Assessor was overzealous and now I have to pay

[kmg422]

New York. I renovated my kitchen 1 1/2 years ago; I let the assessor come in and he asked if he could look around (mistake #2). I didn't think much of this until a few weeks ago my escrow notice arrived and I was short $1700 for 2013 and need to up my payments for 2014. When I called to see what this was about the assessor's office said it was for an AC and Deck that the assessor "found" while at my home while there for the kitchen which they claim to not have any records of. The AC was intalled in 1967 and the deck in 1986!!! Both items have permits on file with the building department.

The assessor valued these items as though they were installed today and doubled the value of my kitchen.

I have been told I have to pay the 2013 taxes as it will affect my mortgage and I can grieve the 2014 in January. No one from the city is willing to help rectify something that is obvisouly wrong. I find it impossible to believe that in 46 years the assessors office let these items go unnoticed; I live on a very busy street and cannot change a lightbulb without the town finding out about it.

Is it true I have no recourse in 2013 and can only hope to grieve for 2014?

 

[FarmerJ]

If your going to argue that the tax assessor who came out was wrong then I would imagine it would help you to have comparable data to offer from more than one property that is very much like yours , Lot size, number of bedrooms total number rooms, garage space, sheds, fireplaces, ac , total house size , same kinds of updates, ( what they pay if less than you ) the whole deal just as if you were trying to determine a market value to sell but if you find that other truly comparable properties do not have much of a difference in property taxes then it might not be worth doing anything about it since sometimes properties are taxed under other comparable properties.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

While filing your complaint, don't forget to insist on paying all the retroactive taxes you were not being assessed.

 

[FarmerJ]

My first house , my first full spring there the tax assessors office sent someone out to door to door in my neighborhood, while I was working in the yard. She said it had been many years since they had done this, so we were talking about my being the new owner and how eventually I would change things in the house but had to wait till I could pay for the improvements, so she starts asking room by room if there had been changes and each answer was not yet but some day with a smile. the house had a gravity coal converted to gas furnace, 2 wire 30a elect metal kitchen cabs from the 40s LOL anyway it was all in all good, ANYWHO the point of this is that there are many cities in the past that did not do much to actually see if homes had been worked on / remodeled / improved over the years then adjust the taxes if needed. SO if you dont agree there are steps you can take but Ill lay odds that the people that get reductions are the ones that did alot of homework and really offered enough comparable properties with lower rates that they were able to convince ________ in the appeals process to agree , If by chance you discover that comparable property is being taxed even higher then I suggest you not share that info with too many other neighbors especially if they are paying more.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

My MIL (RIP) used to tell them she never lets strange men in the house when her husband isn't home.

 

[FarmerJ]

I think I was 14 or 15 when the city of Crystal had sent assessors office person out going door to door, she was polite too. When she asked if she could come in I told her my dad was not home, she asked about my mom, politely told her she had passed away, so the assessor asked questions , The obvious could not be hid, the house had been built with cedar shake siding like so many others in its era and we had steel siding and alum framed combinations on ( I think that was installed in 68 or maybe 67) she ran off a list of things like `are there finished rooms in the basement now ? (I told her no, because like many in the area our basement was partially finished , you know block walls painted , knotty pine wall down the middle to dress up one side, floor tiles and ceiling tile but the block walls not being finished more than paint was the deal or like one neighbor next to us that had a big L shape rec room in the basement with the ceiling open in one end and the long part of the El being more dressed up) did the kitchen have a dishwasher machine or a disposal added, trash compacter or new cupboards or counters, I remember telling her `red linoleum counter with plastic tile behind the stove` Anywho she was satisfied and moved on to the next home. ( I do know of many in the neighborhood who had finished off basement rooms and just as many who like my dad had partially finished spaces enough to dress them up but not enough to be charged for a finished space, ohhh and there was one neighbor who I think might have been in a dispute with another, I remember she commented to my mom (during the koffee klatch thing the stay at home moms used to do every now and then in each others homes in day time) she was furious and thought that XXX had called inspections on them since they had actually finished off two bedrooms and a rec room in the basement ( I guess it was with out permit) I suspect they were both petty with each other since we heard later that the other one who she thought it was had been tagged by the phone co for a old black `I love lucy` dial phone they werent paying for down in the basement. So I imagine once in a while assessors offices might even get calls from one neighbor dropping a dime on another.