We felt the
report for
Sherman Lane deserved its own page--it fairly well sums up the whole assessment
debacle. If anyone is left doubting whether or not the assessment process in the
Town of New Hartford is fair, click on the underlined street name above to view a pdf
version of the spreadsheet. We have color-coded the neighborhoods so you can
easily see the changes and we also color-coded the print color for each
parcel to correspond with the written report below. Also, please
refer to the Color Key on the spreadsheet for detail. You will need an 8 1/2 by 14 piece of paper to print
the spreadsheet on one page. Otherwise, you will need to tape two
pages together after you print. Look at the
spreadsheet. There are 13 homes on Sherman Lane.
Two of the homes (in the red print) have never been reassessed or
trended. These two homes were moved from neighborhood code 4811 (rural) to 4807 (Older
Subdivision) in 2003. In 2003, they reassessed Neighborhood Code 4807,
yet they didn't reassess these two. Then
in 2004, they moved them back to Neighborhood 4811 (Rural)--that would be the year that neighborhood was
reassessed, but they didn't reassess them in 2004 either. In fact, 1 Sherman Lane,
according to the assessment database, the owner even added 540 sq. ft. of
living space (square feet on the spreadsheet in 2002 was 2289 sq.
ft. and in 2003 it was increased to 2829 sq. ft.) but no increase in assessment.
So they would like us to believe that these two homes have seen no
increase in market value since 1995, the year that the Town of New
Hartford last hired an "outside" appraisal firm to reassess the entire
town. O.K.--moving right along.
Next 3 homes (in blue print)--4, 5, & 7 Sherman Lane were
also moved from neighborhood code 4811 (rural) to 4807 (Older
Subdivision) in 2003--that would be the year that they reassessed neighborhood 4807. Strange though, they moved them into
the 4807 neighborhood code, but they never reassessed any of these homes in
2003. Why would you move them into a neighborhood and then
not reassess them? Instead they moved them back to Neighborhood
Code 4811 (rural) in 2004 and then reassessed them in 2004. Don't know why they
moved them in the first place. Rural--older subdivision--rural--hmm!
Now look at the tax map numbers of each of the properties on
Sherman Lane--do you notice that the homes 1-7 have a different tax
map number than houses numbered 8-18. Do you think that might have something to do with the fact that there
are 2 different neighborhood codes on Sherman Lane?
Now let's look at the homes numbered 8 - 18. They are all in Neighborhood Code 4813 -- a Neighborhood
that was reassessed in 2003 and then trended 5% in 2004. Look close at 8,
11, 12, 13 and 14 (in purple print) on the
spreadsheet. They were not reassessed
in 2003 even though Neighborhood Code 4813 was reassessed that year. These 5
homes were only trended 5% in 2004. Why didn't they reassess them in
2003--they were in a Neighborhood that was reassessed?
You will notice that only 3 homes (10, 16 & 18 Sherman Lane in black print) were
actually reassessed in 2003 and then trended 5% in 2004. That is 3
out of 13 homes or about 23% of the homes on that street that were actually reassessed and trended.
Imagine this on a street
that certainly does not qualify as "less desirable" than other streets in town
who did see as much as 20% - 30% increases in assessed value. So
that leaves 77% of the homes on Sherman Lane that were either only increased 5%
in 2004 or didn't increase at all since 1995. Fair assessing? You decide.
What is equally as troubling is that not one of our councilmen has enough
"gumption" to speak up. And I know that at least 2 of the councilmen are reading my website
on a regular basis not to mention the fact that we have made sure that they
are all aware of the situation. I guess they are just too busy
deciding how to spend more of our money.
Take a look at our other spreadsheets (in pdf format--you will need 8.5 by 14 paper to print or you will have
to piece smaller sheets together after printing)
Paris Road, Higby Road, Jordan
Road and Lloyds Lane. More streets will be added.
