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UNIFORM ASSESSMENT STANDARDS


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(Updated May 2011)

Early in 2009, the New York State Board of Real Property Services (The State Board) directed the Office of Real Property Services (ORPS) to collaborate with assessors and county property tax directors to develop a set of principles to guide assessment administration by individual assessing units. The Real Property Tax Administration Committee (RPTAC) which is made up of representatives of the New York State Assessors Association and the New York State Association of Directors of Real Property Tax Services, as well as ORPS staff, provided the ideal medium for the ensuing discussions and debate. The result was consensus on a recommendation to the State Board of appropriate Uniform Assessment Standards.

The State Board adopted the following Uniform Assessment Standards on February 9, 2010. In August of 2010, legislation passed as part of the budget process:

•merged the Office of Real Property Services with the Department of Taxation & Finance
•added "Tax" to the Agency moniker, and
•relieved the State Board of any policy or oversight authority.

The adoption of the Uniform Assessment Standards was the last policy action taken by the State Board of Real Property Services.

The intent of the Uniform Assessment Standards is to provide a general blueprint for local government assessing units to establish "equitable" and "transparent" assessments. "Equitable" means that all properties are uniformly assessed at full market value. "Transparent" means that the system is easy to understand by all taxpayers, and that all relevant information is readily available to the public.

The standards are advisory in nature – the only requirements are those contained in State statute, board regulation or rule, and agency procedure or practice. All assessing units are encouraged to look to these standards for direction to assessing staff, elected officials, taxpayers and the general public. In addition, local governments – assessing unit or otherwise – are encouraged to refer to these standards when formulating policy.

The Uniform Assessment Standards is a work in progress, and it is expected that it will evolve over time. Amendments to the document will be approved by the entire membership of RPTAC.

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FAIR ASSESSMENTS -- A Guide For Property Owners
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New York State Law requires all properties in your municipality (except in New York City and Nassau County) to be assessed at a uniform percentage of market value each year. This means that all taxable properties in your city, town or village must be assessed at market value or all at the same uniform percentage of market value each year.  State Law also requires your assessor to include the estimate of the market value for each property, the assessment for each property and the uniform percentage for all taxable property on the tentative assessment roll.

This pamphlet explains how your assessor can comply with the law by keeping assessments up-to-date and equitable each year.  The fairness, or equity, of the real property tax depends on whether similar properties are treated alike. By keeping assessments up-to-date each year, assessors can go a long way toward ensuring that taxpayers do not pay more or less than their fair share of taxes.

Who is responsible for assessments and who is responsible for taxes?
Assessments are determined by the assessor, an elected or appointed local official, who independently estimates the market value of real property in your community.  Market value is how much your property would sell for under normal conditions.  Once the assessor estimates the market value of your property, the assessment is calculated.

As mentioned above, New York State law requires all properties to be assessed at a uniform percentage of value within your community.  Your assessment is a percentage of market value.  That percentage of market or full value at which properties are assessed within a community is called the Level of Assessment (LOA).  For example, a LOA of 50 percent would indicate that assessments are at half of the market value; whereas, an LOA of 100 percent represents a community that is assessing at full value.

Your taxing jurisdiction (school district, town, county, etc.) is responsible for developing and adopting a budget.  There are several steps involved in this process.  Revenue from all sources other than the property tax is determined.  These revenues are subtracted from the budget to arrive at the tax levy - the total amount to be raised through the property tax.

The tax rate for properties in your community is then determined by dividing the tax levy by the total taxable assessed value of taxable real property in your community (tax levy¸ total assessed value = tax rate).

What is the difference between the market value and assessed value of my property?
The market value of your property is generally defined as what your property would sell for under normal conditions.  For residential properties, your assessor generally determines market values by comparing a property with similar properties that have sold in similar neighborhoods, giving consideration to other factors possibly affecting market value.

In many communities, where assessments are maintained at a uniform percentage of 100, your assessment is market value.  In other words, your assessed value would equal market value.  If your community is assessing at a fractional percentage of market value, your assessment should be based upon the percentage being used throughout the community.  For instance, if the market value of your home is $100,000, and your community is assessing at 30 percent of market value, your assessment should be $30,000.

