Tupper reverses reassessment

By NATHAN BROWN, Enterprise Staff Writer
TUPPER LAKE — The town board voted unanimously Monday evening to recommend that town Assessor Larry Cole set aside the recent reassessment and instead update the last one with figures for new construction.

This reverses a 3-2 vote last month to adopt the $521 million reassessment at 70 percent of what Cole had set it at. Before the reassessment, the town’s total assessed value was $297 million.

In April, town councilmen Shawn Stuart and John Button had voted to keep the old assessment until a new one could be done. Councilman Jay Skiff, Councilwoman Kathleen Lefebvre and town Supervisor Roger Amell had voted for the 70 percent plan, which Cole had previously agreed to.

“I’ve had a lot of people call me or stop me on the street, and not a single person said I did the wrong thing,” Button said Monday evening.

He said that the entire school and village boards, the town Board of Assessment Review (BAR) and many homeowners were opposed to the reassessment due to what they saw as unequal reassessments of comparable properties.

The vote was followed by loud applause from more than a dozen homeowners who showed up at the meeting.

Although town officials do not believe they have the authority to order Cole to throw the new assessment out, Cole can still change the assessment however he wants until July, as long as the BAR approves. Several BAR members who were present Monday said they would approve a return to the old assessment.

The board made its decision after hearing testimony from school district officials and local landowners about their problems with the reassessment.

School district Superintendent Dan Bower said he estimated the district could end up paying between $150,000 and $200,000 in tax refunds to homeowners who successfully challenged their assessments, much more than the $30,000 budgeted for the purpose.

“In a situation like this, there could be significantly more awards to folks than this budget could cover,” he said.

Bower said he has gotten a lot of phone calls complaining about the reassessment and that the entire school board opposed it.

“A number of things could come into play that could really put our district in jeopardy,” said school board President Mike Dechene. “As a representative of the school board, I ask you to please reconsider your vote and put away the revaluation.”

“There are inequalities within the same neighborhoods,” Button said.

“(Cole) has the training; he knows what he needs to do,” Lefebvre said. She said she has spoken with Cole several times about people’s objections to the reassessment and that he has been able to justify his assessment based on factors such as the age of a home, the type of house, its proximity to waterfront and the sales price. For example, Lefebvre said, one home assessed at $130,000 recently sold for more than $160,000.

“People have got to be honest with each other and say, ‘Is this what I would sell my house for?’” Amell said.

People in the audience disagreed.

“The assessment was wrong,” said Fred Schuller, who is on the BAR. “We all agree on that. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have reduced it.”

Schuller said the 30 percent reduction led to some properties which were assessed correctly or undervalued before being assessed at far less than their actual value. For example, he said he owns three properties that were now assessed at about half of their actual value.

John Gillis, who is also on the BAR, said many people would now be able to get their assessments reduced to below market value as well by comparing the underassessed properties to theirs.



Other business

Town Youth Recreation Director Mike Fritts said he recently received a call from state Assemblywoman Janet Duprey, R-Peru, informing him the state has given Tupper Lake a $10,000 grant.

Fritts said the money will be spent on a number of things, including a new rowboat, new chairs with umbrellas for the lifeguards, four new soccer goals, new catchers’ equipment and a new snow groomer to maintain the town’s trails.

“How much did you get, $100,000?” Amell joked.

“It’s nice to know we have a couple state leaders who really take care of us and look after our needs,” Fritts said.

The Little Wolf Campground will open May 24. It may open earlier, but Skiff emphasized that nobody should go there until the announcement is made. Currently, there are several crews of inmates from Camp Gabriels working there, and they can’t do their job if people are there.



Contact Nathan Brown at 891-2600 ext. 26 or nbrown@adirondackdailyenterprise.com.