The Tompkins County Department of Assessment is the only true Countywide Assessment unit in New York State.  We are committed to ensuring that all properties are treated fair and equitably to ensure an equitable distribution of the real property tax.  We welcome and encourage the public to review the information that our office has on each property and to notify us of any discrepancies.

Important Upcoming Dates:

• March 1 - Taxable Status Date - all exemptions are due
• April 14 - Last day to file an informal appeal for the 2023 Preliminary Assessment Roll.

Department Update - 2/10/2023

Message from Director

Beginning today, February 10th, the Department of Assessment will be mailing out Assessment Change notices.  We will be staggering the mailings so that we can ensure that everyone who wants to have their new assessment reviewed, will have adequate time to have their assessment reviewed. 

The Assessment Change notice will again show what the effect would have been on your taxes if the new assessment, and everyone else's new assessment was in place for the prior tax year.  This holds the tax levy constant from the previous year since a change in the overall assessment for a taxing jurisdiction does not mean that the tax levy must change as well.  As we have discussed before - they are two independent variables developed by two unrelated entities that simply come together to form a tax rate.

The formula for a tax rate is [Tax Levy] divided by [Tax Base] multiplied by 1,000.  As you can see - a change to the denominator does not affect the numerator - it only reduces the quotient [Tax Rate].  

Included on the notice this year is what the tax rate could drop to and still generate the same tax levy for each taxing jurisdiction.  Increases to this tax rate are a result of the taxing jurisdiction increasing the tax levy once their 2023/24 budget is set.

A property owner may have their assessment reviewed by either:

• Filling out the review application on the back of their change notice
• Filing an online assessment review application. 
• Scheduling a phone appointment with one of the appraisers in the office

As mandated by the New York State Real Property Tax Law, the new 2023 Preliminary Assessments are based upon the market value of the property as of July 1, 2022.

We are more than willing to discuss the new assessments with any property owner and if we are presented with new information about the market value, we will gladly review the value again.  Pertinent information would be changes in inventory, recent appraisals, and comparable sales that the property owner can search for in our newly developed in-house sales search application.  In addition, property owners can utilize the SDG Imagemate Online product.

And remember, if your assessment is correct, but you feel as if your taxes are too high (or too low), please make your opinion known to the taxing jurisdictions that control the spending in the county.  Each town/county/village/school has a budget hearing which you can attend to let them know your opinion on their upcoming budget.  The Department of Assessment is responsible for the value of your property - the ultimate responsibility of taxes lies elsewhere though.

Jay Franklin - Director of Assessment - jfranklin@tompkins-co.org

Why wait 'tll tomorrow when today is best?

What would have happened if the Department of Assessment didn't perform Annual Reassessment?

In short - confusion.

In long - confusion still.  And here is why...

The 2023 Assessment Roll would have a level of assessment of 90%.  By reducing the level of assessment, the market value of every property in the County would have changed without any notice sent to a property owner.  An assessment of $200,000 on the 2022 Assessment Roll which was worth $200,000 then, would now have an assessed value of $200,000 but that would mean it was worth $222,222 ($200,000 divided by 90%).  It would be very misleading to change everyone's market value without notifying them of that change.

In addition, since some properties have appreciated in value more than the ~10% that the 90% level of assessment reflects, some properties might still see an increase in their assessment. A house worth $300,000 on 2022 but now worth $360,000 for 2023 would have their assessment increased to $324,000 for 2023 ($324,000 divided by 90% = $360,000).  

And some properties might see a decrease in their assessment but an increase in their market value.  A house worth $300,000 in 2022 but worth $310,000 for 2023, would have their assessment decreased to $279,000 for 2023 ($279,000 divided by 90% = $310,000).

And then the majority of the commercial properties in the county would have seen a ~10% reduction so that their market value would remain the same as the previous year.  So a commercial building worth $3 million in 2022 and is still worth $3 million in 2023, would see an assessment reduction to $2.7 million but have their market value remain the same at $3 million.

Are you confused yet? 

Hopefully the explanation provides a little more clarity to this complex discussion.  But in the end, the easiest to understand method of assessing properties is to do so each and every year at 100% of it's market value.  You don't have to know any other statistic or do any other mathematical calculation to determine what that assessment means.  For us, what's the assessment and could it have been sold for that on July 1, 2022?

New Property Tax Exemptions

This year, many municipalities have reviewed the real property tax exemptions that they offer for their property owners.  A full list of exemptions is available on the Department of Assessment Website. 

To highlight some new exemptions, there is RPTL 466-a which provides up to a 10% exemption for active volunteer firefighters or ambulance workers.  But a volunteer can only claim the real property tax exemption OR the $200 income tax credit that comes from NYS.  As more municipalities adopt this exemption, the more likely that the property tax exemption would be more beneficial to the volunteer.  The volunteer can email us at assessment@tompkins-co.org to discuss whether the exemption or income tax credit would be more beneficial to them.  However, an application is needed by March 1 for this exemption along with verification from the Authority Having Jurisdiction over the company.  As of 2/8/2023, Tompkins County and the Town of Newfield have adopted this exemption so far with a few more towns planning to do so by March 1, 2023.

In addition, many municipalities have adopted an increase to the low-income senior and low income disabled individual exemption.  The current limits are found on the Department of Assessment Website.  Renewal applications were mailed out on December 16, 2022 and they are due back by March 1, 2023 along with the 2021 income.

Recent Real Property Sales