The Equalization Rate in Rotterdam is 102%. The definition of this rate as found on the NYS Tax Dept website:
•Equalization rate > 100
◦Overall property in the town is assessed higher than market value
◦Property values may have decreased since the last reassessment, but assessments were not adjusted downward
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Thank you Town of Rotten-dam...this is directly out of the city of Schenectady's Playbook!
Now I will clarify something for you and all readers on this board. There is also the "RAR" i.e., Residential Assessment Ratio. In Rotterdam, the RAR is also 102%
There is a difference in the definition of Equalization Rate and RAR.
When you look at an Equalization Rate, realize that it is referencing ALL properties of ALL types within the municipality.
When you see RAR, realize that it references ONLY RESIDENTIAL properties.
So when you see an ER of 102%, that means that, overall, ALL properties have gone down in value by 2% since the last reassessment. When you see an RAR of 102%, that means that overall, ALL RESIDENTIAL properties have gone down by 2%.
It is better explained using the city of Schenectady as an example. In the city, the current Equalization Rate is 108%, meaning overall ALL properties have gone down by 8%. But in Schenectady city, the newly set RAR is 117.85% which means that overall, ALL RESIDENTIAL properties have gone DOWN in value by 17.85%, or in the technical definition, the assessment value is equal to 117.85% of full market value, i.e., over-assessed, which means the DEM mayor McC MUST, he is OBLIGATED to conduct a citywide reassessment, but of course, he is far too embarrassed to do that because it would prove that under the dem leadership, the home values have fallen DRASTICALLY
So, if you bought a house in Jaunary 2012 when the RAR was 99.07% (meaning RESIDENTIAL properties were, in theory, typically were valued at .93% higher than assessed value---hard to believe) and today the house is worth almost 18% less than the assessed value (as the recently set RAR for the city is 117.85%) and even if you put 10% downpayment on the house, you ARE indeed "underwater" on your mortgage -- I just posted yesterday, I believe it was in the "outside Rotterdam" thread which actually had to do with Central Park because DV decided to hijack the thread about the park roses and claim that 566 houses in the city sold---but he REFUSED to state what time period it was and REFUSED to provide any EVIDENCE of that number of properties---but anyway, I continued with the hijack and responded to him to explain how the DEMS in the city have caused new homebuyers to be underwater.
Just remember that the RAR is determined based on a mix. A house that, say, was valued at $100,000, someone put an addition of a bedroom and a bathroom, that house perhaps could have increased in value, let's say, FOR EXAMPLE, to $123,000. Then another house assessed for $100,000 sold for $98,000, and then X number of houses assessed for $100,000 sold for varying prices between $60,000 and $80,000. So the state gets information and sets the RAR based on this overall math. However, the RAR, I do not believe, takes into account the houses that are not selling, in other words, if 100 houses are available for sale and their asking price is currently 40% below the assessment value, that will not be reflected in the RAR. However, if they sell in the coming weeks for between 40% and 50% below the assessment value, then that will be reflected in the RAR set in spring of 2014, and that would perhaps result in an RAR of maybe 125% meaning houses would then be valued typically at 25% less than assessment value.
And thus the important thing is that when you submit a grievance, if it is your residential house, you need to refer to the RAR particularly if it is higher than the equalization rate. I would refer to both rates if I was submitting a grievance and clarify that I am addressing a residential property and reference the distinction between RAR and equalization rate, if I was speaking to the board members I would probably say "we cannot ignore that the RAR is higher than the ER, thus....."
Good luck next year, folks.
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