Weston Issues Open Letter To Senator, Assemblyman

An Open Letter to NYS Senator Aubertine and NYS Assemblyman Barclay,As an elected official for the City of Fulton, I am aware — actually beginning in 2007 — of the many concerns property owners in the city have regarding the process and procedure to grieve property tax unfairness after the cycle of assessments are updated and mailed to property owners.

Especially concerning is the plight of many of our senior citizens, who live on fixed incomes, having bought their property many years ago, to realize significant increases in their assessments, which continue to raise their school, county and city taxes thereby making it extremely difficult for them to maintain their properties. In this time of rising costs for nearly everything, we need to be ever so concerned and responsible to do everything we can to relieve some of the financial burden.

I am very optimistic that the recent state committee findings on the options for solving the increases in property taxes and Governor Patterson’s genuine interest in encouraging the assembly and the senate to enact legislation for that purpose will certainly be beneficial. Of the three main options that have been mentioned, I believe that the circuit-breaker plan, which states that homeowners would only have to pay a percentage of their incomes on property taxes, is possibly the fairest. I think that we are all aware that New York State is leading the nation in property taxes and needs to explore these options and try to turn around the devastating negative trend that currently exists. In clear conscience, I can’t stand by and watch people lose their homes, relocate or drastically change their lives due to high property taxes.

In addition to the committee that looked at property taxes it seems to me that there is a need for the state legislature to look at the assessment process to evaluate its purpose, effectiveness and fairness. The past purchase of a home was based on income and applicable taxes were based on the purchase price. With our current assessment process, with the increasing perceived market value driving up the assessment, it has no bearing on the homeowner’s ability to pay.

I realize that assessments are based on market value but I think that just as important is a homeowner’s ability to pay. We all purchased our homes based on our ability to afford our homes. If we purchased our home say for $70,000 and our income supported our purchase and our existing fixed income cannot support an assessment increase to $100,000, where does the money come from to support the new assessment? How do senior citizens find the money to pay it?

I am asking both of you as our state representatives to look closely at improving the procedures and implementation of assessments and property taxes. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Robert W. Weston
Third Ward Alderman
City of Fulton

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