County hires real property tax director
NORWICH – Chenango County Board of Supervisors Chairman Richard B. Decker has fulfilled a goal that he made for the county two years ago with the creation of a stand-alone real property tax department.
Announced just before Thanksgiving, well-known property assessor Steve Harris, 46, of Sherburne, was hired as the department’s director, effective Jan. 1. He will supervise a staff of four and report to the Finance Committee.
Decker, R-N. Norwich, has repeatedly asked town supervisors to streamline and reorganize assessment duties out from under the auspices of the treasurer’s department where they had been for nearly a decade. Real property tax services have been handled by part-time Assistant Director Donald MacIntosh, who stepped away from the post earlier this year.
Harris has been the assessor for the towns of Cazenovia (16 years), DeRuyter (15 years), and McDonough (2 years), and for the City of Norwich (12 years). He is a member of the New York State Assessors Association, Madison County Assessors Association and a past president of the Chenango County Assessors Association.
“We hope to improve the relationship between local assessors in the county, and I think this is a positive step in that way,” Decker said. “Steve knows almost every one of them personally, and he can work with the county’s treasurer and clerk to make this system work better.”
Since 2006, Decker has called for more training, updated statistical data in the real property tax office and more municipalities to share assessors. The subject of assessment inequalities between the towns has come up repeatedly at the committee level. County Treasurer William Evans has also called for more training.
With a new department and full-time director, Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said he hoped Chenango County would “continue its good service to the taxpayer and improve communications with local assessors of all the towns and the city that we serve.”
Harris’ wife, Rochelle, is the assessor for the towns of Sherburne, N. Norwich and Columbus. The family resides in Sherburne.
At an annual salary of $60,000, Harris’ compensation is in line with the clerk of the boards’ ($59,059), deputy treasurer’s ($58,183), and treasurer’s ($63,357).
According to the New York State Office of Real Property Services, one-third of New York is reassessed in any given year and half of the state maintains a 100 percent equalization rate. Few of Chenango County’s towns evaluate their assessments regularly. Equalization rates currently range from a high of 93 percent in New Berlin to 43 percent in Preston. The average rate is 61 percent.
Announced just before Thanksgiving, well-known property assessor Steve Harris, 46, of Sherburne, was hired as the department’s director, effective Jan. 1. He will supervise a staff of four and report to the Finance Committee.
Decker, R-N. Norwich, has repeatedly asked town supervisors to streamline and reorganize assessment duties out from under the auspices of the treasurer’s department where they had been for nearly a decade. Real property tax services have been handled by part-time Assistant Director Donald MacIntosh, who stepped away from the post earlier this year.
Harris has been the assessor for the towns of Cazenovia (16 years), DeRuyter (15 years), and McDonough (2 years), and for the City of Norwich (12 years). He is a member of the New York State Assessors Association, Madison County Assessors Association and a past president of the Chenango County Assessors Association.
“We hope to improve the relationship between local assessors in the county, and I think this is a positive step in that way,” Decker said. “Steve knows almost every one of them personally, and he can work with the county’s treasurer and clerk to make this system work better.”
Since 2006, Decker has called for more training, updated statistical data in the real property tax office and more municipalities to share assessors. The subject of assessment inequalities between the towns has come up repeatedly at the committee level. County Treasurer William Evans has also called for more training.
With a new department and full-time director, Finance Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford, said he hoped Chenango County would “continue its good service to the taxpayer and improve communications with local assessors of all the towns and the city that we serve.”
Harris’ wife, Rochelle, is the assessor for the towns of Sherburne, N. Norwich and Columbus. The family resides in Sherburne.
At an annual salary of $60,000, Harris’ compensation is in line with the clerk of the boards’ ($59,059), deputy treasurer’s ($58,183), and treasurer’s ($63,357).
According to the New York State Office of Real Property Services, one-third of New York is reassessed in any given year and half of the state maintains a 100 percent equalization rate. Few of Chenango County’s towns evaluate their assessments regularly. Equalization rates currently range from a high of 93 percent in New Berlin to 43 percent in Preston. The average rate is 61 percent.
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