NORWICH – The Chenango County Finance Committee unanimously approved a draft study of its current assessment administration system on Thursday, a move that makes way for a second round of state funding.
The study makes no recommendations, but found technological inefficiencies, both at the local and county level; inconsistencies with data collection in some parts of the county; a lack of information available to the public; and a loss of potential state aid.
Lawmakers last year, though reluctantly, applied for and accepted $50,000 from the New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness to help streamline property tax assessment and collection procedures. The grant was used to form a special committee, led by Town of Coventry Supervisor Janice O’Shea, and to hire a consultant. After several months of meetings, the committee presented its findings last week.
The report represented “incremental steps to having the same assessment levels in the county,” said O’Shea, and “to improve what we currently have.”
O’Shea’s committee was made up of a group of supervisors and representatives from both Chenango’s and New York’s Office of Real Property Tax Services.
Currently, there are six towns in the county that have either started a reassessment project or are in the planning stages of a reassessment. More than half of the municipalities, however, have not reassessed in at least 10 years and many in more than 30 years.
Periodic reassessments are the best way to ensure that each taxpayer pays no more or less than his or her fair share of taxes, the consultant’s report stated.
“When this data is inaccurate, out-of-date, or inconsistently collected, all of the methods used to determine assessment accuracy and equity are subsequently flawed,” said Joe Romano of SJ Romano Consulting.
Town of Pharsalia Supervisor Dennis Brown repeatedly questioned the state’s tax system itself, saying the relationship between sales appraisals and market value “doesn’t work” and some of his constituents could effectively “be put out their house” if his town were to reassess.
“Let the local guys do their job, not Albany,” he said of the study.
NYSORPTS representative Kate Garbutt (one of two who attended the committee’s meeting), said if properties aren’t looked at cyclically, parcels may be missed on the rolls.
“Sometimes we find people who have not been paying taxes for years. We need the ability of looking at these things regularly,” she said.
The study found that the technology platform and systems in the county are not being utilized efficiently and the infrastructure needs to be improved; the quality of the property data throughout the county is not uniform and needs to be updated; the numbers of qualified assessment personnel throughout the county are dwindling; and the coordination between the county’s ORPTS office and municipal assessors needs to be expanded.
The review highlights two models for the future, including a county-run assessing model and a Coordinated Assessing Program, or CAP. With the CAP model, at least two cities and towns would retain their assessing unit status, but agree to share a single assessor. Currently, all but the towns of Norwich and German have a an appointed assessor. Of those, 14 already share an assessor with another entity.
The study further estimated the cost of the assessment function for Chenango County at $580,000 or $18.32 per parcel. Romano said the cost did not take into affect various municipal accounting practices and fringe benefits.
Both Brown and Chenango County Treasurer William Evans spoke out on a number of occasions last year against accepting the state grant.