New Date and Place for Assessment Grievance Workshop

The Assessment Grievance workshop, originally scheduled for May 15 (see post below) has been moved and re-scheduled for 6:00 PM on Thursday, May 16th at the new Town Hall building.  Bruce Konkoski will run through the process and take questions.  Members of the TOPTA board will be available to assist with paperwork, if needed. 

Tax Grievance Workshop

Bruce Konkoski, TOPTA Board Member, will present a Tax Grievance Workshop on Wednesday, May 15 from 1:30 to 3:30 PM.  It will be held in Room 104 at Maxcy Hall on the SUNY Potsdam campus.  Bruce will talk about how to verify the accuracy of your assessment and the steps needed to grieve your new assessment with the Board of Assessment Review (BAR) and beyond.  This workshop is sponsored by SOAR.  To register, contact SOAR at 315-267-2690 or email soar@potsdam.edu

2013 Assessment Notification Letters Have Been Mailed!

The 2013 Assessment letters have been mailed.  How does your new assessment look?  This information is very important relative to what your school taxes will be with the new spending plan.  The assessment of our property increased 19%!  That seems to be over and above what was needed by the Town of Potsdam to move the equalization rate to 100%. 

If your assessment seems to be extraordinarily higher than expected, do something about it.  Contact the Town Assessor, find out how the new assessment was calculated and check out the comparables.  It is not necessary to accept the new assessed value of your home without documentation.  If, after talking with the Assessor, you still aren't satisfied, file a grievance with the Town BAR and go to Grievance Day.

The assessed value of your property is a very important part of the taxes you pay for County, Town, Village, and School taxes.  Make sure the value is equitable in your neighborhood.  Everyone is willing to pay their fair share, as long as it is fair.

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.