Residents Helped Keep 2007 Bronxville Revaluation Costs Low: Mayor

By Bronxville Mayor Mary Marvin

Last week’s column on reassessment sparked even more conversation on the subject, worthy of a Part II to explain additional intricacies of the process.

Though New York State agencies strongly urge every municipality to reassess, this is another of the many unfunded mandates. Cities and towns received pennies on the dollar and Villages are ineligible for any state aid. Leaving 100 percent of the costs to communities sends a very contradictory message.

Thankfully, since our post 2007 property valuations were so accurate, our certioraris, grievances and small claims proceedings dropped exponentially, resulting in a recouping of our outlay for the revaluation in only three years - a great return on investment. In contrast, other Westchester communities commonly bond for tax settlements as their successful grievance awards are in the hundreds.

Our numbers were so accurate and thus fair only because our residents cooperated and opened their doors to the valuators. Over 90 percent of our residents – a record – allowed interior inspections.

We did something that I believe was key to our success. Our inspectors were instructed to view the property for value and not simultaneously look for unpermitted improvements or missing Certificates of Occupancy. Undocumented improvements were uncoupled with the valuation process because the goal of revaluation is to achieve accurate valuation and with it tax equity, and not be a punitive tool.

Our only regret was something we thought of post revaluation. In retrospect we should have also declared the valuation period as one of amnesty for all unpermitted work and offered residents overdue permits at the regular price structure. As it stands, when unpermitted work and missing C of O’s are discovered at the time one chooses to sell, permit costs are doubled and tripled because of the post facto review.

A problem in other communities that we thankfully did not encounter was the discovery of illegal subdivisions of houses. In these cases, a municipality cannot turn a blind eye to possible safety and fire violations.

There is no mathematical formula that an assessor uses to arrive at valuations; fireplaces are not numerically worth X, bathrooms X x 2, etc.

It is a valuation of the whole with some subjectivity in the equation – Is the house in good condition? Roof? Brick work? Is the kitchen outdated? Does the basement have water marks? Is the property level, usable? Do the bathrooms need remodeling? Some features can also be a plus or a minus. Swimming pools and corner lots come to mind. If a pool is too close to doors, or not properly fenced, it can be a negative. If a corner house has two beautiful “front” facades that is a plus; if it’s on a noisy congested corner, it is a negative.

It is also important to note that sales price is a major indicy of value but it does not always translate into market value. As example, a family estate may want a quick sale of a home purchased decades ago and will accept a low value since the profit margin is so high anyway. A corporation may own a home and want to divest quickly when an executive is transferred. Conversely, bidding wars on unique houses may result in the final purchaser overpaying.

Doing an improvement large or small to one’s home is not a legal loophole for an assessor to raise a home to full market value.

As example, if an assessor believes a home is under assessed by say $200,000 and no town wide reassessment is contemplated, he or she cannot use the value of a new bathroom to raise the assessment to market value. Only the value of the bathroom itself may be added. In essence a building permit is not an opening to revalue an entire home.

Even though single family homeowners pay the lion’s share of property taxes in almost every Westchester community, it is not wise to try to offload taxes on the commercial businesses, when the businesses are not large corporate entities, but rather mom and pop operations.

Since merchants, landlords and building owners cannot avail themselves of the public school system because the rule for school eligibility in New York State is domicile, not taxable property, they will never add to the school population.

Since increased taxes are part of the cost of doing business they have to be absorbed in some way, most often in product cost.

If merchants can’t stay competitive, stores close, our share of the county sales tax revenue decreases and empty store fronts contribute to the diminution of property values.

All tax grievances in Bronxville come before an impartial nonpartisan board of Village residents, who often have an expertise in finance, real estate or property valuation. Elected officials have no role in property valuation.

Since almost all Village homes have received interior inspections, visits are only made by the assessor to value building improvements.

Our tax roll stays current by constant update of values based on real estate sales coupled with computer modeling and exterior inspections. This plan that was approved by the appropriate state agencies and valuation professionals.