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April tax bills reflect the old assessment rolls...only enhanced star need to reapply
Release Date: April 03, 2016
Many residents contacted me this weekend. They just received their tax bills which are due at the end of April. The dollar amounts are using the old assessment numbers. The reason: The tax rolls are finalized in September- not in April. Between now and September Tyler, the Assessor and the Board of Assessment will continue to make modifications in the assessment numbers that you received last month. This is in compliance with NYS law. The new assessment numbers will be finalized in September of this year and taxes will be based on those numbers starting in 2017. Other questions: Do you have to reapply for STAR? The answer: Only if you receive the enhanced STAR benefits (which is income based for seniors).
The Assessor, Edye McCarthy and Town Board want to make sure that you are assessed correctly. When I met with the Assessor on Saturday at Town Hall she indicated that about 2,000 property owners out of 28,000 have so far contacted Tyler technologies making appointments for informal hearings to seek adjustments in the tentative assessment numbers. If you have not asked for an appointment yet please call Tyler at 1-800-273-8605. There are closer to 6,000 properties that will experience tax hikes after the reassessment is completed. I'm hopeful that those who feel that Tyler's estimated property values were wrong will seek a meeting so that Tyler could make appropriate adjustments.
28,000 properties are a lot of properties to assess at one time (the first reassessment in 60 years). Tyler is making some adjustments. If residents meet with Tyler and in June you're not satisfied with the results - the Assessor (at that time) has the option to make adjustments. And you also have the opportunity to file a grievance with the Citizens Board of Assessment Review. Look at the letter you received from Tyler last month as only a first draft. The final rolls won't be finalized until September.
During the past few weeks the Assessor, Deputy Assessor, staff in the assessors office and I have been meeting with many residents --answering questions, providing them with records they are requesting that will help them when they meet with Tyler and discussing process. We're more than willing to meet with individuals, neighborhood civic associations, even a handful of your neighbors during this process. We share similar goals: No one wants you to pay more than your fair share in taxes. If you would like to schedule a meeting with me and the Assessor or Deputy Assessor to discuss the process or to obtain more information about your own property, please e mail me at pfeiner@greenburghny.com.
What should you bring to Tyler when you meet with them? photographs (inside and out), cost estimates of any work completed or in the process, an appraisal or a market analysis from a realtor, sales listing or contract of sale, comparable sales in your neighborhood, and lastly, everything and anything you feel would change the value of your home, such as, but definitely not limited to: your property floods, you live on a busy corner, or close to a highway or commercial property or tension wires, etc. another example, may be, your kitchen and bathrooms have not been updated or they have, or the house is under construction. Again, the more you tell them, the more information they will have to assess your property correctly. By law, you do not have to let them, but it would surely help if they request an inspection. There is a lot of information on the town website: www.greenburghny.com (home page). We are also adding more information on the Assessors page (on the left side of the home page there is a category called departments. Click Assessor and you'll find some additional helpful info.
We are also planning to try to come up with some recommendations that could ease the impact of tax hikes for those who will be reassessed upwards. Most people in town will see no impacts or tax cuts as a result of the reassessment. But -others will experience hikes and it would be great if we could figure out a way to help them. Please continue to e mail me your suggestions: pfeiner@greenburghny.com. Some of the mitigation recommendations will probably require State Legislative approvals.
Finally--although some people are upset that we are reassessing after 60 years because their taxes went up-- it should be pointed out that reassessment is not a revenue generator for the town. The goal is fairness: people living in the same kind of house should pay similar taxes --not thousands of dollars in different amounts. Over the years some people added additions to their properties without notifying the town. During the reassessment process we're able to adjust the taxes on these homes -based on the additional work that was done. There are taxpayers who have been overpaying for years. Now, after the reassessment is implemented their taxes will go down and they will pay only their fair share. And--once the reassessment is completed we should see fewer grievances. The town, school, county, fire districts have been issuing up to $10 million per year in tax refunds, paying significant dollars in defending these certiorari actions in legal costs. That will slow down. So in summary - it was important to reassess. However - we want to make sure that your properties are assessed correctly.
Members of the Town Board are also interested in hearing from you. Feel free to e mail the entire Town Board at town board@greenburghny.com. Francis Sheehan, Diana Juettner, Ken Jones, Kevin Morgan and I want you to have confidence in what you're doing and we would be happy to respond to your questions and suggestions. The Town Board also approved a law requiring periodic reassessments approximately every five years so the town will never experience this tax shift again.
PAUL FEINER
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