Final Tax Assessments Now Available Online

The wait is over. For those who grieved your tax assessments, the new tax roll is now available online. Check it out and see where you stand. According to Robert Berg who served on the Board of Assessment Review more than 950 grievances were filed and the Board reduced 12% to 15%. Here is a comment on the process from Berg:

The final 2014 property tax assessment roll was released last night. The Board of Assessment Review ("BAR"), an independent Town Board consisting of Chairman Tom Giordano, Ken Sklar, Gary Ellis, Paul Sved, and me, worked extraordinarily hard this year. We considered more than 950 property tax grievances filed on or before Grievance Day which was June 17, 2014. This was a record number of property tax grievances for Scarsdale, but that's not surprising considering that this was the first town wide property tax revaluation in 45 years. On Grievance Day itself, about 90 property owners spoke before us to argue their grievances, and we heard argument from early afternoon until late in the night, allowing everyone who wanted to say her piece. In a normal year, only a handful of property owners or their representatives appear in person.

Many of the grievances lacked independent real estate appraisals of the properties. On Grievance Day, we stressed that even though an appraisal is not required for a grievance, an independent appraisal is often the best evidence of the fair market value of the property. (Other "best" evidence includes the actual sales price of the property in an arm's length sales transaction which occurred during the valuation period). As a matter of law, the tentative assessment which the owners were grieving is presumptively legal, so the property owner has the burden of proving the fair market value of the property. We invited and encouraged all grievants who had not done so to submit independent appraisals or evidence of the recent sales price of the properties to buttress their cases, asking that such evidence be provided within two weeks. (We actually accepted such evidence up through our last meeting at the end of August).

Following Grievance Day, the BAR met two full evenings per week throughout July and August. We reviewed each and every grievance (other than those which the Village Assessor had resolved), analyzed the evidence (if any), deliberated, and made our determinations. While I don't have the exact numbers, I believe that we reduced the assessments on about 12% - 15% of the properties before us.

Overall, Tyler Technologies, which conducted the revaluation, did a very good job -- well within the normal margin of error. But, in those cases where we lowered the assessments, the property owners were able to demonstrate that the Tyler Technologies tentative assessment was too high. No assessments are ever raised through the grievance process, and now that the assessment role is final, no property can be reassessed higher until the next town wide revaluation, except to account for new construction or renovations.

Because all properties are now carried at 100% of fair market value, the equalization rate or residential assessment ratios that have been used for years no longer apply. Property owners who are dissatisfied with the BAR's determinations have the right to appeal the determinations in court until October 15, 2014.

Finally, I would like to thank our Assessor, Nanette Albanese, and her outstanding staff for their tireless efforts throughout the revaluation process. Besides working with and supervising Tyler Technologies for several years to ensure that the revaluation was performed as well as possible, they provided us with untold hours processing the grievances, otherwise assisting us, and making sure we were well-fed during our evening deliberations. My fellow Board members deserve the community's thanks for volunteering to give up many lovely Summer evenings to plow through 950+ files in order to help achieve property tax equity for all Scarsdale residents. We now have a final assessment roll that, for the first time in 45 years, is, for the most part, fundamentally fair in distributing distributing Scarsdale's property tax burden according to each property's current fair market value. While the reallocation of the property tax burden may cause some residents financial hardship, remember that for years, their property taxes have been subsidized by other Scarsdale residents.