Town Board Vote
By Jim Gill (09/12/2008)

Following the vote on a full-time assessor being turned down by a margin of 3-2, the Town Board came up with the following recommendations to address the “broken system” on assessments.

Authorizing Supervisor and Town Attorney to Investigate and Report Regarding Creation of Position of Director of Real Property Services

Where As, The Town Board has determined that it is in the best interest of the residents of the Town of Ellicottville for there to be created a new department of Town Government to be known as the Department of Real Property Services and the appointed office of Director of Real Property and for such office to constitute the department head of the Department of Real Property Services; and

Where As, it is proposed that the Department of Real Property Services will perform such services as may be determined by this Board, that the Office of Assessor shall be within such Department and that the Department will oversee, to the extent permitted by law, and work with the Assessor in order to insure that the needs and inquiries of the public are met in a timely manner; now, therefore, be it

Resolved, that the Supervisor be, and he hereby is, authorized to work with the Town’s legal counsel to determine the manner in which the Town Board should proceed to establish the Department of Real Property Services and the Office of Director of such Department and to prepare and propose to the Town Board such legislation as may be deemed appropriate in order to complete the process.

The resolution followed the boards decision by a 3-2 vote not to appoint a full time assessor for the Town of Ellicottville. Abbreviated opinions from board members and some of the taxpayers on the decision as follows:

Some of the comments from residents included: “We need a full time assessor, someone who lives here and knows the area. The assessor should be available 5 days a week, not just 4 hours. We seem to be paying a lot of money, $27,000 for 4 hours a week. The market is down, will our assessments be lowered this year? Get Rid of her! A record number of people filed a grievance with 80% being overturned, what happened?” Overall, they were not a bunch of “happy campers” with the board’s decision.

Supervisor John Burrell mentioned “assessments are my number one priority and we must come up with what is best for the community.” Burrell also mentioned even with creating a new position there may still be a need to bring in an expert consultant mentioning the Tamarack Club which is a new concept for the area as an example. With tax time just around the corner there isn’t much that can be done this year and went on to state that according to the assessor there will not be many changes in local assessments. Supervisor Burrell voted for a full time assessor.

Councilman Ken Hinman: “There is a definite need for more neighborhoods to level the playing field; to do this we need more hours from the assessor to establish the neighborhoods. I have yet to find out who gave the assessor permission to have residents of Mansfield come to the Ellicottville Town Hall for their assessment reviews, this was unfair for residents of both communities and tells me that she has more than she can handle.

In blaming problems on the last several consultants whom assisted her, I don’t believe they were the problem that is one of the reasons we need a full time assessor who is available during the daytime, overall taxpayers in Ellicottville are not getting the benefit of assessment costs. And I don’t believe the taxpayers of Ellicottville should be held hostage with a possible threat of a lawsuit from the assessor.” Hinman voted in favor of a full time assessor.

Councilman Bob Scharf: “I felt it was the right thing to do” in voting against the hiring of a full time assessor.

Councilman Greg Fitzpatrick in a prepared statement mentioned: “I agree with the Citizens Committee that we need more hours spent in the Assessor’s office. This includes time spent in public relations, education, redefining our neighborhoods as to assessing districts and visiting properties.

Our current assessor has been working part-time for the past 5 years and the Town of Ellicottville has been hiring outside consultants yearly to re-assess the neighborhoods where there has been the most real estate activity. Last year, we thought by changing this consultant, to one that all concerned groups seemed to be in favor of, most of our assessment issues would be resolved. This did not happen. In my opinion, bringing in the outside consultants has resulted in some properties being adjusted upwards in error and then our assessor was left to re-adjust these during the grievance process.

All assessors in New York State work under 6 year contracts which is N.Y.S. law. Our current assessor has 5 years left on her contract. If we were to radically change her terms of employment, we could expose the Town of Ellicottville to a potential lawsuit by our assessor if she was unable to do the new required tasks. I believe we should try to avoid this potential conflict and work to improve our assessment process by creating a part-time position of “Director of Real Property Services” for the Town of Ellicottville. This person would oversee and work with the Town Board and the assessor in order to meet the needs of the Town Board and the citizens of Ellicottville. This person along with the assessor would also do the work that was previously contracted to outside consultants and the Town would end up with an accurate initial assessment roll.” Fitzpatrick voted against a full time assessor.

Councilman Bob O’Brien: Unable to make contact with him. Voted against a full time assessor

Comments: Were all options explored to resolve the situation? Had there been a job description in place for the assessor as recommended by the Citizens Committee to the board on October23rd, 2007would this have helped should legal action occur as some board members fear?

While most people were disappointed with the board’s decision, their recommendation although it contains many “ifs” should help mend the “broken” system until the time comes when a full time assessor can be hired. This would also allow the proposed part time Director of Real Property Services time to attain his certification.

The Citizen’s Committee conducted a number of discussions on annual vs. triennial assessments, with the housing market being down and many residents unsure of what to expect come assessment time every year, has the time come to go to triennial assessments? This may allow the assessment office to “get their house in order” and has worked well in other communities similar to Ellicottville where annual assessments were slowly but surely killing the Golden Goose.