Commercial Property Taxes and the Idea of Non-Profits as a Revenue Problem

Here is the first of several charts I will present regarding local taxation in Rhode Island. The data on the charts is based on the statements of tax assessment and levies that were submitted to the Rhode Island Division of Municipal Affairs for taxes payable in the 2009-2010 fiscal year.

This chart considers at an oft-neglected distinction here in Rhode Island, the commercial/industrial property tax as separate from the residential property tax collected by each Rhode Island community. This information is needed to begin to answer the question of whether non-profit properties are creating a burden on the communities they reside in.

Before going on, I will make one technical note. Tax levy figures are not reported by the cities and towns to the Municipal Affairs department in a uniform fashion. Each municipality does use the same property classification structure, but the levy and assessment numbers indicate that there is some variation from community to community in what is counted as "residential" and what is counted as "commercial or "industrial", for the purposes of calculating the levy.

The charts below the fold show official "residential" and "commercial" property tax levy payable for 2009-2010 reported by each municipality, and then the set of estimates I made to try to group the same set of properties as "residential" or "commercial" in each city or town, including counting "mixed use" properties as residential, even though the state officials classifies them as commercial. Adjusted figures are used in this and the related posts. If anyone feels that their community is being slighted, send me an email, and I'll explain the adjustment.

Now, back to the substance...

Municipality	Commercial/Industial Property Tax Levy	Population	C/I Revenue Per Resident
WestGreenwich	$5,045,106	6392	$789
Warwick	$59,352,130	84760	$700
Scituate	$6,735,672	10853	$621
Lincoln	$13,527,283	22049	$614
Middletown	$8,604,403	16037	$537
NewShoreham	$554,936	1035	$536
Newport	$11,902,138	23467	$507
Providence	$81,723,975	171909	$475
Smithfield	$9,956,735	21205	$470
WestWarwick	$12,266,274	29328	$418
EastProvidence	$18,275,984	48570	$376
EastGreenwich	$4,867,030	13337	$365
Cranston	$29,217,892	80126	$365
Johnston	$10,390,253	28613	$363
Pawtucket	$19,759,204	71953	$275
Portsmouth	$4,124,122	16892	$244
NorthKingstown	$6,377,864	26654	$239
Westerly	$5,545,175	23500	$236
NorthSmithfield	$2,716,469	11545	$235
Warren	$2,434,303	10897	$223
Foster	$941,127	4539	$207
Woonsocket	$8,329,958	43372	$192
NorthProvidence	$6,271,449	32742	$192
Coventry	$6,678,774	34935	$191
Narragansett	$2,986,771	16492	$181
SouthKingstown	$5,191,768	29195	$178
Richmond	$1,267,676	7646	$166
Cumberland	$4,747,695	34370	$138
Barrington	$2,170,455	16339	$133
Tiverton	$1,936,686	14905	$130
Exeter	$793,216	6309	$126
Bristol	$2,734,674	22306	$123
Hopkinton	$931,608	8013	$116
CentralFalls	$2,142,752	18716	$114
Glocester	$974,415	10552	$92
Burrillville	$1,320,805	16576	$80
LittleCompton	$244,556	3526	$69
Jamestown	$357,338	5473	$65
Charlestown	$469,547	8081	$58

Bristol, home of Roger Williams University, is relatively low in the amount of commercial property tax it has to use per-resident, but other private college towns (Providence, Newport, Smithfield) are near the top of the list in terms of commercial and industrial property tax revenue.

You can always make the argument that something not being taxed means that there is another source of money out there that more more more can be squeezed out of, but there doesn't appear to be a strong statewide case for non-profits overly depressing the amount commercial and industrial property tax dollars collected by the communities they reside in (unless maybe you want to use the progressive "logic" of if we're not #1 on a taxation list, it's evidence that taxes must be made higher).

