Westchester County government is looking to reform the property tax assessment system here, but at a different pace than the revaluation program proposed by state Assemblyman Thomas Abinanti.
The county”™s reform initiative is a multi-phased plan based in part on the input and recommendations released in February by the Westchester Collaborative Assessment Commission, which comprises representatives of the Westchester County Municipal Officials Association, the Westchester County Tax Commission, New York State Department of Taxation and Finance and the Westchester County chapter of the New York State Assessors Association.
The county has embarked on a data-gathering and data-entry effort to update property information that is expected to take anywhere from 18 months to two years or more to complete. The county has already funded a program that is updating property information via street-level and aerial photography.
This year, Westchester has budgeted $3 million to property data-collection and data-entry efforts. At the end of that phase, the commission would then go back to the county and recommend whether a countywide revaluation would be necessary.
Al Gatta, chairman of the Westchester Collaborative Assessment Commission, said it has recommended the Westchester County Board of Legislators adopt a home rule resolution to be sent to the state Legislature requiring all Westchester municipalities to work with the county to update their property inventory. He said the commission is planning to reach out to the business community, local school districts and others to gain their input on property assessment reform.
The Board of Legislators created the Westchester Collaborative Assessment Commission to develop a regional model for the collection and maintenance of property data that would be used by local assessors.
Gatta, who is the village manager of Scarsdale, said property assessment reform is long overdue. He noted that while communities such as Pelham, Rye and Bronxville have performed reassessments in the past 10 years, there are some communities that have not reassessed properties in 50 years and some in more than a century.
Board of Legislators Chairman Ken Jenkins said local municipalities have bought into the county”™s efforts thus far and he is hopeful municipalities will voluntarily work with the county in the future. He said the board is not prepared at this time to adopt a home rule message that would require municipal participation in the property data-gathering and entry programs.
While not critical of Abinanti”™s bill that would call for a countywide revaluation in three years, Jenkins said that by collecting and inputting updated and accurate data now, a revaluation in later years would not be nearly as costly.
“The only answer at the end of this process is to do the revaluation, which will give the municipalities some stability and understanding of their revenue stream,” Jenkins said.
The Westchester Collaborative Commission has estimated the data collection and entry phase of the program will cost some $24 million. A full-value revaluation, if approved, could cost anywhere from $16 million to $24 million.
Gatta said Abinanti”™s revaluation and commercial ratio bills are not hurting the cause for property assessment reform because they could serve as a “stalking-horse” to get the county, municipalities and business community to come together on the issue.
