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Assessor's Corner- Archives

“What’s A Revaluation”?

A revaluation or “reval” is simply the way in which your property value is evaluated & adjusted to reflect changes in it’s value that can occur over time. Here are a few situations that can change property’s value:

· Physical changes like adding a new garage makes your property more valuable while a fire that destroys a garage will do exactly the opposite.

· Economic Inflation or Deflation – Like inflation affects the price of food & gas, the value of your property can change with economic conditions, even though it remains physically unchanged.

· Location, Location, Location – Most towns have desirable areas where home prices increase rapidly and areas where, for lots of reasons, values remain stagnant or decrease.

· Situational – During the oil crisis of the 70’s, homes with fireplaces sold at a premium. Now as the baby boomers reach retirement age, single story homes are becoming much more sought after and as a result, more “valuable”.

All these changes must be reflected in your properties value to keep it current and fair to all, whether you stay in your home forever or want to sell & buy another. And yes, value also affects….. here it comes the nasty word….ready…..taxes.

The bottom line is that no one really cares what their assessment is, but only how much money it will cost them. Revaluations are necessary at regular intervals to insure that your cost remains fair & that changes in value are minimal resulting in smaller impacts. When left untouched values can change drastically and impacts can be Huge.

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October 2011

How Are My Taxes Figured?

Property taxes are one of the ways that towns, schools and counties fund their programs, staff, supplies, etc. It is important to know that none of the money collected from property taxes goes to fund state budgets; it all stays here locally. The taxes you owe are determined by a simple mathematical formula.

(Assessment-Exemptions) x (Tax Rate) =

Tax dollars you owe

The formula may look simple, but the pieces can be confusing. We all know it is the assessor who determines the assessment based on what your property is worth if it was to sell. Some exemptions are put into place by the state; the STAR program for example.

The BIG variable: TAX RATE

The tax rate comes from dividing up the total amount of money it costs to run the county, town and school amongst those that live there. This can change every year whether a revaluation is done or not. Let’s look at an example. If the town is required $1,000,000 to operate and the combined assessments of all homes in the town total $50,000, then the tax rate would be $1,000,000/$50,000 = $20 per thousand dollars of assessment. So …a $100,000 house with a $30,000 STAR exemption would pay:

$100,000(assessment)-$30,000(Star) = $70,000 (taxable value)

$70 (adjusted property value/1000)x$20 = $1,400(school tax)

Aren’t we all glad that our school tax rate is not $20/1000!!

405 Riverside Drive | Clayton, NY 13624 | Phone: (315) 686-3512 | Fax: (315) 686-2651