Scotia-Glenville Central School District officials were able to lop a little more off the tax increase in the district’s 2007-08 budget, but the state is adding to the tax bills of some and taking away from others.

The final tax rate set by the district’s Board of Education Monday reflected an increase of about 1.8 percent for property owners in the town of Glenville, which includes about 99.8 percent of the district.

District officials had projected a tax hike of about 2 percent when they sent the budget to voters in May, but Andrew Giaquinto, the district’s business manager, said the total assessed value of town property came in slightly higher than projected, leading to a slight decrease in the tax rate.

But, Giaquinto said, changes in aid to taxpayers through the state’s School Tax Relief (STAR) program mean town homeowners could see their tax bill decline sharply over last year or increase just as sharply, depending on their income.

“It’s very simple at my level to say we have a 1.8 percent tax increase, but it affects people differently,” Giaquinto said.

The STAR program offers assistance in two ways: exempting part of the property’s value from school taxes and providing rebates directly to property owners. The Basic STAR program is available to anyone who owns and lives in his own home, while Enhanced STAR provides a larger exemption to homeowners age 65 and over with an annual income of less than $70,650.

Giaquinto explained that STAR exemptions are adjusted every year by the state Office of Real Property Services. This year, he said, the amount homeowners could deduct from the assessed value of their homes was cut by 5 percent after state officials reduced the town and village equalization rates from 100 percent to 90 percent.

Equalization rates are assigned by the state to reflect how closely a municipality’s assessments reflect the actual value of property. For example, a home in the town of Glenville with an assessed value of $160,000 is considered by the state to have an actual value of $176,000, based on the 90 percent equalization rate.

“The districts have no control on STAR,” Giaquinto said. “We don’t set the equalization rate, we don’t set the STAR exemption.”

Geoffrey Gloak, a spokesman for the Office of Real Property Services, said equalization rates are adjusted annually to reflect changes in the actual value of properties in municipalities that did not similarly adjust assessments. The STAR exemptions are similarly adjusted to reflect that change in actual value, he explained.

In fact, Gloak argued, the actual value of the STAR exemption in the town of Glenville increased because the cut in the exemption was smaller than the cut in the equalization rate. However, that value is not reflected in local tax bills, which do not take into account any change in the actual value of a home.

“Really what you’re looking at when you look at the assessed value is 90 percent of what the town feels the full value of the property is,” Gloak said. “And if you’re looking at the STAR benefit for this year, it really is 90 percent of the full value of the STAR exemption.”

While that cut in the equalization rate and resulting cut in the STAR exemption amplified the impact of the district’s tax increase, a change in the Middle Class STAR rebate program is responsible for the wide discrepancy in tax bills. When the state implemented the program last year, it gave the same amount to all town homeowners enrolled in the Basic STAR program — $207.72 — and to all those enrolled in the Enhanced STAR program — $346.89.

This year, however, rebates through the Basic STAR program are based on household income, with the rebate ranging from $450.29 for homeowners with an annual income up to $90,000 to no rebate for those with income more than $250,000. As a result, the amount the owner of that home assessed at a value of $160,000 will pay in school taxes will drop by 7.7 percent if their income is less than $90,000 or increase by 13.6 percent if that income is more than $250,000.

Those in the Enhanced STAR program will see their rebates increase slightly — from $346.89 to $355.22 — but that won’t make up for the cut in their exemption, leaving the owner of a home with an assessed value of $160,000 facing a 7.3 percent tax increase.

“If you’re coming home from your job at GE or Golub, you look in the paper and see a 2 percent tax increase, but your tax bill isn’t going to be 2 percent,” Giaquinto said. “It’s going be some factor of that on either side of the equator.”