By Chrissy Prichard

Express News Staff

The Town of Webb Assessor’s office mailed Assessment Disclosure Notices to all property owners on March 1. These notices contain the preliminary assessment information such as property inventory and an updated assessed value for the property. The information in these notices will be the basis of the tentative assessment, to be filed by May 1.

Once property owners received these notices, they had the opportunity to review the information and contact the Assessor’s office with questions. The KLW Municipal Group, who is assisting the Town of Webb with the revaluation project, has also met with concerned property owners to answer questions about how their assessment was determined, and to make adjustments as necessary.

Since the notices were mailed, Assessor Jean Murdock says about ten percent of property owners have come forward with concerns. Although the opportunity has passed to meet with the KLW Group before the tentative roll is filed, questions and concerns can still be brought to the attention of the Assessors Office.

Once the tentative roll is filed, the grievance period begins, giving property owners another opportunity to have their assessment adjusted if they feel it is unfair or inaccurate. In order to participate in the grievance process, property owners must fill out a grievance form and return it to the Assessors Office by May 15. Property owners that submit a form by this date will have the opportunity to be heard by the Board of Assessment Review (BAR). Murdock would like to remind property owners that the grievance hearings are scheduled meetings, and cannot be handled as walk-ins.

The grievance forms are available at the Assessors Office and can be found on the town’s website, www.townofwebb.org. To find the form on the website, click on “Assessment Information,” then click on the link for “Assessment review information from ORPS”.

Murdock says that so far the concerns people have had with their assessments are fairly routine, such as making sure that the property inventory is accurate. Some property owners, particularly those with waterfront property, have been surprised that these properties continue to rise in value as real estate values tend to be dropping in other parts of the country.

“The values are based on sales within the Town of Webb, and within specific neighborhoods, between from 2007 to 2011,” says Murdock.

The whole point of the reassessment is to equalize the assessed value and the market value for each parcel in the Town of Webb. As the recent property transactions show, real estate has been consistently selling for more than the assessed value. The reassessment project is intended to eliminate this discrepancy.

The Assessors Office invites anyone with questions about their assessment to call them at (315) 369-6880, or stop in their office on Park Avenue in Old Forge. Additional information about individual assessments, property transactions, and the grievance process can be found on the town website, www.townofwebb.org.