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Taxes and Fees
Dave Marrano, newly appointed Town Assessor, appeared before the Lancaster Town Board at their recent pre-meeting work session and informed them that he intends to appear before the board once a month “to circulate departmental reports.”
He passed out a December newsletter that depicted an example for the future on what the Assessor’s office was working on; new laws that the board may want to become aware of, etc. He told the board that by the next meeting he planned on having a more detailed trend analysis of what’s going on from a sales standpoint.
Real Estate Trends
Marrano declared that the good news was that according to the statewide Association of Realtors, third-quarter 07 vs. third-quarter 06, home sales in Erie County were up 3.6 percent (2,258 vs. 2,179) while throughout the remainder of the state the number is down 9.1 percent.
Statewide, over the same period, Erie County median sales price is up 2.6 percent ($118,000 vs. $115,000) while throughout the remainder of the state the number is down 5.1 percent.
“We are not experiencing in Erie County any of the fallout in the Sub Prime Mortgage Defaults being experienced in other parts of the country.”
Marrano referred to a 12/08/07 Buffalo News article where it was stated that fixed 30-year conventional and FHA mortgages have been our areas main source of mortgage money, while adjusted or variable rate mortgages were used on a limited basis.
Marrano said that he would provide the board with Lancaster numbers at the next meeting that will show that they also continue to increase – especially south of William and north of Pleasant View where a lot of new building is going on. “That has a positive impact on the homes that are already there.”
Marrano said that by January he should have a good feel for what’s going on in the town regarding residential and commercial property values and where we stand on the equalization rate.
Hopefully this positive information is not a precursor for another re-assessment and higher taxes for some that struggling to get by. Marrano openly declares that his office sets property values by market value sales. “We do not set the tax rates. We work with the tax rates set by the municipal government.”
Cold War Veteran Exemption
Marrano apprised the board of the new “Cold War Veterans Exemption. The exemption would cover cold war period veterans who served on active duty between 9/2/45-12/26/91, which is not covered by other periods of war (Korean, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf.).
The veteran would have to have one year of active duty service and would have been awarded the Cold War Recognition certificate authorized under Public Law 105-85, The National Defense Authorization Act. It works similar as the other Alternate Veterans exemptions giving a percent off their assessed value (now 10%).
When acted by the County Legislature, the town would pass a local law to adopt it.
Real Property Appraiser Position
In July of 2007, the Town Board passed a resolution to moved the Real Property Technician position to a Real Property Appraiser position. Marrano told the board that his office has begun the process to fill the position. Six candidates from the Erie County Civil Service list have expressed interest in applying for the position. As required by our residency rule, if hired, the individual would have to establish residency within Lancaster within six months.
Taxpayer Education Class
Marrano has set March 19, 2007 as the date for the Real Property Tax / Understanding the Assessment process. The class will be held at Lancaster High School.
“We will be reviewing a variety of issues, the Real Property Tax Law, how assessments are arrived at, the impact of tax rates and how challenges are made if you do not agree with your assessment. We will also take that class to the Senior Center.
Marrano declared that there are still several challenges (Article 7) out there. He claimed some people arguing their assessments come in fully unprepared; sometimes even with attorneys, and costing the town a lot of unnecessary time and legal expenses. A lot of this will be eliminated in the future by educating the challenging residents on what’s required before hearings are held.
Town Data
Marrano closed by giving some FAQ information.
1. There are 17,837 parcels in the Town of Lancaster:
16,892 taxable, 733 wholly exempt and 212 other such as Special Franchise, Utilities and Ceiling Railroads.
2. Behind STAR, the largest exemption Class in the Town is Veterans, followed by the Aged.
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