By Chrissy Prichard

Express News Staff

The reassessment project, also referred to as the Assessment Equity Project, taking place in the Town of Webb is almost complete. The desired outcome of this project is that each of the approximately 6,200 properties in the Town of Webb will be valued at full market value, and be fairly and equitably assessed.

Inequities in the assessments had developed since the last revaluation that took place in 2005. Due to this, some neighborhoods have become overassessed, and others have become under-assessed, resulting in many taxpayers paying either more or less than their fair share of taxes.

The project has been a collaboration between the Webb Assessors Office and the KLW Group, of Buffalo. KLW’s expertise is in real estate appraisal. They were tasked with evaluating sales for all types of property including vacant land, residential, commercial and forestland. Land values were developed based on this sales data. The KLW Group is currently reviewing and finalizing values, with each neighborhood being scrutinized separately.

Property owners will soon be receiving notices which contain the preliminary figures for their property assessments. These Assessment Disclosure Notices will be mailed from the Assessor’s Office by March 1. Also enclosed with the notices will be a letter which describes the steps that property owners will need to take to review their assessment.

Before these notices are mailed out on March 1, a public information meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 23 at the Park Ave. Building in Old Forge to answer any questions.

“I would encourage all property owners interested in the Assessment Equity Project to attend the informational meeting. This is the final public meeting being held as a part of the reappraisal project,” says Webb Assessor Jean Murdock.

Robert Koszarek, President of the KLW Municipal Group, Jonathan Lack, Community Represent-ative from the Office of Real Property Tax Services, and Murdock will be providing information and answering questions.

General information regarding the process as a whole and regarding the informal hearing process will be shared, as well as information on how to read and understand the preliminary notice. Those unable to attend should pay special attention to the preliminary notices and the accompanying letter they receive for further information.

After preliminary reassessments are received, property owners will have the opportunity to meet with the KLW Group to discuss their reassessments through the beginning of April. The assessments that are determined through these informal hearings will be placed on the tentative assessment roll, filed by May 1.

After the tentative roll is filed, the grievance process takes place. During the grievance period, property owners can be heard by the Board of Assessment Review if they feel their assessment is unfair or inaccurate. Three temporary Board of Assessment Review members have been appointed for a period of one year. This will allow the Board of Assessment Review to expedite the hearing process.

The final assessment roll will be filed by July 1. The property assessment is the basis for school tax, county, town and special district taxes.

“I want to emphasize that the assessor’s office and the Board of Assessment Review are not responsible for setting tax rates and cannot adjust taxes,” says Murdock. “If there is a concern that taxes are too high, the property owner’s comments should be addressed to the appropriate taxing jurisdiction.”

Further information on assessments can be found online at www.townofwebb.org, or by contacting the Assessor’s Office at (315) 369-6880.