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Mark C. Poloncarz, Comptroller
03/25/10
POLONCARZ COMMENTS ON PROPERTY ASSESSMENT PROCESS

Comptroller Notes Millions of Dollars in Potential Annual Taxpayer Savings is not Being Pursued by County and Local Officials

Calls on Officials to Support Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's Efforts to Reduce Costly Layers of Government

Erie County Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz today commented on the two-year anniversary of his office's report examining local real property assessment in Erie County and the significant layers of governments engaging in assessment.

Poloncarz's March 2008 report noted at the time that New York's property tax system featured 1,133 distinct assessing units in New York State, as contrasted with 59 in California, and Erie County alone had 30 assessing units. While the report was met with enthusiasm by some town officials and those in the real property taxation field, it was met with immediate resistance by local assessors.

Commenting on the anniversary of the report, today Poloncarz said, "Two years ago I issued a report on property assessment in Erie County that identified the tremendous layers of duplicative and costly government that exist. My office's analysis concluded millions of dollars could be saved and passed onto our taxpayers through eliminating these multiple assessing units and either consolidating into a County-coordinated or County-run assessing function."

"However, since I issued the report little has been done to eliminate the duplicative services and additional costs that exist in the property assessment area. It is disappointing but not surprising that local officials feared change and would not consider new measures that can save taxpayer money while simplifying and improving the property tax assessment process. There is a reason why voters are overwhelmingly voting for the downsizing of town governments: if the elected officials will not reduce the size of government the voters will," noted Poloncarz.

The New York State Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Effectiveness (the Lundine Commission) cited Poloncarz's report in their April 2008 report examining ways to reduce the size and cost of local governments in New York. The Commission recommended the centralization of property tax assessment at the County level, the elimination of elected assessors, and the elimination of duplicative city and village assessing.

In 2008, the Administration of Erie County Executive Christopher Collins received a $50,000 grant from the State to study property assessment. Unlike other counties which hired professional outside consultants to develop a study and analysis, the Collins Administration conducted this study itself with a committee consisting of local assessors, a representative of the County's largest property taxpayer (National Fuel Gas) and representatives from the State. Ultimately, facing massive resistance from the local assessors, in 2009 the Collins Administration decided to maintain the current system and only encouraged County assistance for local assessors. However, the administration used a portion of the State grant funds to train at least one County employee in the Department of Real Property Tax Services to become an assessor.

In February 2010 the Town of Cheektowaga temporarily hired the Town of Boston assessor through August 2010 as its part-time assessor under an arrangement facilitated by the County through a County request for proposals in December 2009. In addition, the Town of Marilla recently voted in March 2010 to eliminate its three (3) part-time elected assessors, and replace that model with two (2) part-time appointed assessors.

The Comptroller further observed that a February 2009 study conducted for Orleans County by the Center for Governmental Research of assessing services reported that a County assessing system, instead of the existing model of ten (10) separate town assessing units could save $150,000 per year.

He added, "It is my hope that local officials will join with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and utilize the mechanisms he has articulated to reduce the size and cost of local governments and special taxing districts."