Why is your property assessment going up?

Town assessors across the area are increasing property assessments by double percentage digits.

For example, assessments are expected to jump 20 percent on average in Irondequoit. Some homeowners there say they will not stand by to see the increases, but they are not the only homeowners who are not pleased.

“It was shocking,” said Mary Nicosia, who lives on Titus Avenue in Irondequoit.

Nicosia nearly fell out of her chair when she saw the preliminary property assessment for her 1,600 square foot, Cape Cod style home.

The value went up to $137,000. That is a more than 60 percent hike, and she says that's about $20,000 more than other homes like her own on the street.

“It's just getting outrageous,” she said. “Should I still live here? Should I move to the city?”

Nicosia says she did add on a front porch and a back deck. But she says the add-ons would not amount to the price of the new assessment.

But homeowners have been asking similar questions since their assessment notices came in the mail.

In Brighton, values are expected to go up about 20 percent on average. In Chili, 3,000 parcels of property are going up an average of 15 percent; and the towns of Victor and Wheatland are seeing town-wide assessment increases of about 10 percent.

Irondequoit Assessor Terie Huseby says she wants to re-enforce that assessors are trying to put property values in line with the prices tags on homes sold over the last two or three years.

“When we do a revalue, we're just making the assessment in line with sales that have occurred over a period of time,” she said.

She says foreclosures and home sales have not been as poor as in other areas of the country, and with low interest rates, home prices are going up.

But she says there are other factors contributing to the property value increases. Some towns have not done a town-wide revaluation in many years – that includes assessing both residential and commercial properties. Brighton and Irondequoit have not done town-wide increases since 2000.

“In rural areas they can go back as far as three years because of lack of number of sales in the particular year,” she said.

But no matter the explanation, Nicosia says she'll fight the increase.

”They should be fair with other houses compared on the street,” she said. “There's nobody on this whole strip that's assessed as high as I am.”

Nicosia and other homeowners in Irondequoit have until May to file formal complaints to try and change their assessments.

Huseby says most people will try to change the preliminary values because they fear their taxes will go up. However, she says that is not the case. The property tax rate and school tax rates still have to be set by the town, and those numbers will further determine how much homeowners will be paying.