In a 3 to 1 vote, the Rotterdam Town Board decided against a resolution, known as the Transitional Assessment Law, which would phase in new property assessments over a five-year period.
At a special meeting Saturday, March 31, board members Robert Godlewski, Diane Marco and Joseph Signore voted against adopting the resolution; council member John Mertz voted for it; and Supervisor Steven Tommasone abstained, saying there was not enough information for him to make an informed decision.
The issue of phasing in property taxes was brought up at a special board meeting Friday, March 23, and had been the topic of discussions for more than a week.
The Transitional Assessment Law is linked to the Homestead/Non-Homestead Tax Option, which the town adopted in February. Under the law, which has never been adopted by a municipality in the state, the town would take four additional years from the date the roll is final to gradually increase property assessments. But, in a letter to Tommasone from David Williams, director of regional operations at the state Office of Real Property Services, Williams said 90 percent of the shifting taxes would occur in the first year, which was unexpected.
It was for this reason that Signore said he voted against adopting the local law.
The way I see it, if your taxes are going up by $3,000 you are still going to pay $2,700 the first year, so I can’t see why the people who have been overpaying should continue to overpay. The issue becomes moot, Signore said.
It was originally thought by some members of the town board that adopting the Transitional Assessment Law would give residents time to prepare for the increase in taxes.
`Rotterdam is in a mess that took 50 years to create,` Mertz said. `Fixing it overnight is impractical and would put an undue burden on our taxpayers. They need time to fix their lifestyles or sell their homes.`
The town hall’s meeting room was full of residents, most of whom were against adopting the Transitional Assessment Law.
Marianna Lawler, who lives in Country Walk Estates, said when she moved to the area in 2006, her taxes were so high that she wasn’t sure if she was going to be able to pay them.
`In good conscience, I can’t imagine that you can vote on something knowing that these homeowners will be overpaying,` Lawler said. `They shouldn’t have to pay the burden of those who have been underpaying for years.`
A few residents said GAR Associates made too many errors and adopting the Transitional Assessment Law would allow time to fix them.
Dawn Fiorillo, who is a stay-at-home mother, said she spent hours on the Web site researching property assessments in the town and found a lot of mistakes.
`If adopting the Transitional Assessment Law would give us the opportunity to fix major errors, perhaps it’s something to give credence to. Either way you slice it, there is a lot of work to be done in Rotterdam,` she said.
Mertz pointed out that the reassessment has been hard on everyone in the town and has pitted neighbor against neighbor and brother against brother.
`This is the most complicated issue that any municipality has faced in New York state,` he said.
`Many years ago, a great leader talked about a house divided,` Godlewski said. `The town has been divided on this issue for 30 or 40 years. It is time we move forward on this reval and begin to solve the other issues that are confronting this town.` “