Residents have been lining up at Mount Pleasant Village Hall to pay their taxes this week. Chances are good the line will be twice as long Monday, the last day of 2012 when taxes can be paid and still count for the property tax deduction come tax filing time.

But where does your property tax go? Residents have asked Patch for an easy-to-understand explanation so we put together two pie charts that hopefully shed a little light on how the village uses property taxes.

It is worthy to note that while the tax levy makes up a large portion of the village's revenues, Mount Pleasant also funds services through other means like fees for ambulance service and municipal citations.

The total budget for 2013 is $16,917,113.

Getting a piece of the pie

Mount Pleasant property owners in 2013 will pay $7.42 per $1,000 of assessed value. For a home worth $200,000 - about average in the village - that comes to $1,484 for the year. Keep in mind this is only what the village collects and represents just a piece of the total tax bill.

As is the case in most communities, protective services get the largest piece of the pie; a full 75 percent. Police, fire and rescue all fall under this category and it includes salaries, benefits, equipment, vehicles and the buildings needed by the departments.

Up next is the highway, or public works, department. Repair and maintenance of streets, snow plowing, and the salaries and benefits of personnel all fall under this category, with an allocation of about 10 percent of the total budget.

The remainder of the budget is split between administration (the clerk's office, economic development and elections, for example), sewer, stormwater, and various maintenance services like cleaning and HVAC upkeep.

Your total tax bill

The total tax bill in Mount Pleasant comes to $21.98 per $1,000 of assessed value. In addition to the village, property owners also pay taxes into the Racine Unified School District, technical college district (Gateway), the county and the state.

For the same $200,000 home used as our example, the annual bill comes to $4,396.

Out of that amount, RUSD takes 47 percent; Mount Pleasant gets 34 percent; the county gets 18 percent; and Gateway and the state split the final percentage point.