Tompkins County Assessment – Formal Assessment Review Deadline is April 12, 2024

It is the season for assessment! The Tompkins County Assessment office sent out their Preliminary Property Value Assessment for all properties in the county for 2024. If you have not received yours, feel free to call the assessment office at 607- 274-5517.

Tompkins County re-values all properties in the County to assist local governments and school districts in determining the rate at which they need to tax local property owners to fund their annual budgets.

This year’s annual adjustment is sure to raise some eyebrows as the average assessed value in the preliminary assessment reflects a 19.8% increase over 2023. This is extraordinary and on top of an average increase in 2023 of 10%.

Releasing the preliminary assessments is the first step in a weeks-long process of review and opportunities for property owners to challenge the County’s determination of value. While the final assessed value is only one component of the formula to determine property and school tax rates (put simply: total property value divided by final municipal or school district budget = tax rate), it is the most visible expression of rising property values and sets the tone for conversations around housing affordability, challenges to investment and development of housing in the county, and reinforces the perception that New York is a high property tax state.

And, it also has already begun to stir social media commentary and conversations in the County. As such, if you feel as though your preliminary assessment is inaccurate or excessive, you do have a few avenues that you can pursue to both challenge and express concerns over, the value shown in your preliminary assessment.

1. You can request an informal one-on-one review with the Assessment Office beginning now through April 12, depending on the location of your property (more detail below);
2. You can apply for a formal review by the Assessment Department staff up to April 12 in hopes of reducing the assessed value when they publish the “tentative” assessments on May 1; and
3. You can attend the Grievance Day hearing on May 23 and make a personal appearance before the Grievance Board. After that, the assessment values become final and are used to calculate the next round of municipal property tax and school tax rates.

Lastly, you can also attend any Tompkins County Legislature session (1st & 3rd Tuesdays at 5:30 pm) and use the public comment period or formally request to address the Legislature in advance or submit written comments of any length. Speaking at the Legislature is restricted to 3 minutes but is the most direct way to express your opinions and concerns to the body that governs the County operations, including the Assessment Office and the County’s own budgetary process. The next meetings during the assessment cycle will be on March 5, March 19, April 2, April 16, May 7, and May 21, 2024.  If you do wish to speak at one of these meetings, instructions can be found on the County website here: https://tompkinscountyny.gov/legislature/publiccomment

While the assessed value of a property is something of a flashpoint for local concerns over rising values and taxes, please keep in mind that the assessed value does not determine the property and school taxes assigned to the property. ONLY the amount of money the school district, county, and municipality require to fund their annual budgets does that. All the assessed value does is impact the resultant rate that the taxing authorities use to collect their money. A higher assessment means a lower tax rate while a lower assessment means a higher rate. Either way, the actual amount of the taxes due doesn’t change.

What this means is that when there are opportunities to talk to the taxing authorities (county and local governments and district school boards) during their annual budgeting process (and subsequent votes), this is when the total monies they seek to generate from property taxes are determined and is arguably the most impactful time to make a difference in your tax bills.

In the meantime, to help you guide your through the assessment grievance process, here are the target dates by municipality for mailing of notices and scheduling grievance reviews:

The Formal Assessment Review Deadline is April 12, 2024

The first opportunity to argue the assessment is through one-on-one reviews with the Assessment office staff. These appointments are available as early as the first week of March, depending on the property location as shown in the chart above.  This is an opportunity to present any useful information that the staff may consider to re-value the property before the final assessment is issued.

However, property owners can also request a formal review by written application.  The Preliminary Review application must be filed with the Tompkins County Assessment Office by Friday, April 12th to allow the appraisers time to prepare the Tentative Assessment Roll. Tentative assessment notices will then be mailed on or about May 1.

To help you with this process, the 2024 Preliminary Assessment roll is available here and viewable at https://tompkinscountyny.gov/assessment

You can complete a formal Assessment Review Application (due April 12) online – click here or download an Assessment Review Application – click here.

Once the Tentative Assessment rolls are published on May 1, there is one last formal Assessment Appeal process that takes place on May 23 by personal appearance on Grievance Day.

Please reach out and let us know if you’d like our assistance in reviewing your property assessment or simply are seeking advice on whether and how to appeal. While we can certainly review market data to determine whether the proposed assessment seems aligned with current values, you may also wish to hire a licensed appraiser which, historically, has seemed to hold greater weight in arguing value since it is presented by a licensed 3rd party reviewer and is approached very similarly to the way the County Assessment Office values properties.

If you have any other questions about this – feel free to reach out to our Ithaca offices.