ADDISON — Due to a combination of factors, the town Addison’s residential property tax rates dropped by 14.8 percent for the 2012-2013 fiscal year, while the town’s commercial property tax rate fell by 10 percent. 
Addison’s new residential rate is $1.5412 per $100 of assessed value, down from $1.8084.
That decrease of almost 27 cents translates to a tax bill that is about $534 lower for an Addison home assessed at $200,000, assuming its owners are not eligible for property tax relief.
In the 2010 tax year, the most recent for which the Vermont Department of Taxes has data published on its website, more than 70 percent of Addison households received prebates. Households that receive tax relief will pay less in taxes in 2012, but might not realize the entire amount of savings from the lower rate because they are also not paying the full amount of their bills.
Addison’s new commercial property tax rate is $1.5931, down from $1.7694.
That decrease of a little more than 17 cents means a tax drop of a little more than $170 for each $100,000 of assessed non-residential property.
There are several reasons for the lower taxes:
•  Addison’s Common Level of Appraisal (CLA) rose from 96.80 percent to 110.03 percent. Essentially, this means Addison’s assessments are above fair market value, according to state calculations based on the town’s real estate sales, and the state thus lowers school tax rates to adjust for that factor.
•  The Addison Central School board proposed and residents backed lower school spending that also removed a Department of Education tax penalty for excess per-pupil spending. ACS has faced the issue of declining enrollment in recent years, and officials have worked to cut school costs.
•  Selectmen in early July adopted a municipal tax rate — that which is needed to support spending on town government and roads — that dropped by 2.55 cents to 33.89 cents.
Addison residents, second-home owners and commercial property owners received their tax bills by the middle of July and have until Nov. 1 to make their payments, according to town officials.
Andy Kirkaldy may be reached at [email protected].