Larchmont Opens Discussion of Property Reval

by Judy Silberstein

(September 11, 2008) Larchmont Village Board's September 8 meeting opened with the formal installation of a new police chief and the promotion of two officers, but was dominated by a disquisition on property taxes and a potential town-wide property revaluation.

Also, working under a self imposed deadline of September 22, board members put out a call for public input as they struggled with what sort of parking system they want for Larchmont train station's large Lot #3. See: Poll: Parking at Station - Keep the Meters or Just Use Permits?

Cascade of Change at the Police Department

The recent retirement of Larchmont’s police chief and installation of a former department lieutenant to the top spot has led to a cascade of promotions within the department and a call for replacements to fill two vacancies. (See: Department Veteran is New Larchmont Police Chief.)

Police Chief John Poleway, whose father was a New York City police officer, celebrates his own and other departmental promotions with family & friends.

At Monday's board meeting, John Poleway was formally welcomed as chief; Antonino Rigano was bumped up from sergeant to lieutenant, to fill Chief Poleway's former spot; and Kenneth Olsen was promoted to sergeant. Village Hall Court Room was standing room only as families and friends and colleagues of the newly promoted officers filled the seats – when they weren’t standing to take photos and videos.

Lt. Rigano, a 19-year veteran of the Larchmont Police Department, received his new pin - and a big hug - from his wife, Sgt. Susan Rigano of the Rye Police Department. Sgt. Olsen has served in law enforcement for 16 years, the last seven in Larchmont.

Reval 101: What it Means - What it Could Mean for You

How much property tax you pay today is determined by assessment data last updated systematically in 1968. In a discourse he dubbed "basic municipal government 101," Trustee Jim Millstein laid out a case for undertaking a town-wide property value reassessment, whose impacts were described in a recently released study. (See: Revaluation Report.)

Mr. Millstein, who along with the rest of the board has expressed support for “reval,” explained that local and county governments and the schools are funded largely by property taxes, which are apportioned among the various residential and commercial parcels in Mamaroneck Town based on assessments that have not been overhauled since 1968.

(A copy of the entire report is available on the Town’s website. See: Revaluation Report.)

Taxes keep rising, but the relative share of the tax burden shifts upward for a particular property only when owners report completion of certain improvements (i.e., an addition) and downward only when owners successfully negotiate a grievance or certiorari process.

The total assessment of properties now represents a “mere 1.8%” of their “fair market value” or what they would sell for today, noted Mr. Millstein. “Even more disturbing,” he said, is the range of assessment values – as little as .4% to as much as 4%. A home assessed at only .4% of its value would be paying significantly less "than its fair share," and the 4% home would be paying significantly more, he noted.

“It’s not about raising the taxes,” he said, but about reallocating the taxes equitably rather than by the “inherited, hodge-podge crazy quilt that we currently have.”

According to Mr. Millstein, the current system unfairly disadvantages particular properties, such as newer homes; homes considered less desirable now than in the late 1960s (he mentioned Ranches); and ones whose improvements were made with building permits. Unfairly advantaged properties may include older homes; Victorians and other styles more desirable now than in the 60s; and those where improvements were undertaken without permits.

Trustee Richard Ward suggested another disparity: over time the “small holders” are stuck with paying more, since the “big holders” with bigger potential cuts are more likely to undertake the time and cost of appealing their assessments.

Reval is also about stemming “the flood of certioraris” that are “coming fast and furious” and costing local governments increasingly more for litigation and settlements, said Mr. Millstein. “We’re getting killed, asserted Trustee Marlene Kolbert.

To estimate the impact on a particular property, Mr. Millstein provided another rough rule: take your home's assessed value and divide by its probable sale price. If that fraction is more than the local "equalization rate" - 1.62 for both Mamaroneck Town and Larchmont Village in 2007 - your home is overassessed and you stand a chance of having your taxes lowered by a reval. If the number is lower, you might be facing a tax hike.

However, neither Mr. Millstein nor Mamaroneck Town Administrator Steve Altieri, contacted later, set much stock in such predictions. "Considering the age of the data, it's virtually impossible to provide accurate information on individual parcels of land on whether their taxes would go up or down," said Mr. Altieri.

Because accurate information is so difficult to come by, the municipal governments will be unrolling a series of public education sessions where property owners can raise questions.

Reval - When or Whether? Revaluation is not coming any time soon, said Mr. Millstein. Doing it right, he said, requires time-consuming in-home inspections of all properties – at an anticipated cost of more than $1 million.

It also requires “political will,” suggested Trustee Anne McAndrews, who participated in previous Mamaroneck Town revaluation studies in the late 1990s that went nowhere.

First steps, however, are being taken. The Mamaroneck Town Board will be kicking off its public education process, probably at its first meeting in November.

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