Your Property Tax Bill, Broken Down

The owner of a $400,000 home in Whitefish Bay will pay $72 more in tax this year, with an overall tax bill of $9,008.

If you are paying your taxes in full, payment must be received on or before Jan. 31, 2012. For residents who want to deduct the tax in their 2011 federal income taxes, will be closed on Saturday, but if you drop it in the box before midnight, it will be registered as filed in 2011. Village Hall will also be closed Sunday and Monday.

Below is a breakdown of how the money is allocated to each governmental entity, according to the village website.

• Twenty-two percent of your tax bill will go to the village. The village tax levy , from $10.3 million to $10.5 million. The village tax rate increased 2.39 percent to $5.18 per $1,000 of assessed value to $5.31 per $1,000 of assessed value.

• Fourty-four percent of your tax bill will go to the . The school district's tax levy , from $21.5 million to $21.1 million.

• Nineteeen percent of the money will go to Milwaukee County. The county's portion of the overall tax levy rose 5.3 percent, from $8.8 million to $9.2 million. 

• Eight percent goes to Milwaukee Area Technical College. MATC's portion of the overall levy will increase 0.81 percent from $3.77 million to $3.81 million.

• Six percent goes to the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District. MMSD's portion of the overall levy rose 4.15 percent from $2.8 million to $3 million.

• One percent will go to the state. The state property tax levy dropped 0.62 percent from $337,937 to $335,843.
  
  

If you would like help with your taxes, the TaxAide program prepares state and federal tax returns without charge for middle and low income taxpayers at the and at about a dozen other sites in Milwaukee County each tax season.

The service is designed for older persons, but it does not exclude persons of any age. There is no income limitation, but they do not do returns that are unusually complex. The group has operated at the library for at least the past six years with sponsorship and funding by the Internal Revenue Service and the AARP Foundation. All tax counselors are unpaid.

Tax counselors are available from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. each Wednesday from Feb. 1 through April 11. Appointments are not necessary.