Great Valley Town Board Meeting
Open Forum on Assessments
(10/17/2008) By Jim Gill

Town Supervisor Dan Brown opened the meeting at 7: pm on Monday October 13, 2008.

Following the acceptance of the September minutes Supervisor Brown discussed the need for the complete re-evaluation of all parcels in Great Valley. According to Brown there never has been a re-evaluation in the town creating the need to hire a credible assessor; currently Great Valley has one of the lowest equalization rates in the county.

As the greater Ellicottville area continues positive growth, a large amount of the overflow is headed in the direction of Great Valley, in order to control the current and future growth the town board recently approved zoning laws. The next step set in motion in January of this year calls for a complete re-evaluation of all parcels in the area.

The Town of Great Valley contains 1,724 parcels which include Kill Buck and part of Salamanca, apparently a valuation was done in 1955, 53 years ago. It is uncertain whether or not this was a full or partial re-evaluation. With the uncertainty on all parcels being properly assessed, to “level the playing field” the state applies their formula in determining values, primarily based on sales in the community. Communities at 100% (there are currently 5 in Cattaraugus County) equalization rate with all homes assessed at full market value have less chance of the state being involved in setting local values.
Jeff Forster was hired in January as the assessor; he also acts as the assessor in Otto and East Otto thus bringing the much needed experience for the complete evaluation process required for Great Valley. During his open forum before the board and town residents attending the meeting, he outlined his plans for the process.

The full process is expected to take 2-3 years scheduled to go into effect in 2010 and while many residents may be concerned regarding the assessments, Forster explained the 30% pattern in a situation like the one in Great Valley. Normally 30% of the parcels will go down, 30% will stay the same and 30% will go up. To provide residents with a better understanding on why their residences need to be re-assessed and the appeal process, he would like to publish a brochure to inform the community. Educating the people on the assessment process, steps to take to appeal your assessment and how to access the county website has been very successful in other communities.

On the actual assessments, Forster plans on visiting all parcels taking photographs, measurements and revisit the data on each property including recent sales. He would then like to bring in a professional consulting firm to review his findings before implementing the new assessments in 2010. He went on to mention bringing in the outside company sets up another level in the appeal process, the first step being the contracted firm, second himself, the assessor, thirdly the Review Board and the fourth step would be taking the town to small claims court.

At this stage Forster could not state that all properties are equally assessed and to be fair to everyone all properties must be done. He provided several examples including one parcel being assessed just for the land when it actually contains a home with a value in excess of $150,000! He invited residents whom feel their assessments are too high to make an appointment with the assessor’s office to come up with a mutually agreed upon value. On commercial properties Forster recommends hiring a professional firm.

During the course of the meeting Forster went into great detail in explaining the 100% of market value vs. assessments in lower percentages. Currently in Cattaraugus County Great Valley, Freedom and the City of Olean (currently going through a complete re-evaluation) are below 10%, 5 communities are at 100% and the remaining 29 range from 10% to 95%.

Prior to closing the meeting Supervisor Brown mentioned the current Code Enforcement Officer is resigning, want ads will be placed in Special*E*Fects and the Olean Times Herald for a replacement.

He also requested that 5 people volunteer their services to form a Zoning Board for the Town of Great Valley.