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.
Proposition 8, passed by California voters in 1978, provided for a temporary reduction in
assessed values where the Proposition 13 value of property exceeded the actual market value.
Simple stated, tax revenues are derived by applying a tax rate to
assessed values.
Assessed values have also experienced substantial increases due to both rising property value and new commercial and residential development, with
assessed values posting a strong 17.
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.
Properties not sold are subject to a 2 percent hike in assessment value each year under Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 law that requires counties to limit tax increases on
assessed values.
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.
1 percent jump in
assessed values was a rise in the number of properties changing hands that are eligible for reappraisal under Proposition 13, the tax-limit measure passed by state voters in 1978.
