Town may end up with bigger share of school, county tax

Sweden residents who appeared at grievance day, May 22, received their notices of assessment reduction or rejection of their claim this week. Only 42 residential property owners appeared before the grievance board following the first town-wide reassessment in 30 years. Ten others reached an adjustment before meeting with the board; 15 commercial properties filed grievances by mail.

In all, the number of requests for reductions was much less than expected by Sweden Assessor Alan Bader and by Cole, Layer and Trumble, the firm hired to carry out the reassessment program.

Only one property owner appeared at grievance day seeking a reduction because of 3M/General Electric contamination issues. However, other properties in the affected area may have sought and received a reduction before the formal meeting.

According to Bader, about 70 percent of the homes in the Town of Sweden outside the Village of Brockport saw their "tax perspective decrease." Over 50 percent of village homes saw a decrease, he said. Instead, some of the tax burden has been shifted to open land, most of which lies in the town outside the village. Open land used to be assessed at $750 an acre; now it is assessed at $1,000 per acre.

For the first time in the town, according to Bader, assessments do not include additional tax for fireplaces, decks, swimming pools and small sheds. Those items are inventoried in the new assessments, but do not create an increase, Bader said.

All properties were assessed at market value, a figure derived by Cole, Layer and Trumble by looking at recent sales in similar properties. Sweden will end up gaining about $40 million worth of assessment, up to nearly $480 million from $440 million. That means Sweden residents may pick up a larger share of the Brockport Central School District budget and the Monroe County budget relative to other communities.

Bader plans to ask the Sweden Town Board to update the new assessments next year. Once a town achieves an assessment roll at 100 percent of full valuation, it is important to do an update at least once every couple of years.

"I was extremely pleased with the overall cooperation of our citizens and taxpayers," Bader said. "I'm pleased that the process went so smoothly."