ELLENVILLE � Village of Ellenville Mayor Jeff Kaplan isn't taking "no" for an answer when it comes to the Town of Wawarsing conducting a property revaluation, or 'reval.' This past week, Kaplan sent a strongly-worded letter to State Senator John J. Bonacic and Assemblyman Kevin Cahill outlining the assessment problem in Wawarsing, and his feelings that this situation is having a negative impact on the village, primarily in the amount of property taxes many in the village must pay.

"Our country was established in 1776 in response to a sovereign who refused to heed the cry of its citizens that they were being unfairly taxed," the letter reads.

The letter goes on to say that the Wawarsing is obligated under state mandates to conduct periodic revals, and that this has not been done for many decades, and that one solution would be to allow the village to incorporate as a city, allowing it to effectively secede from the Town of Wawarsing and levy its own taxes. The letter was addressed to the two state officials, as Ellenville becoming a city could only be accomplished through an act of the state legislature.

"I'm more and more convinced that you cannot have a tax based upon real estate without having regular revals," Kaplan said in a recent interview. "A reval ensures that the taxes are being fairly and equitably distributed."

Kaplan's letter, in fact, goes on to highlight one of what could be many seeming disparities when it comes to how taxes are assessed. One property in the village, for example, was recently sold for $118,000 and has an assessment of $2,600 per year. A similar property in Cragsmoor, on the other hand, recently sold for $400,000, yet the assessment is just $3,800. Based upon the second set of numbers, the assessment for the property in the village should be just $1,120 per year, less than half of its actual annual tax bill.

Also noted in Kaplan's letter is the fact that, in the past two years, no homes in the village have sold for more that $300,000. Kaplan feels that, in earlier decades, many people had placed a premium on living in the village, whereas now most see living in a more rural setting as being desirable. The fact that assessments have not kept pace with this transition means that the least valuable real estate is actually subsidizing the more valuable real estate in the town.

"You can't let this continue," Kaplan said. "It's not fair to your voters, and your taxpayers, to have them pay more."

Wawarsing Town Supervisor Lenny Distel, however, says that doing a reval will mean that people in the Town of Wawarsing will see their taxes rise significantly, something he hopes to avoid given the fragile state of the local economy.

"Are they [the assessments] going down? No. Are they staying the same? No. They're all going up," Distel said.

In a typical reval, one third of the properties in question will see taxes go down, another third will remain the same, and a third will go up, according to Kaplan. Thus, it appears that Distel may have a valid point, given that the bulk of the properties that would see a reduction are in the village. Reducing the assessment on village properties could, in effect, redistribute these taxes among the various properties in the town.

"The burden is going to shift from the village to the town," Distel said.

Distel also points out that he hasn't been receiving phone calls from aggrieved residents regarding this situation, so he feels that its not a big issue among town and village residents.

Be that as it may, if Kaplan is in fact correct in the assertions outlined in his letter, an inequity remains that to be rectified, could turn out to be politically unpalatable to those involved. Kaplan was recently in touch with the NY State Office of Real Property assessment, which told him that NY State law mandates that revals should be done "on a regular basis." The last reval in the Town of Wawarsing took place more than fifty years ago, meaning that one is way overdue. Officials from the Office of Real Property, according to Kaplan's letter, have in fact met with Wawarsing officials "on several occasions" in recent years, urging, without success, that "an immediate revaluation" be considered.

An additional hurdle to overcome is in the area of expenditure. In a reply to Kaplan's letter, Supervisor Distel said that a reval cannot be considered at this time due to the "cutbacks the State has made." Distel's letter suggests that a reval could cost $75-$100 per parcel. With approximately 6,000 parcels in Wawarsing, the total costs would amount to $450,000-$600,000. Kaplan, however, feels that this is a moot point, as regular revals are required by law. And the town could issue a bond to pay for this, according to Kaplan. Given that interests rates in the current market are as low as they are likely to go, it would appear that now, rather than later, might be the opportune time to act.

Either way, it appears that the issue isn't going away any time soon. Kaplan says that the village will continue to urge the town to conduct a reval. If this doesn't work, the village will continue to lobby the state legislature regarding a petition to incorporate as a city. If neither of these methods work, however, the village may go so far as to seek counsel and engage in litigation in order to force the town to act.

"One of those three options is going to happen," Kaplan said. "and it's going to happen soon."