Bracing for tax grievance day Schenectady owners cite property value dive in filings By Lauren Stanforth Updated 07:25 a.m., Friday, May 18, 2012
SCHENECTADY — City officials hope taxpayers contesting their property assessments can get them worked out Tuesday on grievance day — to avoid joining the more than 100 cases the City Council faces in state Supreme Court.
Some property owners already enjoy reduced assessments from earlier cases.
Front Street resident John Chequer hired an appraiser for $375 to take his case to small claims court in 2011. The modest investment paid off in a 24 percent assessment cut when a court hearing officer reduced Chequer's assessment on his 4,800-square-foot Stockade home from $327,500 to $250,000.
Commercial sites can be even bigger winners. The City Council dropped the assessment of the Holiday Inn on Nott Terrace a whopping 70 percent in November. Its tax value declined from $11.6 million to $3.5 million........................>>>>....................>>>>....................http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Bracing-for-tax-grievance-day-3567487.php
The city is going to dig themselves even a deeper hole!!!!!! They are barely making ends meet with the high taxes/fees they are charging now. Between the non-profits and all of the businesses that pay little to no taxes/fees, coupled with the folks getting their taxes lowered via grievances/court............they will clearly be broke in no time at all!!!
Now that is what I call WORKING TOGETHER!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
"Former Assessor Patrick Mastro, who oversaw the reassessment in 2009, has been criticized for his unwavering policy on how property was valued. Mastro, who answered critics by saying he had always reflected the true value of properties and was backed up by the state Office of Real Property Services, retired in January 2011 after a dispute with city officials". Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/loca.....p; If the above statement was really true the assessments of many of the city homeowners wouldn't have been lowered by the courts when they reviewed the assessments with independent assessors.
I have my lawyer all set since the board basically tells you to fu(k off, so I am planning on going all the way. I would rather spend $ on lawyers than give it to them to squander. I have been proven to hire lawyers and fight before. I don't back down like 95% of the poor old people they attempt to demoralize by telling them they are wrong and should go scratch when they grieve. I am planning on going to the local Supreme Court to fight my unfair assessment. I have had enough of the unfairness.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
This all stems from when Stratton was Mayor. This was his 'brainchild' as he was vowed NOT to raise taxes so instead he fudged assessments and created numerous 'fees' to cover his 'no new tax' platform.
You can have all the f'en reports you'd like stating that Schenectady isn't the highest taxed City in the State, but couple high tax with over-inflated assessments.....well, then Schenectady is the most corrupt place for honest homeowners.
Fairly, yup when the "current" board members are appointed by the SAME DEMS that appointed board members back then.
I believe the current board has no choice but to grant some reduction, because the values in the city have gone down. but for the most part I rather think the board will ok reductions about 10% when values have dropped 30%, maybe 40%.
And the thing is that the "decision document" that the board sends to the property owner (remember the savage dem who runs that office now) is such that the board would write in a lower amount and then check the box about proof the owner presented was inadequate because "supprting data was insufficient" and the problem is that the DEMS do NOT believe in transparency, honesty, and truthfulness to the owners, so they fix it t that they do not have to explain WHAT is "insufficient"
And look, only two days of "hearings." How much time will the DEMS allow the homeowners to explain themselves? Just look at the hours. If the board takes half hour for lunch and one hour for dinner on Tuesday, and then takes one hour for dinner on Wednesday, then that means they will actually be hearing grievances for 930 minutes. If there are 1,000 grievances, how much time does that allow for each homeowner to speak? After the a board members introduce themselves (at least I would THINK the dems would allow homeowners to know the names of the board members), and then say to the homeowner something like "please tell us your name and address clearly, etc. etc. " one would wonder if the homeowner has even 15 seconds left to plead their case.
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Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
I expect nothing less than the bum's rush and am fully prepared to go to court and spend as much money possible to make THEM spend money. I don't care if it cost me $30,000 to make them pay lawyers and fight me if that is the route they want to take- I am all set to go.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
Oh, I have comparables and am hiring the best people I can find to do the work.
"While Foreign Terrorists were plotting to murder and maim using homemade bombs in Boston, Democrap officials in Washington DC, Albany and here were busy watching ME and other law abiding American Citizens who are gun owners and taxpayers, in an effort to blame the nation's lack of security on US so that they could have a political scapegoat."
It's SO VERY BAD in Schenectady that DV is not buying house.
In fact, it's so bad that neither DV nor any of his imaginary friends post comments on most of the threads having to do with the city.
DV (and his other names) can't contradict the truth, so he has decided not to comment on it
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Optimists close their eyes and pretend problems are non existent. Better to have open eyes, see the truths, acknowledge the negatives, and speak up for the people rather than the politicos and their rich cronies.
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