Town Services

[Dvoakley]

At the last TB meeting, Satish made the statement that Amherst was paying GAR $15.00 for each property appraisal while Clarence only paid them $5.00. He offered no proof and later said he may be wrong. How can he make such a statement without any proof? How irresponsible can he be?
DS, you really must be strange to look up posts of mine from 2 1/2 years ago. That's spooky!

[Dvoakley]

DS is quite a golfer unfortunately he also has a problem keeping the correct score. He submitted a fraudulant score card to the Audubon Mens club and as a result got unceremoniusly booted from the club. So the next year he joined Ta Tara and after one year was asked not to come back. Those are stains on a golfers reputation that can neverbe expunged. Even today when people at Audubon speak of DS, it with derision and digust.

[WNYresident]

At the last TB meeting, Satish made the statement that Amherst was paying GAR $15.00 for each property appraisal while Clarence only paid them $5.00. He offered no proof and later said he may be wrong. How can he make such a statement without any proof? How irresponsible can he be?
DS, you really must be strange to look up posts of mine from 2 1/2 years ago. That's spooky!

I was told they use a computer program to average out home values compared to recent sales and never really look at the homes anymore. Could that be possible?

[Dvoakley]

From my information GAR does the reassessment by driving the streets where recent home sales have been made. They do what's called a comparable value assessment of homes in that neighborhood. They don't check each home individually, that would be impossible. The owners have the right to protest the reassessment. They go to the assors office and file the paperwork. The staff at the office is more then willing to help. Unfortunately reassessment in Amherst has become a political football and Satish and Ward have taken full advantage.

[atotaltotalfan2001]

The info Mike/Mohan is giving out on the town accounting practices is absolutely bizarre! I honestly think this Mike/Mohan blogger is out of his/her mind. There should be a law against his/her disinformation and outright lies. (Damn, I promised myself I wouldn't respond to this Mohan propaganda specialist) I think the creation of this fictious persona is a sign of a troubled mind. Maybe it's a cultural trait; when under fire by the sad truth, bambozzle with an alter ego!

A cultural trait? What on earth is that supposed to mean?

[atotaltotalfan2001]

From my information GAR does the reassessment by driving the streets where recent home sales have been made. They do what's called a comparable value assessment of homes in that neighborhood. They don't check each home individually, that would be impossible. The owners have the right to protest the reassessment. They go to the assors office and file the paperwork. The staff at the office is more then willing to help. Unfortunately reassessment in Amherst has become a political football and Satish and Ward have taken full advantage.

Why is it impossible to check each home individually? Isn't that the least GAR and the Assessor's Office should do if they plan to make such sweeping judgments about a home's value?

[govtchecker]

Why is it impossible to check each home individually? Isn't that the least GAR and the Assessor's Office should do if they plan to make such sweeping judgments about a home's value?

And how much more do you want to pay in taxes?

[atotaltotalfan2001]

And how much more do you want to pay in taxes?

I don't know. How much does it cost to actually provide accurate data for something as important as a home's value? Seems to me you are actually promoting a town service that, because of the way it is run, is doomed to making mistakes -- important ones,at that.

Somehow, that just seems wrong.

[WNYresident]

And how much more do you want to pay in taxes?

Gar associates over valued our home by $25,000. Over the life time of us living in our home that would calculate to over paying $1000's more for "over priced" services as it is. We had a real walk through apraisel which came in much lower and had our assessment lowered. Not as low as the real apraisel but it was lower. We didn't feel like jumping through more hoops to lower it even more.

It's a RIP... We didn't raise taxes! We just blanket raised all the homes assessments instead.

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Gar associates over valued our home by $25,000. Over the life time of us living in our home that would calculate to over paying $1000's more for "over prices" services as it is. We had a real walk through apraisel which came in much lower and had our assessment lowered. Not as low as the real apraisel but it was lower. We didn't feel like jumping through more hoops to lower it even more.

It's a RIP... We didn't raise taxes! We just blanket raised all the homes assessments instead.

Your story is exactly what bothers me about the current system of reassessments. The fact that there will be errors is obvious -- how could there not be, since not all homes are looked at. And yet, the burden of proof is put on homeowners to prove the mistakes. That's time consuming enough, but you can't imagine what a headache it is when a town reassesses every year and keeps getting stuff wrong.

Year after year, you go through the same song and dance. Worse yet, the assessor's office doesn't even correct mistakes in its records that have been proven in previous grievances. They say you have four bedrooms. Nope, you have three.Your assessment is lowered for that reason, after a whole new song and dance.

The next year, you get your assessment notice,and once again, you are informed you have four bedrooms.

Harassment, plain and simple.