Won't my taxes increase if my assessment is adjusted?
First, as noted above, your assessor does not increase your taxes.  Assessors are trained to be appraisal professionals; it is their job to make sure that the assessments are accurate and equitable, which provides the basis for fair distribution of taxes among the property owners within the assessing unit. Keeping assessments up-to-date each year is necessary for fair tax distribution.

Next, keeping values up-to-date each year does not necessarily mean that your assessment will increase.  Market values of properties may stay the same or go down, which means that some properties should see a decrease in assessed values.

If your assessment does increase, it doesn't mean that your taxes will automatically increase.  In some cases, a municipality will go from a fractional level of assessment to 100 percent.  If the original level of assessment was 10 percent, and the current level of assessment is 100 percent, your assessed value could go from $9,000 to $90,000, and you might not see any increase in taxes.

In addition, if your assessment increases, but the assessments of most other properties increase more, your share of the taxes could decrease.  For instance, if your assessment increased by 3 percent, but most other property owners saw increases of 5 percent, you'll likely see a decrease in taxes (assuming your school and municipal budgets remain stable and the tax levy does not increase).

How does the assessor decide which assessments to change and by how much?
In order to maintain a uniform LOA, each year your assessor will need to analyze all of the properties in the municipality to determine which assessments need to be changed.  If assessments have been kept up-to-date each year, or if the real estate market has been fairly stable, it is possible that few assessments will need to be adjusted.

Where assessments do need to be changed, in some cases, your assessor will be able to increase or decrease the assessments of a neighborhood or group of properties by applying real estate market trends to those properties.  This is possible only when assessments are at a uniform level.  In other cases, the assessor will need to conduct physical reinspections for reappraisals of properties.  Every assessing unit should be keeping assessments at a fair and uniform level every year.

Why does State Aid require 100 percent of market value?
It's much easier for taxpayers to understand assessments and determine whether they are overassessed when assessments are kept at market value.   While State law does authorize municipalities to assess at market value or some uniform percentage thereof, the State Aid program requires towns and cities to keep their assessments at market value.

Think of it this way, if you estimate your home to be worth $100,000 but the assessed value is $90,000, you might think your property is underassessed.  However, if the level of assessment is less than 100 percent of market value, you might be overassessed.  If, indeed, your home's market value is $100,000, but you're municipality is assessing at 80% of market value, your assessed value should be $80,000.  ($100,000 * .80 = $80,000.)  In this case, your property is overassessed by $10,000.  

It almost goes without saying that it's very easy to be confused when assessments aren't kept fair and at market value (and it's also much more difficult to explain).

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I understand there is a court order that won't allow the town to increase the assessments...

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919 shardon court....sold for 562,500 in 2005......assessed for 400,000 fair?? Don't think so. all of them like that

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Don't worry about the BOA $$$ almighty Rotterdam people...Amsterdam is going after the money and will get it....smarterpeople out there....keep working on the CVS great addition to our neighborhoods....This place is a shithole and not one of you know how to help change that.....put that roundabout at the corners...oh yeah build the old grand union into the palace you talk about.....let the curry road shopping center fall to the ground...taxes thru the roof because of unequal assessments done by GAR...the people here need a real leader business man.  Educated, proven track record..run people as fast as you can.......RUN !!!

Quoted from biaggio

Don't worry about the BOA $$$ almighty Rotterdam people...Amsterdam is going after the money and will get it....smarterpeople out there....keep working on the CVS great addition to our neighborhoods....This place is a shithole and not one of you know how to help change that.....put that roundabout at the corners...oh yeah build the old grand union into the palace you talk about.....let the curry road shopping center fall to the ground...taxes thru the roof because of unequal assessments done by GAR...the people here need a real leader business man.  Educated, proven track record..run people as fast as you can.......RUN !!!

Quoted from biaggio

it has been just about a year since it was completed by the residents and passed to the town....ya sure somone is looking at it ? if so, someone should be told when the States review will be complete, common sense says we shouldnt be sitting with our hand on our a** waiting. Who owns this on the towns side ? Cracker jack job they all do I'm sure it sat with them too long and dont expect a rush when they get an answer. Take a close look at this town....the Junction is starting to look better than the rest of it.....REALLY drive around eastern Rotterdam is a dump !!!