Town of Webb Assessor Jean Murdock hosted an open meeting for Webb property owners on Thursday, February 23 to outline the next steps in the Assessment Equity Project that was designed to reevaluate the 6,224 parcels of land within the Town of Webb.
Murdock was joined by Robert Koszarek, President of the KLW Group, and Jonathan Lack community representative from the Office of Real Property Tax Services.
Assessment Disclosure Notices were to be mailed to Webb property owners on Thursday, March 1, and according to Koszarek, the disclosure notices will tell property owners not only what their current assessment is, but also what the current market value is based on the equalization calculation that was used to bring the rate up from 82 to a 100 percent equalization rate.
“We have expended a good deal of effort, and are making every attempt to have things turn out to be fair and equitable, and make sure that our data that we have on record is correct,” Murdock said.The notices will also outline what the new, preliminary assessment is on the property, as well as information regarding what the tax liability, or what the effect on the taxes would have been had all of the new preliminary assessments numbers been in place for the January Town and County taxes and the previous school bill in September of 2011.
Murdock noted that the disclosure notice is not a tax bill and that the information regarding tax liability is for comparison purposes only. It is not an official number.
Should you disagree with the findings, property owners may call (716)712-8245 between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. to schedule an appointment for an informal hearing with KLW Appraisal Group at the Park Avenue Building.
The number provided is strictly for scheduling purposes only.
The informal meetings will take place Monday through Saturday over the next few weeks.
If you feel your assessments do not represent fair market value, the KLW Group and the Assessor’s Office asks that you bring copies of any documentation and information that will support your argument. Changes will not be made without documentation.
“The informational meeting is an exchange of information so that homeowners can understand how we got to where we are. We are dealing with a town of 6200 parcels, there may be data that is missed, or an evaluation adjustment that gets missed. It happens, and we don’t take it personally and hope the property owners don’t as well. But we have gone to great efforts to avoid that,” Koszarek said.
The Assessor’s Office has set up a website at townofwebb.org to help property owners research and understand their findings.
On the site, property owners will be able to do a comparable search based on a listing of all sales in the Town of Webb over the last three years.
However, the Assessor’s Office asks that property owners remember to include enough search parameters to find the most accurate comparables.
When visiting the site, remember to select “sales” rather than “assessments” in the query, and to remember that the website contains basic information when compared to the process and data collected for the revaluation.
Those seeking more information can contact the Assessor’s Office at (315) 369-6880 or go online to: www.tax.ny.gov.
