Surprise,Surprise New Assessments sent out in Cheektowaga

As they do every year Cheektowaga;s Assessors office picked out several areas in the town and reassessed a number of homes to build up their tax base so they can continue having single percent tax increases and telling homeowners how good they take care of their spending.Meanwhile taxes have gone up at an alarming rate over the last 6 years,school taxes increase with the help of the reassessments,as they work hand in hand to tax us out of our homes.I think homeowners need to unite and file a lawsuit against the town charging them with using the reassessment procedure illegally.Most homes in my area went up $10,000 to $17,000,this will mean increases of $1000 or more using last years figures,not only have the youth left the area now many seniors will follow.

What percentage rate are they using for taxing real property in Cheektowaga? 80 % of full value or 100% of full market value?

They use 65% as their ratio,When Lancaster reasssessed their properties last year they lowered their per $1000 rates in school and town tax Cheektowaga raises their per $1000 rate along with school rate increase.They have using this method for the last 8 years and getting away with it,4 years ago I talked to the retiring chief assessor and he at that time told me he felt the way they were doing it was wrong but the Board along with the Supervisor felt this was a better way,each year they would get more income for the town.When you get a chance look into what homes pay here and you will find we are the highest taxed town in Erie County per value of property.

Yes and I was one of those people and I am fighting it because I've owned my new home for only 5 months now and I am waiting on my Veterans tax cut. My new home was assessed at $ hunred thoudsand dollars and its not what I paid for it but those on my street are all in this price rang or better. The assessor told me not too worry this assessment is in my benefit and I said, not if it will raise my mortgage this soon I will be forced to sell my home this year. Since I bought my home under my GI bill and may loss my house because the Town needs money I sicked Chuck Shumer on them and we'll see in a few weeks.

When our accessment went up about $52,000 in 5 years they told us we should be happy our home is worth more. What bull****. I didn't buy my home to make money on it. I bought my home to live there until I'm dead. Thats why we looked at so many until we found the one we wanted.

I also don't give a **** if they say "well you know school taxes are a big part". I don't care how you want to label it it's a tax to live in the town. When we moved in taxes were about 3000 which still is a screw job when you look at what others pay in other states. But now it's about 4900 with star.

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Originally Posted by Albie

As they do every year Cheektowaga;s Assessors office picked out several areas in the town and reassessed a number of homes to build up their tax base so they can continue having single percent tax increases and telling homeowners how good they take care of their spending.Meanwhile taxes have gone up at an alarming rate over the last 6 years,school taxes increase with the help of the reassessments,as they work hand in hand to tax us out of our homes.I think homeowners need to unite and file a lawsuit against the town charging them with using the reassessment procedure illegally.Most homes in my area went up $10,000 to $17,000,this will mean increases of $1000 or more using last years figures,not only have the youth left the area now many seniors will follow.

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And here I was unhappy with my $5900 increase. Maybe I should have skipped sweeping the porch ;)

Raven,you will find our homes will become unmarketable,we will be selling for lower than they tell us there worth,if you noticed Rogowski got out before the new assessments were sent out.I don't believe that the new assessor Brian Hessn lives in Cheektowaga I think he came from N.T.,Voters in our town continue voting for the same party every year they look forward to getting taxed out of there homes if they didn't we would not have gotten to were we are.

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Originally Posted by Albie

y.Most homes in my area went up $10,000 to $17,000,this will mean increases of $1000 or more using last years figures,not only have the youth left the area now many seniors will follow.

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How long ago was the prior assessment?

My house was reassessed 3 years ago at that time I went up $8,000,this time I went up $13,000.I have not put on any additions my house is the same as it was when I built it 43 years ago,aside from maintaining my property.

Brian Hess is the current assessor. He does come from Tonawanda, but he lives in Cheektowaga. The former assessor was nototious for spot assessing, and he would reassess houses as he knew their value was going up - a HUGE no no... If you call the assessor's office and ask for the assessment breakdown, they will explain their new "system" - which is apparently supposed to rotate different neighborhoods in Cheektowaga so that each one is assessed the same amount of times and fairly, etc. So if you got an assessment this year, you can probably count on not getting reassessed for X number of years - whatever X is.

As far as the school tax garbage, etc - the school people always blame the town for driving up taxes, and the towns blame the schools. It's how it always goes. ZERO accountability and responsibility.

In respose to Reform WNY As I mentioned I was reassessed 3 years ago Mr. Hess should have known,there are areas in our Town that haven;t been reassessed since the 1980's for example the homes in the Vern Lane area the only one's touched were homes that were sold,that is only one example.

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Originally Posted by WNYresident

When our accessment went up about $52,000 in 5 years they told us we should be happy our home is worth more. What bull****. I didn't buy my home to make money on it. I bought my home to live there until I'm dead. Thats why we looked at so many until we found the one we wanted.

I also don't give a **** if they say "well you know school taxes are a big part". I don't care how you want to label it it's a tax to live in the town. When we moved in taxes were about 3000 which still is a screw job when you look at what others pay in other states. But now it's about 4900 with star.

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WNYresident: Have you checked Cheektowaga's Assessment website? They have all the properties in Cheektowaga and the comparables for those properties. Would be a good place to start for challenging an assessment.

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Originally Posted by farmall806

WNYresident: Have you checked Cheektowaga's Assessment website? They have all the properties in Cheektowaga and the comparables for those properties. Would be a good place to start for challenging an assessment.

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They also have photos of the interior of people's homes in case you want to rob them.
hahahaha.