COVENTRY – The Coventry Town Board voted unanimously to move to an annual property tax reassessment process at the governing body’s year-end meeting, held last night at the town hall.

According to Town Supervisor Janice O’Shea, the action will enable the town to qualify for up to $5 per parcel in state aid through the New York State Office of Real Property Services, as well as reduce residential assessments by between 3 to 5 percent on the town’s 2010 assessment roll.

“We are at 100 percent, so we should look to stay there rather than let things slide,” O’Shea said, explaining why the town had decided to reverse a previous decision to forego moving to an annual reassessment.

According to the supervisor, their decision was based on three options presented to them by NYORPS Regional Manager Jeff Bartholomew at the town’s regular monthly board meeting on Dec. 9. The first option was to maintain the status quo, maintaining current assessment values and not receiving state aid. The second, to sign the annual reassessment plan, which would enable them to receive up to $5 per parcel in aid. The third and final option was to both sign the plan and reduce residential assessments.

“We talked about it at length and decided to go with option three,” O’Shea reported.