2020 Reassessment process: Fairness

[Lee Chowaniec]

The reassessment process entails assessing all real property in the town at a uniform percentage of value to ensure the fair and equitable spread of the tax burden – level the playing field.

The job of the Assessor is to make the assessment information known and includes an appeal process for property owners to challenge their assessment.

The Assessor must accept property tax exemptions according to NYS Real Property Law. One of the exemptions the Assessor must consider is NYS Condominium Law 339-y where units receiving such status (Condominiums (patio and townhomes) receive assessment reductions up to 50%, and more.

In this past weekend’s Buffalo News Home-finder section, builders / real estate sales were adding the claim to new condominium / patio home / town home sales: ‘Significant property tax savings with condo status’. Significant indeed considering the homes for sale varied in price from $275,000 to $650,000 and that the assessment reduction could be 50%, or higher..

Property owners receiving 339-y condo status contend that the tax savings from assessment reductions are expended on paying association fees (HOA) that in turn HOA spends on providing for services that are not provided by the town – road maintenance / replacement, snowplowing, drainage, energy and infrastructure. However, the tax savings realized by condo 339-y tax exemptions exceed the cost for providing for services not provided by the town, often exceeding the entire HOA fee, and then some.

There are 830 properties in Lancaster receiving Condominium Law 339-y exemptions, and more are in the stage of development. Better than 50% of Lancaster construction is now focused on this type of property sale. Neither municipalities or their assessors are happy with the arrangement and the loss of revenue and have memorialized Albany for remedy.

When the Democrats became the State Assembly majority several years ago, they sponsored and approved a bill that would allow municipalities to manage Condo Lax 339-y in 2021. They ascertained that once the NYS Senate became a Democratic Party majority, a like bill would be passed and municipalities would manage the system in 2021. The Dems took Senate control 1-1/2 years ago and all we hear is crickets!

It is the Assessor’s job to provide credible assessment information. I would hope that when the ‘final roll’ is published the lost revenue due to condo 339-y is part of the report, as well as how many assessment appeals were filed, along with percentage of successful appeals.

[gorja]

Originally posted by Lee Chowaniec:
I would hope that when the ‘final roll’ is published the lost revenue due to condo 339-y is part of the report, as well as how many assessment appeals were filed, along with percentage of successful appeals

Yes, that would be very enlightening to some residents to see the actual total loss of revenue due to the lower assessments of the 339-y condo status properties.
As far as posting the number of assessment appeals filed and their success rate, didn't former assessor Marrano do just that when he was the town assessor?

The final roll is posted but the residents who would in any other town find it on the assessor's page will not find it located there in Lancaster.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Difficult to find, indeed Gorga. It is not posted on the Town Assessor’s website site.

I thank you for providing me information where it can be found on the town’s Home Page website - https://www.lancasterny.gov/ -, under the Quick Links menu, titled Assessment Rolll. It was posted on July 7th.

2020 Final Roll Assessed property value Grand Totals

19,204 parcels - Town, Villages of Depew and Lancaster (2019 – 19,178)

$996,155,951 – land value (2019 - $635,266,912)

$4,505,135,102 – assessed total ($3,456,462)

$1,054,412,211 – Village Taxable (2019 - $764,053,417)

$3,997,892,777 – Town Taxable (2019 - $3,016,743,144)

$3,997,892,407 – County Taxable (2019 - $3.016,763,372)

$4,050,238,467 - School Taxable (2019 - $3,057,621,884)

$3,650,271,062 – School Taxable after STAR (2019 - $269,316,533)

Comment

Considering the final roll town taxable number was less by $20,366,802 than the estimated tentative assessment roll, will this impact the tax rate predicted ($4.47 vs, $5.97 in 2019)

The same holds true for the $30,974,448 difference (less) in school taxable value ($13.35 vs. $17.92 in 2019).

An abundance of information can be found on the Town Assessor website, along with the assessment final roll document.

I would also suggest examining https://egov.basgov.com/townoflancaster/ which presents an opportunity to view tax bills.

Still unable to determine town revenue loss from Condominium 339-y exemptions.

[Lee Chowaniec]

There were 1,274 informal appeals, 560 grievances.

The difference between the tentative roll assessed property valuation and the final roll was -$19,973,521. The estimated tax rates for town / villages, school district and county will all be increased. Updated information will appear on the Assessors website in the near future.

[gorja]

There were 1,274 informal appeals, 560 grievances.

The difference between the tentative roll assessed property valuation and the final roll was -$19,973,521. The estimated tax rates for town / villages, school district and county will all be increased. Updated information will appear on the Assessors website in the near future.

The assessor must read your stuff here to get direction to do the right thing in being transparent.

[Lee Chowaniec]

The assessor must read your stuff here to get direction to do the right thing in being transparent.

