Annual Reassessments

TOWNS MAY DEFY STATE ON ASSESSMENTS:

Assessments in Essex County are going up — but only because the state is forcing them skyward.

When the State Office of Real Property Tax Services says assessments need to go up a certain percentage to put properties at full market value, refusal means a town doesn't receive any more assessing aid from the state.

But many town leaders say they're at the point where they don't care about the aid.
The state appears to be forcing higher assessments just for the sake of higher assessments, Supervisor Daniel Connell (D-Westport) said.

A town's assessments are supposed to be calculated using neighborhood property sales, but it doesn't end up that way, he said.

"They throw out all the lower sales, the family sales, so you just end up with your higher sales. The Town of Westport ended up with these million-dollar properties. The system needs to be changed."
Moriah would lose $16,000 in state assessment aid for being at 93 percent of full value this year, Supervisor Thomas Scozzafava (R-Moriah) said.

"It's just a horrible situation the (town) assessors are placed under. Some of them are just adjusting the roll by that percent. We need to get out of this once-per-year (reassessment) time frame."

A bill introduced by Sen. Betty Little (R-Queensbury) would stretch reassessment requirements to every three years instead of annually.
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State Real Property Tax Law does not require assessments to be at 100 percent of market value. The law does require assessments to be at a uniform percentage of market value in a municipality.

According to the State Office of Real Property Tax Services, there is no statutory mechanism for enforcement of the requirement.

But Scozzafava said that if they don't do what the state wants, they're penalized in School Tax Relief (STAR), veterans exemptions and state aid.
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The state puts towns under the gun to satisfy its requirements, Supervisor Anthony Glebus (R-Lewis) said.

"Maybe it's the time for all of us to band together. Something needs to be done to correct this unjust situation."

Supervisor Jeanne Ashworth (D-Wilmington) said Wilmington had to raise its assessments by 25 percent last year and wants 28 percent this year.

"The Town of Wilmington is looking at over a 50-percent (assessment) increase in two years. This is completely unrealistic."