Farmington's town tax rate for 2026 is $0.492597 per $1,000 of assessed value, according to Ontario County's published rate sheet. On a home assessed at $300,000, that comes to about $148 a year. The town's 2027 tentative budget proposes lowering the combined General and Highway rate again, to about $0.45 per $1,000.
So the town's share is small and getting smaller. The charges that decide what a Farmington home costs to carry come from somewhere else: which school district the parcel is in, which fire district covers it, which lighting, sidewalk, water and drainage districts its subdivision belongs to, and a sewer bill that never appears on the tax bill at all. Most of those layers are going up for 2027. Two homes listed at the same price can carry very different costs depending on which side of an invisible line they sit.
The bill, ranked by what actually moves it
Here is how the 2026 county rate sheet lays out Farmington's charges, applied to a $300,000 assessment before any exemptions. For context, Farmington last reassessed in 2025, according to the New York State Tax Department. Its equalization rate of 0.95 puts assessments at roughly 95% of market value.
| Layer | Rate per $1,000 | On $300,000 assessed | Set by |
|---|---|---|---|
| School tax, Victor CSD | 12.869895 | $3,860.97 | Which district the parcel is in |
| School tax, Pal-Mac CSD | 18.162073 | $5,448.62 | Which district the parcel is in |
| County | 5.492597 | $1,647.78 | Townwide |
| Sheldon Road Water District | 1.758641 | $527.59 | Parcel location |
| Canandaigua-Farmington Water District | 0.850003 | $255.00 | Parcel location |
| Farmington Fire Protection | 0.572999 | $171.90 | Parcel location |
| Town | 0.492597 | $147.78 | Townwide |
| Creekwood lighting district | 0.258573 | $77.57 | Subdivision |
| Hathaway lighting district | 0.002616 | $0.78 | Subdivision |
Only two lines on that table apply to every parcel in town: county and town. Everything else depends on where the house sits, and the gap between the highest and lowest school line alone is more than ten times the town line.
Four school districts share one town
Ontario County lists four school districts for the 2026–27 tax year within Farmington's boundaries. Each sets its own rate for the Farmington segment, and each adds a separate library rate on top.
- Victor CSD: 12.869895 school, 13.072265 with library
- Canandaigua City SD: 13.370834 school, 13.640502 with library
- Red Jacket CSD: 15.338275 school, 15.907005 with library
- Pal-Mac CSD: 18.162073 school, 18.173657 with library
On school tax alone, the spread from Victor to Pal-Mac is $5.29 per $1,000, or about $529 a year for every $100,000 of assessed value. On the $300,000 example that is $1,587.65 a year, and the buyer pays it every year they own the home. For anyone financing, it lands in the monthly escrow payment and counts in the debt-to-income math a lender runs, so the same purchase price can qualify differently depending on which district the parcel falls in.
These figures describe tax rates only. A district's rate reflects its own budget and its own tax base. It is a carrying cost to weigh, and it says nothing else about the district.
Your subdivision has its own line items
Farmington's newer neighborhoods come with their own small taxing districts for streetlights and sidewalks, and the county sheet names them one by one. Lighting districts include Auburn Meadows, Beaver Creek, Creekwood, Monarch Manor, Redfield Grove, Doe Haven, Farmbrook, Hathaway, Fairdale Glen's and Pintail Crossing, with 2026 rates ranging from $0.002616 to $0.258573 per $1,000. Calm Lake is billed at $31.15 per unit. Sidewalk districts run from $0.044029 in Redfield Grove to $0.115796 in Hathaway.
Taken one at a time, these are small numbers. What matters is the direction they are heading. The 2027 tentative budget says most lighting district rates will rise to cover the town's LED streetlight project, higher electricity costs and a required reserve for replacing a streetlight pole. It also says the rate is going up in every sidewalk district because of personnel and material costs.
Drainage District #1 is projected to rise from $0.283 to $0.321 per $1,000, an increase of about 13%. The budget attributes this to EPA inspection and documentation requirements and to a large Farmbrook subdivision drainage project planned for 2028–2029, which the town is spreading across three years of billing. A buyer closing in that district in 2027 helps pay for that project before it is built.
