New 2016 Tax Valuations Posted on Village Website: Did Your Assessment Go Up or Down?

The new 2016 real estate tax valuations for Scarsdale properties are now posted on the Scarsdale Village website. You can click here to see how you fared by selecting your street and house number. On your property record you will find your tentative AV or assessed valuation for 2016 that you can compare to the 2015 AV shown in the column at right.

According to Village Assessor Nanette Albanese, you can calculate your approximate tax bill by multiplying the valuation by .0234. For example, if your home is valued at $1,400,000, multiply that valuation by .0234 and you'll find that your estimated taxes for 2017 will be $32,760. However, Albanese warns that the tax calculation factor could change when the 2016 school tax rate is posted in August 2016. The 2016 assessments are the basis for tax bills in 2017.

Unlike the prior revaluation which was based on comparable sales, these values were determined by the formulation of a model based on all sales in Scarsdale from July 1, 2014 through September 25, 2015. The Village has posted a chart of the sales that went into the formulation of the model on their website and you can see it here:

The Village Assessor's office will mail change of assessment letters to homeowners on June 3. According to the assessor, these letters will "Show the 2015 and 2016 assessments and the difference between the two. Mailed along with that document will be a document entitled 2016 VALUATION DETAIL SHEET, which will set forth the elements of the property used in the modeling process and the 'coefficients' that were generated." From this information you will be able to calculate the valuation for a property.

Those wishing to grieve their tax assessment can do so from today until Tuesday June 21. You can find the appropriate form on the Village website here: 

Probably the biggest changes in assessment were for the higher value homes as there have been fewer sales of homes valued above $3 million this year. The valuations may reflect a softening in the market for this segment of the market.

Commenting on the results of this second revaluation, Robert Berg, who sits on the Board of Assessment Review said, "From my cursory review, the huge winners are many in the Heathcote/Murray Hill area, with many values dropping to very low numbers. Check out, Birchall Drive where one home goes from $3.8mm to $2.875mm for a 7,708 square foot house graded A 100% on one acre. That's a good deal. Another home on Birchall goes from $3.121mm to $2.625mm for a 5,651 square foot house on .97 acres graded A+ 130%. Seymour Topping's property at 5 Heathcote Road is essentially unchanged in value and there are no changes to Christie Place values at all, despite some fair market value rentals in the buildings. On streets like Boulevard, some small houses went way up while others did not. To me it seems totally random, except for the big drop for many of the estate properties."

Check out your new valuation and post your comments and observations below.