Grievance Seminar Documents

At last week's grievance seminar, Bruce Konkoski presented a Powerpoint and worksheet.  Here are copies of both.  Thanks, again, for attending.

Grievance Seminar Presentation

Comparing Properties Worksheet

The Town of Potsdam's 2012 tentative roll is now available.  You can find it at: 2012 Town of Potsdam Tentative Roll  It is always a great idea to check your assessment from year to year even if you don't think there has been a change.  It is even better to compare your assessment to those of homeowners whose homes are similar to yours.  If their assessment is lower, you have grounds for a grievance.  TOPTA board members would be happy to help with the grievance process.

TOPTA is sponsoring a Grievance Tutorial on Wednesday, May 9th at 6 PM at the Potsdam Community Room (above the police station in the Village of Potsdam). This seminar is for anyone who believes that their tax assessment is not fair and equitable compared to other properties in their township. Bruce Konkoski will lead this tutorial with input from other TOPTA board members who have successfully won grievances regarding their own property assessments.

At the TOPTA meeting on November 16th, members attending agreed to follow the exploration of forming a new township by the Town of Norwood. President Tracy Haggett-Sloan will continue to attend their meetings. It was agreed that we will learn the process for becoming a member of the Board of Assessment Review (BAR). There may be openings this year for that important work. TOPTA meetings will not be scheduled for December, January or February unless there is a need but Board members will continue to attend Town of Potsdam meetings through the winter.

The next meeting of the TOPTA Board of Directors will be on Wednesday, November 16th at 6:30 at the Norwood Municipal Building. All are welcome to attend!

TOPTA attends January Town of Potsdam Board Meeting

The TOPTA board of directors agreed at the November meeting to send at least one member from the board to the Town of Potsdam's monthly board meetings. The Town's January meeting was held Tuesday, January 12. Treasurer Ned Meader attended the meeting on behalf of TOPTA and shared the following highlights:

1. End of year bills were approved and paid.

2. Data collector is being paid out of the contingency fund. Probationary period of Data Collector is up shortly and at the end of the period he will receive a $1,00 raise. The Assessor is very pleased with the Data Collector's work.

3. Supervisor Regan stated that housing sales were up by 18%. (Note: assuming she means in Town of Potsdam.)

4. A dissolution committee has been formed to decide the fate of the village of Potsdam. Councilman Mike Zagrabelny and Councilwoman Judith Rich are requesting a seat on the committee.

5. The board approved all resolutions, for example, office jobs, data collector, Capella's fee, sewer etc, etc.

6. Potsdam Specialty Paper no longer has to pay for the water that is not being used on the property purchased from Swan. It wasn't being used any way.

7. The Board agreed to give the Northern Corridor Transportation Group 5K. Fort Drum access is the beginning of State Route 98.

It's A New Year and TOPTA is here!

TOPTA's Board of Directors will meet on Wedensday, January 20 at 6:30pm in the board room of the Norwood Municipal Building.

The meeting is open to the public and TOPTA members are encouraged to attend.