Serving the Towns of Wawarsing, Crawford, Mamakating, Rochester and Shawangunk, and everything in between
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The Reval Is Wrapping Up
Complaints Turned Out To Be Well Under The Norm, Say Appraisers...

WAWARSING – Within the next few days, the bulk of the townwide revaluation process will be behind us. Mike Maxwell of Maxwell Appraisal Service has fulfilled his contract, according to town attorney William Collier, and heard complaints, even made some adjustments. The rest will shake out during the May 26 grievance day, according to town assessor Michael Sommer, and after actual tax changes become evident with the mailing out of school tax bills in September, according to town supervisor Leonard Distel.

To have your case heard May 26, it's imperative you file form RP-524 — available both at the assessors' office and online — and submit it prior to grievance day. If you're a resident of both the village and town, two separate forms are required. In the meantime, Sommer said, those unhappy after meeting with Maxwell — or who didn't get the opportunity to do so — can meet with him after May 1.

The revaluation process has been fair and just, Sommer explained, despite claims from residents otherwise.

"Without a doubt, it's fairer. Not 100 percent, but better than the previous year," Sommer said at a town meeting on April 16. "It's a good start... and it'll be ironed out during grievance day. I don't care how far a tax bill goes up, goes down or stays the same — in the assessment world, the biggest concern is a fair and just assessment."

Only a handful of the town and village's 6,300 property owners saw Maxwell at the informal meetings — roughly 450 to 550. Distel has speculated that either those remaining residents either didn't understand their notices or didn't receive them because they were away for the winter.

According to Sommer, though, that's simply not the case. Only three or four residents have called his office to get a copy of their notice. For the most part, Sommer said, the residents he's spoken with seem comfortable with the process.

He added that he feels bad for those in Cragsmoor whose assessments have gone up, although he also suggested that the hamlet residents have traditionally been paying for low assessments, and that along the way other residents have had to unfairly pay for those low assessments.

For those residents who have seen a significant increase, he said he'd expect an increase in taxes as well. But, if the assessment increase was minor, under $20,000 say, it would result in only a slight tax increase.

"Coming in here, we anticipated that for the informal meetings we'd have anywhere between 15 to 20 percent. Right now, it's under 10 percent," said Maxwell, a veteran of 25 years experience in the field who noted how putting Wawarsing on an equitable basis was difficult, especially as property values differ greatly between places within the same township such Cragsmoor, Ulster Heights and Ellenville. "Looking at sales, one versus the other, the price per square foot on a house under ten acres of land are greatly different between one area to the other. The adjustment would have to be in the value of the land and obviously the location, and the view factor."

To determine the market value of a property, Maxwell explained, a multitude of factors were considered, including arms-length comparable sales, age, location and condition. For commercial properties, income was considered and for vacant land it came down to development potential, public utilities and location. Tables were drawn and sales groups created, Maxwell said.

"If the property is very unkempt, that property's resale is a lot less that a property that has been kept up. Unfortunately too, when you have more than one of those types of properties in an area, not only does it affect their value, but it affects the values of properties around it," Maxwell added. "The sales have proved out what you're saying (about high unemployment affecting values) but the market here is probably two-fold. There's the market for the local people and then there's a market for non-local. And, obviously, the local market is the one taking the biggest hit."

The average dollar value per square foot, Maxwell explained, varies from the village at the low to mid $70s per square foot, the town at $85 to $90, and Cragsmoor somewhere between $150 to $180.

"If we lowered the town outside and village by another 10 or 15 percent, right across the board, everyone would still have to come up with the same amount of tax money for the budget. So, it's really not the assessments, it's the budgets," Maxwell said before moving on to the subject of flooded properties above the city's aqueduct. "That's something your town and your board of assessment review should deal with because I'm not going to get involved."



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