Town of Niagara receives reassessment update

By Benjamin Joe

The Town of Niagara is currently undergoing a reassessment of properties within its borders, after 35 years, following a vote in 2023 to engage in the project. David Barnett, co-owner of GAR Associates, came to the Town Board’s regular business meeting to explain the process on Tuesday, March 18.

“Nothing is set in stone,” he told the audience of the assessments.

Barnett said the new property assessments sent to residents’ homes on March 1 were based on “arms-length transactions” within the town.

“These are what your neighbors’ and comparable properties are selling for,” Barnett said. “It’s not a science. There’s not a formula.”

The time for informal review ended March 19, but Barnett said whatever the result of the informal review, whether “it was reduced,” or “no change,” home owners can still go to Grievance Day, May 27, if they don’t agree with their assessed amount.

“The board is made up of residents like you, who live in town. I always call it an independent board,” Barnett said. “And then there’s a third step after that, which is litigation, whether it’s a small claims proceeding or you’re a commercial property owner.”

Barnett also said in an email that the “residential market, in general, has seen pronounced growth and appreciation in recent years, even with minimal upgrades to a house outside of normal maintenance.”

He also noted that warehouses and industrial properties have seen “significant growth.”

The benefits of a reassessment come from bringing the equalization rate up to 100%, something the Town of Niagara has not had since the early 1990s, Barnett said.

Barnett explained the town’s equalization rate is made through the state’s random picking of sales within the municipality, and compare those to what the assessment for each property is. It could be a sale of a home, a commercial building or a vacant structure. Everything is counted the same.

“In this case, pre-project, (the difference) was 33%,” Barnett said. “Now, if everybody was at 33% and it was a scientific formula, we would just do the math. The problem with the 33% is that some people are over-assessed and some people are under-assessed. Some people are right at 33%, they didn’t see a change.”

Barnett said the result of a reassessment usually leaves a third of the properties with higher assessments, a third with lower assessments, and a third that didn’t see any change.

Barnett also said there are benefits of the reassessment, including exemptions, like the Gold Star Exemptions for seniors, counting for 100% of their value, and more. State aid is also tied to the equalization rate, which could affect school districts and highway departments.

“There’s other benefits like bond rating for the town, depending on sales tax revenue. It’s part of that formula,” he concluded. “There’s a lot tied to your equalization rate where a town as a whole sees a benefit. There’s no revenue generated here, but ultimately there’s inherent benefits to property owners of the town, in general, when you’re at 100 and maintain 100.”