2024 Assessments and June 25th Dem Primary Election Preview
Assessments
Many people are receiving large assessment increases in this years 2024 Assessment Rolls. A few facts about assessments;
Assessment increases on their own don't raise taxes. The town could triple everyones assessment and would not collect even $1.00 more in tax revenue. Tax rates are calculated by determining the tax levy first, how much the municipality will need to fund their budget. Then they take that number, divide it by the total property values in the municipality and get the tax rate so that each property can pay their proportionate share. Scroll to the bottom of this blog for some examples.
All re-assessments do is value everyones property at an updated price, and ensure people pay their fair share. The pie of taxes doesn't get any bigger, but does shift around each properties % of the pie. If the municipality raises taxes, thats part of the budget process and completely independent of assessments.
If you think your propety is assesed too high, ask yourself, would you sell at the assessed price? If the answer is no(because the prices is too low), you really don't have much of a case. If its yes(its high and you'd be happy to sell), you can seek to challenge the assessment. You should look at similar propreties in your neighborhood, recent sales, and gather as much information as possible. Some people get an appraisal, others get letters from realtors, you want to build as strong a case based on facts(not, its up so much!!!, thats going to get rejected) as possible.
Assessors Office Page has some good information as well https://greenburghny.com/168/Assessors-Office
You have until June 18th to challenge your assessment if you wish to do so. You can hire someone to do this or do it yourself up to you. Most professionals charge nothing if your assessment isn't reduced and a % of your first year tax savings if they can reduce.
The assessors website has lots of good information including how to challenge your assessment, dates, market trend maps and more.
Here is a video I recorded for Hartsdale Neighbors Association with the Town Assessor. Again from 2021 but still lots of good info.
Election Preview
There are 3 major primaries coming up in the June 25th primary for Democrats in Greenburgh. My next article will go into more detail on this but with absentee ballots distributed, I wanted to send something out. Reminder election Day is June 25th and early voting begins Saturday June 15th. More details here.
All 3 candidates I'm supporting are the endorsed candidates of Greenburgh Democrats:
Congress CD16- Jamaal Bowman(incumbent) versus George Latimer. If you haven't heard about this race you've probably been living under a rock. I've never felt this strongly about a Dem Primary since moving to Westchester 11 years ago. This is the most important primary we've ever had. It's not just that George Latimer is the far superior candidate its how awful Jamaal Bowman has been in almost every capacity. If you've ever considered listening to me about anything, voting for George Latimer is the #1 most important thing I've ever put in this blog.
New York State 92nd Assembly District- MaryJane Shimksy(incumbent) versus Tom Abinanti. Abinanti holds dangerous views on vaccines and tried to pass legislation to allow philisophical exemptions(basically could say I don't like needles) for measles and mumps in school age children. His views are dangerous, I'm supporting Shimsky.
Westchester County District Attorney- 3 candidates, no incumbent. I'm supporting Susan Cacace. William Wagstaff is being supported by the Working Families Party which is actively supporting Jamaal Bowman. He hasn't endorsed Bowman but has made no effort to distance himself, any association at all with Bowman is too much for me. Anyone who supports Bowman, I'm automatically not interested in supporting other candidates they like. Adeel Mirza is also running, he has in the past been accused of Sexual Harrassment by a coworker. I'll pass. Cacace for DA.
Hopefully, you have found this informative. Please send any questions and forward to your friends and neighbors. If you have questions about any of the above, please email me at Eric@ericzinger.com
Eric Zinger
www.ericzinger.com
First municipalities determine the "tax levy" or how much they are going to raise in taxes. Lets say that number is $1mm. Then they look at how much taxable property there is, lets say there are 10 properties, each worth $1mm for total of $10mm. So then the tax rate is calculated at 10%. Each $1mm property pays 10% taxes or 100k and $1mm total is collected. Lets now say that the town doubles everyones assessment to $2mm. Well they are still collecting $1mm in taxes (that number could change up or down but if it does that is based on the budget and has nothing to do with assessments).So they take that $1mm in taxes and now divide by $20mm, and get 5%. Each $2mm property pays 5% or $100k and the Town collects the same $1mm dollars even though assessments doubled. Lets say in that same scenario(with assesments up to $2mm each) the town says we need more money and need to raise taxes to $2mm. Well they take that $2mm, divide by $20mm(10 properties X$2mm each), and get a 10% tax rate or $200k per home. In that example, the extra $100k each property pays is because the tax levy went up, it has nothing to do with the assessment increase. Lets do another example where the budget calls for $1mm to be raised but instead of 10 homes all equal to $1mm, we have 9 worth $1mm and one that did a ton of renovations and upgrades and is now worth 11mm, for a total of $20mm. Well the $1mm tax levy is divided by $20mm(total property value) in property for a calculated 5% tax rate, again the tax rate is a derived figure based on the inputs, its not static.. Each $1mm property owner pays 50k for $450k total and and the $11mm property owner pays $550k for a combined total of $1mm. That the 10th property saw a massive assessment increase, does not result in any additional tax revenue collected.