NEW BERLIN – Thirteen property assessment disputes – some of which date back to 2005 – have come to resolution in favor of three New Berlin residents.
The Chenango County Board of Supervisors last month authorized about $250,000 worth of assessment reductions that have resulted, in total, to $19,700 in refunds of town and county taxes to the individuals. The properties all have homes and acreage; one with about 70 acres.
The Binghamton law firm of Hinman, Howard and Kattell, LLP won the cases for their clients.
The notification was made public after the county’s budget for 2010 had already been adopted, but Chenango County Treasurer William E. Evans said the amount wouldn’t affect the county’s tax rate. Likewise in New Berlin, where town Supervisor Ross Iannello said a tax stabilization fund has enough money in reserve to take care of the unexpected rulings.
The disputes involved property assessments calculated by the town’s assessor from 2005 to 2009 that were challenged by the property owners for being too high. Members of the Finance Committee and the county’s assessor said it was unusual for such cases to cover more than a three-year period.
“More than three years through the supreme court? That’s surprising,” said Committee Chairman Lawrence Wilcox, R-Oxford.
Vice Chairman of Finance Dennis Brown, D-Pharsalia, said he was concerned that what he described as a “high-powered law firm” would continue to go back in history and find more assessment inaccuracies.
“Is this something we have to look forward to?” he asked.
Iannello left the county’s board meeting on Nov. 9 shortly before the resolution was discussed and later adopted. However, in a phone call on Friday, he explained that the town’s previous assessor, who retired in March, “kept trying to fight the cases.”
“It’s not something we will experience again,” he said. “Our ex-assessor just wouldn’t agree over the years to these people’s settlements. When he left, we hired an appraiser and it turns out that those assessment were wrong.”