The Town of Greenburgh released its tentative tax assessment roll on June 1, 2018, but unlike in past years, the Town did not disclose on its email list that it had done so. Nor did it post the list prominently on its website. And some property owners who’ve just discovered their assessments this year have been increased are saying they received no written notice from the Town informing them of any such increase. Accordingly, the ECC is publishing the list here. Property owners are encouraged to examine the assessment for their property. The assessment is the tax assessor’s estimate of what she thinks your property is worth if it were sold today, and it is the basis upon which all property taxes for the coming year are calculated and levied. If a property owner believes that his or her assessment is too high — and a number of property owners may see that their assessments this year have increased — they have only 20 days — until June 20 — to file a grievance with the Town.
This year’s assessments for Edgemont (using the assessed value of the Greenville Fire District) saw an overall increase from $2.648 billion to $2.689 billion. The total assessed value for unincorporated Greenburgh increased from $10.138 billion to $10.398 billion.
The Town is required to assign assessed values to individual properties each year at 100% of market value. Rather than perform an overall revaluation of individual properties, the assessor’s office instead examines sales data for the past year to determine whether and to what extent properties in individual submarkets in the Town may have sold for more — or less — than their assessed value in the prior year. If the sales prices were higher than the assessed values, the assessor may determine that an increase in overall assessment for homes that fall into that particular submarket is warranted. If sales prices were lower, then assessed values in the coming year may be lower.
If a property owner decides to grieve, he or she must be prepared to prove that the assessor’s tentative assessment is too high. This is usually done by providing evidence of recent sales of comparable properties. This evidence can usually be obtained from a local realtor.
