In total, the 957 homeowners to successfully appeal got their properties'
assessed values reduced by an average of 8.
Although there are guidelines with regard to the determination of market value, due to latitude provided by New York State law, a property owner may find that the
assessed values for county, town, and village might be different.
The law limits how much
assessed values, and therefore taxes, can rise for homes and small residential properties in a given year.
The Baechtolds contended that applying a 25% ratio to the property resulted in an
assessed value that was disparately high in comparison to that of their neighbors'
assessed values.
Simple stated, tax revenues are derived by applying a tax rate to
assessed values.
Maximum
assessed values were first set in the 1997-98 tax year, and were the property's real market value for 1995-96, minus 10 percent.
Those numbers do not compare well with
assessed values on the newest late-1980's prime, Class A properties that fall out closer to $11 and $12 a foot.
In the real estate boom that followed passage of the ballot measure and that lasted until about five years ago, market values soared far above
assessed values and it was hard to imagine that market prices could plunge so severely they would drag down the
assessed values.