In the end, if taxing non-profits is the best solution that a financially-strapped community is able to come up with to solve its fiscal problems, it is highly likely that the new revenue will quickly be absorbed by the same poor budgeting practices that created the problem, and that a new budget hole will soon reappear. No matter how many "new" sources of revenue are added, there is not enough revenue in the world to sustain faster-than-inflation growth forever.

Finally also shows, much to the chagrin of the pack-everyone-into-cities land-use planning advocates, that strip-mall/big box development (Warwick, Middletown) seems to be very lucrative in terms of commercial tax revenue.

Municipality	Official Residential Levy	Official Commercial/ Industrial Levy	Adjusted Residential Levy	Adjusted Commercial/ Industrial Levy
Barrington	$45,955,559	$2,382,819	$46,167,923	$2,170,455
Bristol	$28,369,973	$3,417,059	$29,052,358	$2,734,674
Burrillville	$18,130,995	$1,327,259	$18,137,449	$1,320,805
CentralFalls	$6,556,719	$2,556,979	$6,970,946	$2,142,752
Charlestown	$19,168,253	$654,588	$19,353,294	$469,547
Coventry	$47,313,148	$7,730,426	$48,364,800	$6,678,774
Cranston	$104,424,922	$38,378,994	$113,586,024	$29,217,892
Cumberland	$41,752,797	$5,197,228	$42,202,331	$4,747,695
EastGreenwich	$33,017,627	$5,665,567	$33,816,164	$4,867,030
EastProvidence	$46,185,485	$23,560,517	$51,470,018	$18,275,984
Exeter	$9,685,430	$1,008,298	$9,900,512	$793,216
Foster	$8,562,944	$970,387	$8,592,205	$941,127
Glocester	$17,502,989	$1,339,663	$17,868,237	$974,415
Hopkinton	$13,769,645	$1,173,367	$14,011,403	$931,608
Jamestown	$16,651,975	$544,479	$16,839,115	$357,338
Johnston	$42,607,948	$10,875,513	$43,093,208	$10,390,253
Lincoln	$27,435,864	$14,997,181	$28,905,762	$13,527,283
LittleCompton	$8,817,139	$296,978	$8,869,561	$244,556
Middletown	$26,799,372	$10,281,855	$28,476,824	$8,604,403
Narragansett	$37,272,667	$3,081,649	$37,367,545	$2,986,771
Newport	$41,480,624	$16,337,968	$45,916,454	$11,902,138
NewShoreham	$6,804,566	$645,953	$6,895,583	$554,936
NorthKingstown	$52,114,663	$6,977,775	$52,714,574	$6,377,864
NorthProvidence	$40,599,554	$11,935,884	$46,263,989	$6,271,449
NorthSmithfield	$17,355,196	$3,688,192	$18,326,920	$2,716,469
Pawtucket	$52,024,572	$24,734,726	$57,000,094	$19,759,204
Portsmouth	$36,851,797	$3,528,586	$36,256,260	$4,124,122
Providence	$128,895,035	$113,190,529	$160,361,589	$81,723,975
Richmond	$12,235,933	$1,310,562	$12,278,818	$1,267,676
Scituate	$15,407,626	$7,008,646	$15,680,600	$6,735,672
Smithfield	$28,057,821	$10,194,444	$28,295,530	$9,956,735
SouthKingstown	$53,122,982	$6,538,397	$54,469,610	$5,191,768
Tiverton	$26,723,723	$2,504,971	$27,292,009	$1,936,686
Warren	$16,053,053	$2,615,058	$16,233,808	$2,434,303
Warwick	$111,794,115	$67,943,808	$120,385,793	$59,352,130
Westerly	$49,749,172	$6,209,834	$50,413,830	$5,545,175
WestGreenwich	$9,354,140	$5,175,052	$9,484,085	$5,045,106
WestWarwick	$33,331,160	$13,294,441	$34,359,326	$12,266,274
Woonsocket	$28,311,845	$8,704,847	$28,686,734	$8,329,958