| Citizens For Fair Assessment |
| Town of Harrietstown Saranac Lake, New York |
Welcome to the web site of the 110 taxpayers of the Town of Harrietstown near Saranac Lake,
New York, who have just filed a new Article 78 lawsuit in State Supreme Court against their
town board and the former assessor. The suit seeks to correct an inequitable assessment
process.
Taxpayers filed a similar lawsuit in 2006, but in July, 2007, Supreme Court Judge David
Demerest ruled -- on a technical motion, not on the merits of the case -- that the amendment
was so extensive that it was really a new petition and could not be added. We have appealed
that decision and await a ruling.
In July, we withdrew our original case rather than proceed without the strong evidence in the
amendment. We revised and strengthened our petition, adding important new expert
evidence, and refiled it the last week of October. The case argues that since there was no
town-wide revaluation done in 2007, the defects of the 2006 assessment roll prepared by the
former assessor are still present in the 2007 roll. Our revised Article 78 lawsuit, filed Oct. 30,
claims that the former town assessor did not apply assessment law in a fair and equitable way,
illegally imposed a surcharge on waterfront properties, and burdened ALL taxpayers in the
town with an unfair share of the school and local tax burden by assessing State land at a lower
rate than private land.
Important Links
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise carried this story about the new Article 78 Lawsuit in its Thursday, November 15th edition. Click here to read
the story.
The 2006 Harrietstown reassessment, unchanged in 2007, lowered the equalized values on more than the 100 parcels of state land in the town,
but increased by an average of about 46 % the values of privately held land. This is a direct contradiction to state law, which requires " Sate
forest lands in the Adirondack Preserve are to be assessed and taxed as if privately owned." (Real Property Tax Law §§ 532(a); 542(1).)
Albany Times Union did an extensive front page story, Sunday, May 27, 2007, about the significance of our lawsuit and others like it around the
state. The Times Union also did a follow-up story, May 28the abut the political obstacles to tax reform in New York State.
Click here to read the Times Union articles.
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise carried this story about the new Article 78 Lawsuit in its Thursday, November 15th edition. Click here to read
the story.
The 2006 Harrietstown reassessment, unchanged in 2007, lowered the equalized values on more than the 100 parcels of state land in the town,
but increased by an average of about 46 % the values of privately held land. This is a direct contradiction to state law, which requires " Sate
forest lands in the Adirondack Preserve are to be assessed and taxed as if privately owned." (Real Property Tax Law §§ 532(a); 542(1).)
Albany Times Union did an extensive front page story, Sunday, May 27, 2007, about the significance of our lawsuit and others like it around the
state. The Times Union also did a follow-up story, May 28the abut the political obstacles to tax reform in New York State.
Click here to read the Times Union articles.
| To view digital files of material filed in our case, including copies of our new petition and all exhibits go to "The Legal Case." |
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Question or comments?
write us at citizens4fairassessment@gmail.com
write us at citizens4fairassessment@gmail.com
Summary of our Lawsuit
Below is a summary of the major points:
1. Valuation of State Land: By state law, taxable state land is to be valued as if privately owned. The State owns
approximately 75% of the acreage in Harrietstown and almost 50% of the waterfront. However, the assessed value of State
land is less than 33% of the total land value in Harrietstown, indicating a large inequity to private taxpayers. If this imbalance
were corrected, it could benefit ALL private property owners in Harrietstown, not just waterfront owners.
The lawsuit states: "The Assessor of the Town of Harrietstown has uniformly assessed State forest lands owned by the State in
the Adirondack Forest Preserve at a lower percentage of value than the percentage of value applicable to privately owned land
having the same characteristics. As a result of the foregoing, private property owners in the Town of Harrietstown are
assessed at a greater percentage of value than State owned property, and therefore, will bear a disproportionate percentage
of taxes imposed by the Town of Harrietstown and other taxing jurisdictions.”
2. Property Inventory Accuracy: The current Harrietstown property inventory is full of errors and omissions. If the
inventory is not correct, any assessment built on the incorrect inventory cannot be accurate and equitable. Examples of
inventory errors include missing structures (including an entire finished new house); unjustified changes in building descriptions
(such as reclassifying a home described for many years before the 2006 revaluation as a single-story ranch as a two-story
colonial, although NO structural changes had been made); changing the declared use of a home from single family to multi-
family, despite NO structural changes). Such inventory mistakes result in highly erroneous individual assessments.
3. Assessment uniformity: State law requires that assessments of all real property be based on a uniform percentage of
value. The litigants hired an expert to analyze sales and assessment data for the past two years. The expert is Donald F.
