The Tonawanda News
April 27, 2008 01:30 am
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So you got that notice in the mail about your assessment and it’s still stuck in your craw. How can they tell you your house has increased in value by 40 percent?
Don’t despair. If you are like most people in the Tonawandas, I can show you a way to make more money per hour than you ever have in your entire life. Challenge your assessment. The secret is the assessor is actually on your side.
If you are like most of us and have a mortgage, taxes and insurance get divided by 12 and added to your mortgage bill.
In the early years of a 30-year mortgage, interest on the loan costs the most, followed by taxes and insurance and, lastly, a few dollars a month paid against principle.
Here’s the other thing: The tax levy (what the government wants to raise by taxes) and the assessment roll (how it’s divided) are totally unrelated. To suggest they have anything to do with one another is like saying the highway department and the police department can obviously get together and talk about firefighting because all three departments use gasoline. Utter nonsense perpetuated by ignorance.
So here’s the deal: If your assessment went up, you will have to spend a few hours doing some research at City Hall or online. Flora Carozzolo in NT and Patricia Bacon in Tonawanda, as well as there staffs, are ready to help reasonable people understand A) the process and B) how to appeal. Their goal is equitable assessment, not financial ruin for taxpayers.
Your file in the assessor’s office contains the description of your property plus comparable properties that recently changed hands. Your assessment is based on the value of those comparable properties.
To successfully challenge your assessment, you need to identify properties that more accurately reflect value. You also need to be certain the description of your property is accurate. Does it really have two bedrooms not three? One and a half baths not two? Is it in fair condition not good?
All these things help establish value.
Here’s where the next work comes in: The assessor has large books filled with descriptions and transactions from recent years. The information is also online accessible through city Web sites. Pore through those to find more fair comparisons. If you do it now, the likelihood of having your assessment adjusted without a formal challenge is good, provided you make a solid case during an informal review.
Is it going to take you three or four hours of your time? Absolutely. But do the math:
Let’s say your home is over-assessed by 10 percent. For a typical home with a $3,600 annual tax bill, if you win a 10-percent adjustment, you just saved $360. Now let’s assume you go five years without being reassessed. You just saved $1,800 cumulatively over then next five years by investing three hours of your time.
Your odds of a big win are better than the lottery or casino. One other thing: If you examine those comparables and discover the assessor goofed up and undervalued your property by mis-measuring the lot, missing an obvious comparative or undercounting your bathrooms, bedrooms or square footage, say thank you and walk away.
Thanks for reading.
Word of the Week: Horsekabob – OK, OK, not actually a word, but I was in the Spot Coffee on Oliver Street last week and I heard someone describe the ornamental lamposts with carousel horses on them as such. It was apt.
LM Boyd of the Week: Cows hate spinach. Chickens won’t eat citrus fruit.
Contact Joe Genco at jgenco@localnet.com.
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