The Canandaigua-Farmington Water District rate is projected to move from $0.84985 to $0.88386 per $1,000. The budget also says the water usage rate will rise in 2027, citing bond financing for the Brickyard Water Tank Project, new water meters and savings for a future capital project.
The fire line just split three ways
Until now, Farmington's budget did not show separate fire rates for each district. The 2027 tentative budget is the first to break out each fire budget by the total assessment in that district, and the three districts move in different directions:
- Farmington Fire: projected at $0.589 per $1,000, up 2.88%
- Manchester Fire: projected at $0.404 per $1,000, down 29.43%
- Shortsville Fire: projected at $0.751 per $1,000, up 31.07%
A parcel in the Shortsville district and one in the Manchester district now carry fire rates nearly 35 cents apart per $1,000. That is close to the entire town rate. Last year's tax bill for a home on the market reflects the old method, so it may not match what the next owner pays.
The cost that never shows up on the tax bill
Sewer is the one line a buyer cannot find by reading a property tax bill. At the town's July 14, 2026 board meeting, officials said sewer operations are funded entirely by user fees, with no sewer tax, and that residences pay $95 per quarter. That is $380 a year, more than double the town's tax line on a $300,000 assessment, and it is billed separately.
The sewer budget is also growing faster than anything else in the town's numbers. The 2027 tentative budget puts it at $6,094,560, up $818,240 or 15.51% from 2026, all paid by users. Bigger projects are coming. At the July meeting, officials described a treatment plant upgrade estimated at up to $14.7 million. They said more than $900,000 a year currently goes to paying off the existing plant bond, part of which expires this year and the rest in 2028. Construction is expected in late 2027 or 2028, when that payment can be redirected to the new project.
Some outside money is helping. Finger Lakes Daily News reported in August that Farmington won a $1 million grant for wastewater improvements, including added capacity on Mertensia Road and a new force main from Pump Station No. 1. The town's budget says the grant supports 40 homes on NYS Route 96 and relieves sewer backups on Mertensia Road.
Why the town line stays low
Part of the reason the town rate stays so low sits on Route 332. Town officials said at the July meeting that they typically put $250,000 to $500,000 a year of Video Lottery Terminal money from Finger Lakes Gaming & Racetrack into the highway budget for equipment or road repair. They have also used it for fire equipment, a Town Hall addition and the highway garage. The 2027 tentative budget raises the Highway Fund by 33.52% to $5,077,776 for major road projects and two new plow trucks, and still proposes a lower combined rate. The racetrack money goes into the townwide budgets. It does not cover the school, fire, district or sewer lines.
The county layer is moving down a little too. A September report on Citizen Portal said Ontario County's Ways & Means committee advanced a tentative 2027 rate of $5.35 per $1,000, while the total county levy would still rise. The county's 2026 budget set this year's rate at $5.50. The Farmington Town Board scheduled its 2027 budget hearing and adoption resolution for its October 27 meeting.
Checking a parcel before you fall for it
Before comparing two Farmington listings, it helps to know every district each one sits in. Ontario County's free OnCOR parcel viewer does this.
- Search the parcel by address, tax-map ID or owner name.
- Turn on the "Special Districts" layer, which covers school districts, and the "Tax and Other Districts" layer.
- Match each district to its rate on the county rate sheet, and add the quarterly sewer charge if the home is on public sewer.
- Keep in mind that the seller's most recent bill reflects the seller's assessment and exemptions, and the 2027 district rates are still changing.
Everything above is general information about published rates. It is not tax, legal or financial advice, so please confirm your own figures with the assessor, your attorney or your lender.
At Deanna & Steve Nissen, we build these layers into the numbers before you make an offer, using the same full-payment view a lender will use, so the Farmington home you choose costs what you planned to spend. If you'd like us to work out the carrying costs on a home you're considering, Get in Touch.
