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E-mail raises questions about assessment
By Francesca Olsen
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
A letter from a member of the Ancram Board of Assessment Review dated Sept. 14 has been the object of contention and speculation from residents and town committee members.
The e-mail, written by Board of Assessment Review member Chris Thomas and addressed to Ancram Supervisor Tom Dias, was carbon-copied to the Register-Star, members of the town board, and comprehensive plan committee chairman Art Bassin, who is running for town supervisor. The letter states that board members Bob Mayhew and Donna Hoyt "have presented to the town board a secret review and analysis of everyone's property tax assessments, based on formula different than the one used by NY state certified assessors."
The letter also states that Mayhew and Hoyt may have tried to fire town assessor Kenneth Leggett, and that Mayhew and Hoyt are "suing the town over their personal property assessments."
Dias and the rest of the board addressed Thomas' letter in front of a packed house at the Ancram town board meeting Thursday evening. "No one is firing the town assessor. There is no secret review," Dias told the crowd.
Before the meeting officially came to order, councilman John MacArthur counted heads in the boardroom to make sure the room was not over its maximum occupancy. "Looks like we're going to be close," said Dias.
After Dias initially announced no secret review existed, councilman Jim Miller raised his arm, displaying a white binder with the assessment roll for Ancram along with notes made by councilwoman Donna Hoyt, and asked, "What is this?"
"I don't know what (Thomas) is talking about," Hoyt said prior to the meeting. Hoyt said she looked independently at the assessment roll in order to make a preliminary judgement about whether or not Ancram needed a 100 percent revaluation.
"I have a long way to go before it's even presentable," said Hoyt. "There's no rhyme or reason to (the assessments)...there's not even a formula you can put to it, that's how messed up it is.
"I would never just blatantly try to change people's assessments," Hoyt said. "This paperwork was all me. This was not Bob (Mayhew)."
At the meeting, Hoyt and Mayhew said they were not "suing" the town over their assessments, they were going through the grievance process outlined by state law. Hoyt has already met with an arbitrator; assessor Leggett also attended the arbitration meeting, Hoyt said.
"I really don't know what this is about," Mayhew said prior to the meeting. "I and Donna were two, of numerous people, that grieved our assessments to the county level...Donna did some paperwork trying to show us there's a lot of inconsistency in the town assessments."
Dias, Hoyt, Mayhew, and MacArthur all denied the existence of a secret report and agreed that the board never voted on firing Leggett, in executive session or anywhere else. Leggett could not be reached for comment before press time.
Dias said the board did meet in executive session with regard to Leggett, but did not elaborate.
The report in question was obtained by the Register-Star. It contains several starred properties, with notes in the margins and handwritten notes, allegedly written by Hoyt, detailing concerns about the starred properties.
Assessment rolls are public record documents and can be accessed by any resident who wants to look at them, usually available in town hall.
At the town board meeting, Hoyt said that she divided acres by assessed value to come up with a price by acre for the parcels she was analyzing. She also offered the review up to anyone who wanted to look at it, and placed a thick envelope containing her grievance records on the table the board sits at, saying, "here it is!"
Bassin said before the meeting that "(the board) has been talking about this kind of study for a very long time."
Bassin said that Leggett visited him last week to investigate an apartment on his property that may have not been on the assessment roll. "From that perspective, I have personal knowledge that they are doing what that letter suggests, at least in my case," he said.
"The important thing is to get this report out into the public's hands. There's no reason for it to be secret unless they're doing something they shouldn't be doing."
The county Office of Real Property Services confirmed Thursday that the town of Ancram had not contacted them about this matter.
The e-mail, written by Board of Assessment Review member Chris Thomas and addressed to Ancram Supervisor Tom Dias, was carbon-copied to the Register-Star, members of the town board, and comprehensive plan committee chairman Art Bassin, who is running for town supervisor. The letter states that board members Bob Mayhew and Donna Hoyt "have presented to the town board a secret review and analysis of everyone's property tax assessments, based on formula different than the one used by NY state certified assessors."
The letter also states that Mayhew and Hoyt may have tried to fire town assessor Kenneth Leggett, and that Mayhew and Hoyt are "suing the town over their personal property assessments."
Dias and the rest of the board addressed Thomas' letter in front of a packed house at the Ancram town board meeting Thursday evening. "No one is firing the town assessor. There is no secret review," Dias told the crowd.
Before the meeting officially came to order, councilman John MacArthur counted heads in the boardroom to make sure the room was not over its maximum occupancy. "Looks like we're going to be close," said Dias.
After Dias initially announced no secret review existed, councilman Jim Miller raised his arm, displaying a white binder with the assessment roll for Ancram along with notes made by councilwoman Donna Hoyt, and asked, "What is this?"
"I don't know what (Thomas) is talking about," Hoyt said prior to the meeting. Hoyt said she looked independently at the assessment roll in order to make a preliminary judgement about whether or not Ancram needed a 100 percent revaluation.
"I have a long way to go before it's even presentable," said Hoyt. "There's no rhyme or reason to (the assessments)...there's not even a formula you can put to it, that's how messed up it is.
"I would never just blatantly try to change people's assessments," Hoyt said. "This paperwork was all me. This was not Bob (Mayhew)."
At the meeting, Hoyt and Mayhew said they were not "suing" the town over their assessments, they were going through the grievance process outlined by state law. Hoyt has already met with an arbitrator; assessor Leggett also attended the arbitration meeting, Hoyt said.
"I really don't know what this is about," Mayhew said prior to the meeting. "I and Donna were two, of numerous people, that grieved our assessments to the county level...Donna did some paperwork trying to show us there's a lot of inconsistency in the town assessments."
Dias, Hoyt, Mayhew, and MacArthur all denied the existence of a secret report and agreed that the board never voted on firing Leggett, in executive session or anywhere else. Leggett could not be reached for comment before press time.
Dias said the board did meet in executive session with regard to Leggett, but did not elaborate.
The report in question was obtained by the Register-Star. It contains several starred properties, with notes in the margins and handwritten notes, allegedly written by Hoyt, detailing concerns about the starred properties.
Assessment rolls are public record documents and can be accessed by any resident who wants to look at them, usually available in town hall.
At the town board meeting, Hoyt said that she divided acres by assessed value to come up with a price by acre for the parcels she was analyzing. She also offered the review up to anyone who wanted to look at it, and placed a thick envelope containing her grievance records on the table the board sits at, saying, "here it is!"
Bassin said before the meeting that "(the board) has been talking about this kind of study for a very long time."
Bassin said that Leggett visited him last week to investigate an apartment on his property that may have not been on the assessment roll. "From that perspective, I have personal knowledge that they are doing what that letter suggests, at least in my case," he said.
"The important thing is to get this report out into the public's hands. There's no reason for it to be secret unless they're doing something they shouldn't be doing."
The county Office of Real Property Services confirmed Thursday that the town of Ancram had not contacted them about this matter.
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swingbatter2 wrote on Sep 18, 2009 9:25 AM: