biaggio, I think because you bought your house onely 2.5 years ago might be an issue.  No one was reassessed upon buying  a house.  The partial value assessment that we had was the same number  before we bought the house (we checked with the town when we bought) as it was the year after bought it and it was the same last year.  There is a "clause" on the tax bills that would read, "...the town as determined that the full market value of your house is: XXXXX.  We were amazed when we looked at our bill and it had a number $40,000 less than we bought the house for.  Yet our new assessment value practically doubled---over that value shown on the tax bill as the "full market value!"  So we were rather concerned about the impact to our taxes.  But we knew that we were obviously underpaying the "fair share." We were quite surprised with the smaller hit that we took compared to what we've been reading.  And we can calculate that some of our neighbors got hit much more.

Back when there was that estimated projected tax impact, it's important to know what levy figure they used.  How did it calculate to the rate estimated.  Did a substantial number of taxpayers grieve their assessments successfully which increased the actual tax rate?

I guess in terms of "marching on town hall" the question for them was what did the professionals do that made the estimated new taxes out of whack, if that's where the problem is.  Next question is how much of a drop in total assessed value occurred after grievances?

And as I said earlier, check on the school district and ask the questions that need answers.
            

Point taken MC1. I do know for a fact that there have been  houses that have NOT been reassessed. And they should have been. I acutally found that out from a realestate freind.

I moved here to be near my elderly Father, I'm have been looking in other areas because of the mess Rotterdam is in...Houses of similiar value in much nicer places good schools etc taxes are much lower....gotta go, I will bring him with me....Problem I have now is....who would pay these taxes to live here...

oh well....

Quoted from biaggio

I moved here to be near my elderly Father, I'm have been looking in other areas because of the mess Rotterdam is in...Houses of similiar value in much nicer places good schools etc taxes are much lower....gotta go, I will bring him with me....Problem I have now is....who would pay these taxes to live here...

oh well....

Probably anyone from the city.....since we are alot lower.....for awhile.....

taxes will always go up---but to what value---that is the elected officials responsibility(school board, town board, legislature, assembly etc).....SHOW ME THE $$ TRAIL....
The city and county for the most part(because of the city) was raped by greed......I have heard the stories.....find the root and yank it out!

Quoted from biaggio

I have only been here 2.5 years and my assessment went up 70,000.........

Would I be understanding you correctly?  You bought your house for X and then 2.5 yrs later the assessed value assigned is X plus 70,000?

You are probably in a similar boat like us, yet different.  Our assessed value increased about $40,000 over purchase price, but almost "doubled" over the figure given as "full market value" on the tax bill.  I boo booed a bit earlier, that full market value given on the annual tax bills was about $35,000 less than our purchase price.

Actually, I think what the town did every year is they never "re-valued" the "full market value" on the tax bill, what they did was use the assessment value (which was always a partial value) and merely do the reverse math using that number based on the equalization rate.  In other words if your assessed value was $5,000 and if in this given year the equalization rate was 4%, they would divide 5,000 by 4 and come up with $125,000 as your "full market value".  And if the equalization rate dipped to 3%, then they would divide 5,000 by 3 and come up with your "full market value" as $166,666.  But regardless of the equalization rate, your "assessed value" remained as $5,000 and your tax bill was calculated by multiplying the tax rate (previously Mohon school was something like $500 per thousand, right?) so 500 (something per thousand tax rate) times 5 (the per thousand) and the tax bill would be 2,500.  The next year, your assessed value is still $5,000 but the tax rate went to $520 per thousand, you can do the math

But as far as looking to see a house that went, or allegedly went up that much in value, part of the homeowners responsibility is determining if the revised assessed value is accurate, and that could be getting a private appraisal, and reviewing actual sale prices of comparable houses in the neighborhood, area, development or whatever term you prefer

Quoted from bumblethru

Point taken MC1. I do know for a fact that there have been  houses that have NOT been reassessed. And they should have been. I acutally found that out from a realestate freind.

Absolutely, that's where the town had done wrong in the past, there should have been regular periodic reassessments.  Look at the city of Schenectady (I know well from my inlaws.)   They changed from partial value to full value about 1992.  Then they went through a citywide reassessment about 1999 (mostly reductions in assessments).  Then I guess there was a partial reassessment about 2002 with increases.  Now they are in the process of doing a citywide reassessment again (houses of course will be much increased in value from the reduction in 1999 based on some of the sale prices).

I don't know exactly when the town assessed, I think something like 50 years ago.  So now they are making it right.  And to think that many people were still opposed to a reassessment.  "Waaaaaah!  Say NO to reassessment.!!!!!!!!!!!!!"   Mostly probably heard from people who were under assessed.  However, I can honestly say we rather knew we were under assessed, so we were prepared for the worst, but amazingly faired well.  Now we can go finish the attic into bedrooms.....and see if building permits, refinishing/remodeling, etc will result in a change in assessment------as it rightfully should.

When all is said and done I am sure my tax bill will be in exess of $8.000.....( I'm sure ther is a very small population in this area that pay so high )tough to swollow when you drive around and see the mess we live in here....I will go through the process of chellenging my assessment now that the tax rate has changed so drastically....need to get the taxes down so I can get out of here....

All our tax bills seem to be a little high, I have a 35 year old house that's valued at $225,000 and my tax bill runs about $6,000 a year. We put on an addition in the 80's and at that time our home was reassesed to it's real value.  

With an apparent vocal outcry over the increase in school taxes, which obviously exceeded the increase in the tax levy, there had to be ample properties that had a decrease in the tax bill.  I like to know who they are.  

Actually I think we have a right to know who they are.  I wonder if it is big businesses?

It appears that some one got a big tax break and the residents picked up the tab. What happened to the Homestead Act which could have been applied? I think that Schalmont adopted it and Mohon didn't.

correct....no homestead act...all on the residents...

At least now we all know where we stand when it comes to the school and town taxes, we're all at the bottom of their priority list of who gets a break on taxes.

To  my understanding, they Homestead Act was rejected because they(whoever 'they' are) decided that if they inforced the Homestead Act, it would have placed more of a financial tax burden on businesses. Expecially our small home town businesses that have been here for decades. I believe that they felt it would not be fair for the businesses to pay a higher rate of taxes than the residents. And it would also discourage new businesses to move and develop here. This was clearly not an easy decision either way.