At the behest of the New York State Real Property Office, the Town of Sweden undertook a major residential property assessment update this winter. Property values (gauged by actual sales) had risen quickly over the past two years. The town was in danger of being assigned an equalization rate that would put Sweden property taxpayers at a disadvantage across shared taxing jurisdictions like the county, school district, and fire district. In addition, an equalization rate puts those municipal taxpayers at a disadvantage when shares of sales tax and mortgage tax are divided among municipalities.
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has created some logistical complications for the assessment update process. A few municipalities have abandoned their updates for the 2019-2020 season. Many, like the Town of Sweden, have chosen to forge ahead in order to protect their taxpayers from the inequities that will arise from an assigned equalization rate. The decision to go forward with the Assessment Update was not made lightly.
Assessment notices will be mailed out next week. Assessor Tammy Baker has property sales books and review forms at https://www.townofsweden.org/departments/assessor. Residents will be able to look at properties that have sold in the past three years (sorted by category) to see the selling prices. If, after reviewing the information, the property owner believes their new assessment is not correct, they can choose which properties are most comparable to their home and submit that information to the assessor. Submissions will be taken by US mail, through the drop box at the front of the Town Hall, 18 State Street, via email at tammyb@townofsweden.org, or by fax at 637-7389.
The assessor typically holds informal reviews in person, but due to social distancing requirements, this is not possible. Therefore an informal review can be done by mail, email, the drop box, by fax, and by phone at 637-8683, especially for those who do not have access to the internet. For those not satisfied with the informal review decision, the right to grieve to the Board of Assessment Review is the next step. The town is putting into place a plan for the BAR to hear those grievances while maintaining social distancing and safe environmental practices.
The fastest way to contact Baker at this time is via email; residents should include a phone number in the email to facilitate communication.
An assessment update is never popular, and this year brings new challenges to the process. The Town of Sweden is committed to fair and equitable assessments among Town of Sweden properties; and to protecting its taxpayers from being assigned an unfair portion of county, school or fire district levies.
Note: Sweden Assessor Tammy Baker spoke about the 2020 Assessment Update during a Facebook livestream on Friday, April 17. Go to Town of Sweden Supervisor on Facebook to view the video.
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