Fair, unified assessments urged by Cattaraugus Legislature panel
LITTLE VALLEY—The Cattaraugus County Legislature’s Strategic Planning Committee has taken up the torch for fair and unified property assessments countywide.
The nine-member committee met Wednesday after the Legislature session and discussed the results of a countywide study of real property tax assessment administration, agreeing to continue talks to find cost savings and shared services while improving the system.
Assessment of real property is performed by 19 town and city assessors who establish values for 50,864 parcels, based on levels of value ranging from 2.3 percent to 100 percent of the market value, while the tax rates are determined by the various budgets, according to the study completed for the county by the Bukiewicz Organization.
The study was paid for by a $50,000 state grant under the Centralized Property Tax Administration Program and it was presented to the Legislature in March. It concludes that taxpayers and officials alike believe the current assessment system is not fair and is in need of improvement. Many fear updating the assessments to 100 percent will lead to higher taxes.
The study recommends that the county collaborate with municipalities to create fairness and bring all assessments up to date, while educating taxpayers and officials and improving and unifying the system countywide.
Committee member Joseph C. McLarney, R-Portville, said a single countywide assessment is probably not possible, but he urged a regionalized effort to bring several towns together in groups to share assessment functions and lower costs. This would lead to more uniform criteria in establishing assessments, such as vacant properties and lands open for development.
He and County Real Property Tax Service Director Nancy Barney suggested some possible ways to encourage towns to team up and make the move to 100 percent assessment. The towns could agree to maintain the assessments at the full level and might share services and some costs with each other and the county, participating in training to attain a local certification. One suggestion would provide county funding to help cash-strapped municipalities pay for some services.
McLarney pointed out that while some properties may receive an advantage when they are not assessed at their uniform value, other property owners must make up the difference to raise the needed levy funding.
“We need to be leaders to help the towns out and move them ahead. Many of our towns struggle because they can’t afford the $20 to $30 per parcel needed to get the assessments up to 100 percent,” said Barney.
In other business, the Legislature approved 3 percent raises for four years for 57 full-time corrections, clerical and dispatch workers in the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office Employees Unit of CSEA, Local 1000.
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