Your Stories Q&A: Town of Manlius homeowners asking why another “large” assessment increase

TOWN OF MANLIUS, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — You ask, we answer!

The Your Stories Team has received a handful of emails from homeowners in the Town of Manlius about their latest property tax assessment document they received in the mail.

The viewers wanted to know why their property values increased substantially once again.

Michael Krisak wrote the following:

Received a letter from the Town of Manlius Assessor’s Office, increasing our assessed value of our home by over $40,000, approximately 14%. Just wondering if anyone else has raised the question of why such a large assessment increase? what is their reasoning?

We took Krisak’s question to Town of Manlius Assessor, Pat Duffy.

Duffy said on average, property owners saw a 12% increase in their latest assessments.

That means in just two years, the average homeowner saw their property value raise more than 25%. Duffy said the average in 2022 was 14%.

So why the jump?

Duffy said it’s directly tied to the housing market. He said the market drives the assessment.

The current assessments look at the homes that sold from July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2022.

Duffy used an example of a house that sold for $300,000. He said his office, then runs that home against similar type homes in the Town of Manlius.

Duffy said similarities could be anything from size, style, number of bedrooms and bathrooms and if a basement is finished.

He added one of the common misunderstandings of property assessments is that people think their taxes are going up by the percentage the assessment went up.

As far as what the new assessed value of your property means for taxes, you’ll have to wait until school, town and county budgets are passed.

How to challenge your assessment:

If you feel your assessment is out of bounds and want to challenge, you can file a grievance with the Board of Assessment Review. Those grievances are heard on what’s known as Grievance Day, typically held by towns on the fourth Tuesday of May.

This year’ Grievance Day is this coming Tuesday, May 23.

When the YS Team did a story last year on challenging assessments, Duffy offered the following advice:

Don’t wait until the last minute. Property owners need to do their homework, find comparable properties in your neighborhood and bring pictures to help make your case.

For those wanting to argue their case in person this coming Tuesday, Duffy recommended that you keep your argument simple and straight forward and you focus on facts. If you can, provide three to five comparable properties.