Summary
of the Assessment Grievance Process
1. Informal review of your assessment.
You can arrange to meet informally with the Town Assessor before she completes
and files the Tentative Assessment roll. The Town Assessor has extended the
period in which this can be done, and has made arrangements for evening and
Saturday appointments. Call 626-0920 for an
appointment.
You
can obtain (1) a list of the comparable properties that were used in determining
your preliminary assessment, and (b) a copy of the assessor's file for your
property that will contain information on your property.
Ensure that the information on your property in the Assessor's files is accurate (correct acreage, #bedrooms, # bathrooms, etc.)
You can review a list online to see if any properties are comparable to yours and ask the assessor to provide information on those properties as well. See below for a link to the files that are available online and provided by the Rochester Residents Association.
During the informal review process, you can present to the assessor reasons why you believe your property is incorrectly assessed to make a case for an adjustment to your assessment.
The Assessor has stated that the informal review process will continue through March 31, 2006 (although this date can be extended at the Assessor's discretion).
2. Inspection of the tentative assessment roll.
The Tentative Assessment Roll is prepared by May 1st and should contain any adjusted assessments that resulted from the informal review process with the assessor. If you presented information to have your assessment changed during the informal process, check this list when it is available to determine if you are willing to accept the revised assessment value. At this time, you can check to see if properties similar to yours contain comparable assessments. If you still believe that your assessment is incorrect, you can challenge that tentative assessment by completing the complaint form listed below. If you do not challenge your assessment, you will be deemed to have agreed with the tentative assessment.
3. Obtaining the complaint form. (RP-524)
Form RP-524 and instructions RP-524-INS, may be obtained from the Town Assessor
OR directly from http://www.orps.state.ny.us/home/tri_index.cfm
Your browser will need the FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print the forms
and instructions.
4. Completing the complaint form.
The publication mentioned above, How to
File a Complaint on Your Assessment, serves as a guide for completing the
form including a completed sample form. http://www.orps.state.ny.us/home/tri_index.cfm
5. Filing the form. (RP-524)
The complaint form must be mailed or delivered after the preparation of the
tentative roll but on or before Grievance Day (May 23, 2006) using the New
Tentative Assessment along with any supporting documentation, so that the Board
of Assessment Review can review the file on Grievance Day, the day of the
Hearings.
Grievance Day (Fourth Tuesday of May)
6. Appearing before the board of assessment review.
You and/or your representative should try to appear personally before the review
board to support the statements in your complaint. Mailing the complaint usually
will be sufficient, but it is best to appear in person.
7. Notification of the review board's decision
This notice must contain a statement for the reasons for the board's
determination. This notice is to be sent to the complainant on or before the
date the boards delivers to the assessor a verified statement of changes, if
any, to be made to the assessment roll and determined by the board.
8. Seeking small claims or judicial review.
A complainant who is dissatisfied with the review board's decision has 30 days
from the filing of the final assessment roll or 30 days from the last date set
for such filing, whichever is later, to seek small claims or judicial review of
the complaint. (Small Claims Assessment Review is available to owner-occupants
of one, two or three-family residential dwellings or owners of land parcels too
small for residential construction who have filed a complaint with the board of
assessment review.)
Grievance Day is May 23, 2006
Contact information for Town of Rochester Assessor
Sharon Hornbeck, Assessor
Town of Rochester
Scenic Drive (Town Hall)
PO Box 65
Accord, NY 12404
Tel: 845-626-0920
http://www.townofrochester.net/Pages/RochesterNY_Assessor/index
Contact Information for Vincent Lowe & Associates
(Guest speaker at Rochester Residents Association meeting on 3/25/06)
845-331-0623
Online Resources:
Excel Spreadsheet
Please note that this is subject to change. (Excel spreadsheet)
List of Preliminary Assessments contained in Assessment Disclosure Notice
This is a link to a list that contains all of the Town's Preliminary Taxable Assessments as of July 1, 2005 as well as the prior year's tax assessments (also contains exemption information). Please note that this is subject to change. (Excel spreadsheet)
RRA Newsletter on Taxes
http://www.accord-kerhonkson.com/NewsLetter-TaxesCasinos-May-2004.pdf
NYS Office of Real Property Services
http://www.orps.state.ny.us/reassess/index.cfm
Information contained on this site is from sources deemed to be reliable, however, we assume no responsibility resulting from any users reliance on this information.