Vitaliano, a professor of economics at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute and an expert in statistics. He found “a very substantial
and statistically significant assessment bias against owners of waterfront property in Harrietstown.” He concluded: “The
statistical analysis summarized in this statement leads me to conclude that the assessor in the Town of Harrietstown has
imposed a special surcharge on waterfront properties, many of these owned by out-of-state residents, amounting to a $91,921
on average, over and above any valuation based on the market value of these properties. This is in violation of the
fundamental principle of horizontal tax equity that equally circumstanced taxpayers should be equally treated.” To read Dr.
Vitaliano’s entire analysis in Exhibit G, click here.
The number of litigants in the newly filed lawsuit rose to 110. Participation has grown steadily from the 33 original litigants to
the 99 in last year’s amended suit.
Our lawsuit sets a response date for the town of Jan. 18, 2008.
Below is a summary of the major points:
1. Valuation of State Land: By state law, taxable state land is to be valued as if privately owned. The State owns
approximately 75% of the acreage in Harrietstown and almost 50% of the waterfront. However, the assessed value of State
land is less than 33% of the total land value in Harrietstown, indicating a large inequity to private taxpayers. If this imbalance
were corrected, it could benefit ALL private property owners in Harrietstown, not just waterfront owners.
The lawsuit states: "The Assessor of the Town of Harrietstown has uniformly assessed State forest lands owned by the State in
the Adirondack Forest Preserve at a lower percentage of value than the percentage of value applicable to privately owned land
having the same characteristics. As a result of the foregoing, private property owners in the Town of Harrietstown are
assessed at a greater percentage of value than State owned property, and therefore, will bear a disproportionate percentage
of taxes imposed by the Town of Harrietstown and other taxing jurisdictions.”
2. Property Inventory Accuracy: The current Harrietstown property inventory is full of errors and omissions. If the
inventory is not correct, any assessment built on the incorrect inventory cannot be accurate and equitable. Examples of
inventory errors include missing structures (including an entire finished new house); unjustified changes in building descriptions
(such as reclassifying a home described for many years before the 2006 revaluation as a single-story ranch as a two-story
colonial, although NO structural changes had been made); changing the declared use of a home from single family to multi-
family, despite NO structural changes). Such inventory mistakes result in highly erroneous individual assessments.
3. Assessment uniformity: State law requires that assessments of all real property be based on a uniform percentage of
value. The litigants hired an expert to analyze sales and assessment data for the past two years. The expert is Donald F.
Vitaliano, a professor of economics at Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute and an expert in statistics. He found “a very substantial
and statistically significant assessment bias against owners of waterfront property in Harrietstown.” He concluded: “The
statistical analysis summarized in this statement leads me to conclude that the assessor in the Town of Harrietstown has
imposed a special surcharge on waterfront properties, many of these owned by out-of-state residents, amounting to a $91,921
on average, over and above any valuation based on the market value of these properties. This is in violation of the
fundamental principle of horizontal tax equity that equally circumstanced taxpayers should be equally treated.” To read Dr.
Vitaliano’s entire analysis in Exhibit G, click here.
The number of litigants in the newly filed lawsuit rose to 110. Participation has grown steadily from the 33 original litigants to
the 99 in last year’s amended suit.
Our lawsuit sets a response date for the town of Jan. 18, 2008.
New Assessor, New Board Offer Hope
We are encouraged by the appointment of Doug Tichenor as the new Harrietstown assessor. Mr. Tichenor already has instilled a more positive
attitude in the assessment office, creating a welcoming atmosphere and demonstrating a real desire to ensure that property owners’ inventories
are accurate and up-to-date. We are hopeful that the town board, with two newly elected members soon to take office, will restore badly shaken
public confidence in the assessment process.
We are open to working with the town to correct Harrietstown's assessment rolls which would include a town-wide review of assessment inventory
data and lead to a fair town-wide revaluation. We would also be willing to work with the town to find a way to improve the state land valuation
process/methodology.
We are encouraged by the appointment of Doug Tichenor as the new Harrietstown assessor. Mr. Tichenor already has instilled a more positive
attitude in the assessment office, creating a welcoming atmosphere and demonstrating a real desire to ensure that property owners’ inventories
are accurate and up-to-date. We are hopeful that the town board, with two newly elected members soon to take office, will restore badly shaken
public confidence in the assessment process.
We are open to working with the town to correct Harrietstown's assessment rolls which would include a town-wide review of assessment inventory
data and lead to a fair town-wide revaluation. We would also be willing to work with the town to find a way to improve the state land valuation
process/methodology.