rate used in the study – $41.33 per $1,000 – was nearly double that of many other New Hampshire cities. However, with median homes values in the county being the lowest in the state, county tax payments were close to the statewide median.
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