The Cattaraugus County Assessing Office is conducting 2021 Reassessments in the towns of Freedom and Machias.
Once data collection and preliminary assessments have been completed, Assessment Disclosure Notices will be mailed to all property owners in these towns.
In order to comply with social distancing guidelines, all informal assessment reviews for the towns of Freedom and Machias will be done by online form submission, by paper submission, or by telephone appointment. See your Assessment Disclosure Notice for more information.
The Informal Assessment Review Application (link below) can be filled out electronically and emailed to Assessor@cattco.org or printed and mailed to County Assessor, 207 Rock City St., Ste. 101, Little Valley, NY 14755.
Informal Assessment Review Application
Reassessments
The end result of a reassessment is to get as close as possible to what a property owner could sell their property for on the open real estate market. Municipal-wide reassessments are the best way to ensure that assessments are fair and accurate.
During a reassessment, the assessing staff will review the market values of all of the properties in the community. Based on changes in the real estate market, the assessor will determine which assessments need to be increased or decreased.
The assessing office will also verify inventory data and take photos of all properties. Once data collection is complete, the office will send inventory information requests to property owners.
After several years without a reassessment, some properties will be over-assessed and some will be under-assessed. This is because some properties will have increased in value, while others may have decreased or stayed the same. Without a reassessment, all of the properties will continue to pay the same amount of taxes. For example:
| Market Value/Taxes | Property A | Property B | Property C |
Taxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Market value 20 years ago (last reassessment) |
$100,000 | $100,000 | $100,000 | |
| Taxes 20 years ago | $2,000 | $2,000 | $2,000 | $6,000 |
| Current market value | $300,000 | $200,000 | $100,000 | |
| Current taxes | $2,000 | $2,000 | $2,000 |
$6,000 |
In this example, Properties A and B are still paying the same amount of taxes as Property C, even though their market value as increased over the years. Properties A and B should pay more taxes than Property C. If the properties in this example were fairly assessed, Property A would pay $3,000, Property B $2,000 and Property C would pay $1,000.
Without a reassessment, Property C is actually subsidizing the tax bill of Property A. This is because what one property owner doesn't rightly pay will be paid by other property owners.
Reassessment and its effect in property taxes
Conducting a reassessment does not mean that your assessment or your taxes will automatically increase. Your taxes may increase, decrease or stay about the same.
Over time, market value of properties change. The value of some properties may increase, while the value of some properties may decrease. Frequent reassessments ensure that your property is assessed based on current market values, rather than on market values from 20 years, like the example.
If your assessment increases, it doesn't mean that your taxes will automatically increase. If the increase in your assessment is less than the average increase, your taxes will actually decrease. For example:
- If, your assessment increased by 12% and
- the average assessment increase was 15%, then
- your taxes will decrease (assuming your school and municipal budgets remain stable and the tax levies do not increase)
Reassessments don't increase the amount of taxes collected by local governments
Months after assessments are finalized by the assessor, taxing units (school districts, cities, towns, villages, and counties) determine the amount of taxes that a taxing unit needs to collect from property owners—this is known as the tax levy.
The property tax levy is determined separately from the assessments. The tax levy is then distributed over all taxable assessments.
If assessments increase, tax rates should go down proportionally. This is because the tax levy is now being distributed over a broader tax base. If tax rates go up or stay the same, it simply means that the municipality or school district is collecting more in taxes.
You'll be notified of your new assessment
When a town does a reassessment, a notice will be sent informing you of your new assessment. If you have any questions or disagree with the new assessment, you should arrange for an informal meeting (details will be on the notice) at your assessor's office to review the information on which the value is based. If the assessment officials feel that a mistake was made (or there is any other reason to question the accuracy of the assessment), the assessment will be amended.