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Many 'grieve' their taxes, but …
Successful applicants could lose their gain, meanwhile others pay more
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File a property tax grievance yet? Too late if you had planned to — the state mandated deadline was Tuesday.
Did many people file? You bet, said Brookhaven Assessor Jim Ryan this week, and not just using the ever-growing number of companies specializing in the practice, the ones most homeowners have been receiving solicitations from in their mailboxes every day for months.
"We see a lot more individuals filing than last year," Ryan said. "They're doing it themselves." He said more residents are choosing not to split the difference between current, higher property taxes and lower, reassessed figures with firms whose primary business is grieving taxes for burdened town residents.
But that may lead to trouble in the near future, if filers are not up on the requirements to protect themselves.
Because filings were up significantly for the 2008-09 taxable year, about 7,000 cases are still before small claims court, according to Ryan. If those filers ultimately win their case, but did not file another grievance for 2009-10 to protect their rights in the meantime, their assessments could jump back up, he said.
"The lawyers know this," Ryan said, and homeowners should too, but the assessor has no way of knowing if in fact they do. He would not speculate on the reaction if a large number of residents who won their earlier grievance case were to find their lower taxes raised again because they did not know to protect themselves.
Ryan said his office will begin to process the 2009-10 applications this week. Many are rejected out of hand due to the failure of the applicant to provide "proof," documentation that demonstrates their claim to being overassessed. Typically deeds with recent sales data on "comparable homes" in the neighborhood are provided as evidence, but according to Ryan many grievances are filed without any data to support the claim.
"We send out letters for each individual without proof" denying the grievance, he said. Then the Board of Assessment Review, a five-member panel appointed by the Town Board, begins the arduous task of reviewing each remaining submission. "They're done by mid-August," Ryan said, then those whose applications were denied may file with the courts to appeal the decision, as about 10,000 did last year.
Ryan said the Supreme Court that handles the grievance cases hear about 40 per day, although he understands the court plans to raise that to 80 per day soon. Ryan said the court can process what seems to be a very large number of cases per day because so many actually are settled outside the courthouse doors.
Another warning from the assessor was to expect school districts' total assessed valuation to fall after many homeowners successfully lower their assessments. "It did last year" in most districts, Ryan said, leading to higher tax rate increases than projected by school boards back in May. Those residents whose assessments have not been lowered must make up the difference to achieve the full tax revenue called for in the budget.
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