Who is responsible for assessments and who is responsible for taxes?
Assessments are determined by the assessor, an elected or appointed local official, who independently estimates the market value of real property in your community. Market value is how much your property would sell for under normal conditions. Once the assessor estimates the market value of your property, the assessment is calculated.

New York State law requires all properties to be assessed at a uniform percentage of value within your community. Your assessment is a percentage of market value. That percentage of market or full value at which properties are assessed within a community is called the Level of Assessment (LOA). For example, a LOA of 50 percent would indicate that assessments are at half of the market value; whereas, an LOA of 100 percent represents a community that is assessing at full value.

Your taxing jurisdiction (school district, town, county, etc.) is responsible for developing and adopting a budget. There are several steps involved in this process. Revenue from all sources other than the property tax is determined. These revenues are subtracted from the budget to arrive at the tax levy - the total amount to be raised through the property tax. The tax rate for properties in your community is then determined by dividing the tax levy by the total taxable assessed value of taxable real property in your community (tax levy ÷ total taxable assessed value × 1000 = tax rate).

Show All Answers

1. Who is responsible for assessments and who is responsible for taxes?
2. What is the difference between the market value and assessed value of my property?
3. Won’t my taxes increase if my assessment is adjusted?
4. How does the assessor decide which assessments to change and by how much?
5. My assessment was adjusted last year, and it’s been adjusted again this year. Why?
6. Why does State Aid require 100 percent of market value?
7. If my home is physically re-inspected, do I have to let the assessor in?
8. How do I know that the assessor has the correct information about my property?
9. When will I know my new assessment?
10. What information is on the tentative assessment roll?
11. What if I disagree with the assessment on the tentative roll?
12. Where can I learn more?
13. What are the benefits to keeping assessments up-to-date each year?