One can only hope, Gorga.

I can say that in the numerous discussions I have had with Town Assessor Baker, she has been open, credible, interested in sharing and committed to providing any and all information to make her department transparent. In our conversations, Ms. Baker has set aside the misconceptions I had of the reassessment process.

I only wish she includes in her upcoming report the success rate of the formal appeal grievances.

[gorja]

I do remember before all the Covid hit the fan that the assessor said she would not have information meetings with the public regarding the 2020 assessment project.
I did not feel that was being open

[gorja]

I would like to note that the Republican chair that griped about his assessment did get $35g knocked off his assessment.

[mark blazejewski]

I would like to note that the Republican chair that griped about his assessment did get $35g knocked off his assessment.

Just My Understandings, Opinions, and Questions:

Indeed, but I am curious to know why the Chair's assessment was not properly adjusted until the second round of the appeal, even though an identical home on the exact same street was granted favorable relief during the first round of the appeal process?

Perhaps a little political retribution by the administration and its Tax Assessor perhaps?

Moreover, I do take issue with your term "griped."

I understand that the Chair, as so many who considered themselves to have been aggrieved, merely availed himself of the legally-prescribed recourse; an appeal process afforded to all property owners. As such, do you cast all those who engaged the appeal process as having "griped?"

I would point out, evidenced by a unanimous vote of the appeals officers, that the Chair's so-called "gripe" was meritorious, and it met the standards necessary for full requested remediation.


I do take leave of the issue of the Chairman and raise these questions:

(1) Speaking of those who "gripe," is my recollection correct that the Supervisor was noticeably defensive when questioned about the transparency of his own assessment representations, specifically in regards to "Finished Basements?"

(2) Is my further recollection correct when the Supervisor seemingly denied that his basement met the designated standards of a "Finished Basement?"

(3) Is it not true that if the Supervisor erred in his public comments concerning a "Finished Basement," that the Supervisor, after 18 years of Town Council service, was perhaps misinformed or ignorant of what constitutes a "Finished Basement?"

(4) Is it also fair to ask that if the Supervisor was unaware that his basement failed to meet the prescribed standards of a "Finished Basement," that perhaps he did not have any required construction permits attendant to a "Finished Basement?"

(5) If the question (4) is in fact true, should not the Supervisor lead by example, and correct any such deficiencies?

(6) Is it also fair to ask, that if the Supervisor's basement does in fact comply with the definition of a "Finished Basement," and the Supervisor, absent sincere ignorance of the assessment standards, after 18-years service on the Town Council, failed to acquire such permits, can any such failure on the part of Supervisor be seen as a possible blatant disregard for the standards, requirements and codes of the Lancaster's assessment procedures?


Just askin'.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Town Assessor 2020 reassessment final roll report

The Town of Lancaster 2020 Revaluation Project has been completed. The two-year long project's objective was to bring all properties to 100% of the current real estate market value as of July 1, 2019. New York State has certified the Town of Lancaster at 100%. All inventory was reviewed and updated, if necessary. Thank you to those property owners who returned their data survey sheets so changes could be made ahead of time, where necessary. All sales from July 1, 2017 to July 1, 2019 were analyzed for accuracy and eligibility. Some sales (between relatives, for example) are NOT considered usable sales. Based on these sales, new market values were determined for all parcels.

Notices were mailed to property owners indicating the new value with instructions on how to proceed with an informal review if they did not agree with their newly determined market value / assessment. It was at this time, that the Corona Virus became an issue. As directed, the town hall had to close to the public and our staff had to work from home. The Assessor's office had one staff member in the office each day to take all phone calls. This certainly complicated the process somewhat, but with technology and some innovation and thinking out of the box, residents were offered multiple ways of submitting the paperwork needed to file the informal review application. There were 1,274 informal reviews filed.

Revised notices were mailed out to each property owner, who filed an informal review, including instructions on how to proceed for those still not satisfied with the value. At this time, the Assessor is legally no longer permitted to make changes to the tentative roll. New York State has a formal grievance process known as the Board of Assessment Review. There are state mandated forms to file and deadline dates to adhere to. Given the virus situation, the grievances were conducted by telephone this year. The Board met for 2 weeks, hearing the grievances, and then they met for an additional two weeks making determinations. There were 560 grievances filed, with an overall reduction (informal and formal review) to the total assessed value of the town of $48,973,021. The final notices were mailed on June 30, 2020.

The final step in the revaluation project is Small Claims Assessment Reviews (SCAR). The hearings are conducted by Erie County and must be filed by August 6, 2020 (30 days after filing of the final roll), and you must have filed a grievance to the Board of Assessment Review to be eligible to participate in the SCAR process.

