These NY homeowners, fed up with unclear assessment process, filed suit against their town

When Vestal resident Patti Searles opened this year's assessment letter, she experienced a bit of sticker shock.

This wasn't the first time she'd seen her home's assessment value increase, but the amount had grown excessive, she believed, and her frustration was mounting.

Searles, 43, and her husband bought their current Town of Vestal home five years ago and have seen their home's assessment value increase by over $40,000.

"I get that, 'Yay, my asset has increased in value,'" Searles said. "But it's getting to the point where you can't afford to pay the taxes. That does no good to actually keep residents in Vestal."

Is it just Vestal?

In 2023, there was a 15% residential assessment increase varying from 12-20% in Vestal's neighborhoods, according to town documents. Mark Minoia, the Town of Vestal assessor, and deputy assessor Colleen Zube did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

In March, a Broome County Supreme Court judge declared the assessment increases for four Vestal properties — detailed in a lawsuit filed by a group of homeowners — were "unlawful and invalid."

It's difficult to nail down how the Town of Vestal conducts their assessments, partly because the process is not streamlined across New York.

But New York State Assessors Association executive director Warren Wheeler, who is also the assessor for multiple municipalities within Oswego County, said increases of between 10-20% within the last couple years have been "very typical."

"Everybody's in the same boat," Warren said, speaking generally about assessments across New York. "These are unprecedented increases from year to year to year."

Warren said the COVID-19 pandemic is partly to blame, because it caused historic lows in interest rates. But as for why it's continued, he's not so sure.

"I don't know how to explain it now because the interest rates are back up," Warren said. "Now it's really just a matter of supply and demand."

Unpacking Vestal's assessment model

According to documents posted on the town's website, Vestal assessment increases are based on "market trending and analysis."

Town officials claim to have brought the town to 100% equalization in 2009 through investment in a town-wide reassessment, which means they are assessing property at 100% of market value, and work annually with the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services to maintain it.

"There's nothing in the state law that says everybody has to be at 100% of value," Wheeler said. "The law states that everybody has to be at a uniform percent of value."

The town says 100% equalization keeps assessments "in line with market values, are equitable, transparent and reflect medians in the marketplace as measures of value," and keeps tax rates lower.

Property assessments increased to maintain 100% equalization in 2021 and 2022, according to the town, and since the real estate market is maintaining increased selling prices, another increase was necessary in 2023.

"I enjoy living here, I enjoy Vestal," Searles said. "I think this neighborhood is a really good neighborhood and it pains me to watch them basically pricing people out of it."

'Fighting that losing battle'

Searles filed grievances in 2020, 2021 and 2022. She missed the deadline to file one this year. Searles claimed the office closed before its posted hours.

In 2020, the town responded to her grievance by lowering her assessment by about $10,000, but in 2021, she said her proof of value was deemed inadequate.

Searles said the square footage of her home differed between what the assessor listed it as and how it was listed on real estate websites, such as Zillow. She said she was told certain sections of houses, like basements, aren't supposed to be included in square footage.

After looking through a database provided to residents by the town, Searles also believed there were errors with the way the assessment values were calculated, but the town refuted that claim.

According to the town, a recent appraisal of a homeowner's property is the best proof of value.

"You're kind of fighting that losing battle," Searles said. "Any time I feel like I have leaned in and questioned things, I've been very much dismissed or given a very basic answer with no available way to follow up. And financially, it's a burden."

How Vestal residents have dealt with excessive assessments

Other Vestal residents have shared Searles' frustration at recent town board meetings. Four Vestal families — Searles was not among them — filed a lawsuit in November 2022 challenging their assessment values for the 2022-23 tax year.

All involved in the lawsuit, petition documents filed in the Broome County Supreme Court say, had commenced either Small Claims Assessment Review or Real Property Tax Law proceedings to challenge their final assessment values, which resulted in a fixed assessment value for a set number of years.

However, before those time frames had passed, the Vestal assessor "illegally, improperly, maliciously and contemptuously increased the 2022 assessment," according to the claim.

For one family, their assessment value increased less than a week after the town had agreed to an Order and Judgment, which ruled their assessment value couldn't be changed on the 2022, 2023 and 2024 assessment rolls.

The documents also claim each family demanded reductions in compliance with court orders, but "the assessor and the town failed and refused to comply with petitioners' demands, and failed to even respond."

In March 2023, four months after the lawsuit was filed, a Broome County Supreme Court judge declared the assessment increases for the four properties were "unlawful and invalid." Reductions were ordered as a result, falling between $4,000 and $46,000.

But, Searles says, it shouldn't have to get to that point.

"It's a very frustrating situation to be in because you don't want to move, you don't want to leave the area," Searles said. "But then, on the other hand, you're basically saying that my house is worth more if I sell it than if I stay in it."

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This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: NY property assessments keep rising. Vestal residents are fed up