The property owners who missed any of the state mandated deadlines, are eligible to file a grievance next year. As a matter of fact, property owners can file grievances in any year that they believe their assessment is not accurate. This can be due to change in the equalization rate, new construction or demolition, a sale with unique conditions, or if a timely filed exemption has been denied for eligibility reasons.

The new assessed value will be applied to the September 2020 School tax bill, and then the February 2021 Town / County tax bill. For properties located in either the Village of Lancaster or Depew, the new value will be used for the June 2021 Village tax bill.

When we receive the final school tax rates and again in November, when the Town and County finalize their tax rates, we will post them on our website, with a comparison to last year and the predicated rates that were illustrated on the assessment notices. The 2020 rate will be LOWER than the 2019 tax rates due to the revaluation and increase in overall total taxable values, but they will be higher than the predicted rates, because of the reductions in value during the informal/formal reviews. For every dollar that is reduced, the remaining property owners must make up. This is because the total taxes collected is dependent on the total assessed value of the town and all exemptions granted. The new 2020 rates will be dependent on the budgets that each taxing jurisdiction adopts.

There were many comments during the process of how the Covid virus will negatively impact the value of real estate. We are continuing to receive all sales on a weekly basis, which we are closely monitoring. The sale prices, at this time, indicate that the prices of homes exceed even the newly determined assessments, which were based on values as of July 1, 2019. We will continue to update all sales on our website regularly.

As always, we welcome any questions you may have regarding any and all aspects of the assessment cycle.


Comment

The tentative tax rates will increase for both the town and Lancaster school district:

Tax Rates (per thousand dollars of assessment)

Town-outside Villages

2019 - $5.97
2020 - $4.47 (preliminary estimate)
2020 – final (not stated in report but higher*)

Lancaster Central School District

2019 - $17.92
2020 – $13.35 (preliminary estimate)
2020 – final (not stated in report but higher*)

*One must wonder why and by how much the final roll tax rate increased after the challenges and why that was not revealed in the Assessor report? Significant? Probably not. Yet, it would be nice to know the tax impact as the school district already approved the 2020 budget and used the tentative roll tax rate of $13.35

[gorja]

Anyone hear what the new school tax rate is from last night's school board meeting?

[grump]

Yes, that would be very enlightening to some residents to see the actual total loss of revenue due to the lower assessments of the 339-y condo status properties.
As far as posting the number of assessment appeals filed and their success rate, didn't former assessor Marrano do just that when he was the town assessor?

The final roll is posted but the residents who would in any other town find it on the assessor's page will not find it located there in Lancaster.

There is no lost revenue to the town from sec.339-y. The town continues to collect its full levy every year. In fact the town is made whole by the county for unpaid property taxes so the town never loses revenue. Please keep in mind that the effects of 339-y can be completely fixed by your town adopting a “homestead” taxing system, a fact that most assessors fail to mention when they whine and bitch about 339-y.

[WNYresident]

what is homestead versus 339-y?

[grump]

what is homestead versus 339-y?

WNY, the homestead taxation system treats condos as just another residential property subject to the same assessment formulas as a typical single family home. But it puts more of the property tax burden on business properties. The Town of Tonawanda has homestead taxation and Amherst does not. That’s why the Tonawanda side of Niagara Falls Blvd has hardly changed since the 1960’s while the Amherst side has flourished. Taxation should be for one thing only, to raise money for the support of government. Any other purpose and someone is always disadvantaged versus some one else. It’s the iron law of taxation.

[Lee Chowaniec]

Anyone hear what the new school tax rate is from last night's school board meeting?

Still waiting to hear whether the following resolution recommendation by LCSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Vallely at Monday evening’s school agenda was approved by the board:

Date: August 5, 2019
From: Michael J. Vallely, Ph.D.

Re: 2019-2020 Tax Rate Based on a total tax levy of $56,924,872, it is my recommendation to set the tax rate for this fiscal year as follows:

Town of Lancaster Tax Rate is $14.15 - change of ($3.77) Town of Cheektowaga Tax Rate is $17.11 - change of $0.83 Town of Elma Tax Rate is $392.32 – change of $49.60.

Recommended Action: Motion to approve the 2020-21 tax rate, based on a total tax levy of $56,924,872, for Lancaster at $14.15, Cheektowaga at $17.11 and Elma at $392.32, as submitted.

If this tax rate ($14.15) was approved last night and utilized by LCSD when tax bills are issued in the near future, it is an increase of 80 cents per thousand dollars of assessed valuation from the tax rate ($13.35) established in the school budget approved several weeks earlier. If so, school taxes will increase significantly for many property owners who already were expecting significant increases.

It then begs the question whether the school district can amend the budget to apply the final (increased) tax rate that brings in more revenue and reduce an increase in tax liability for the established 2019-20 school district budget?