Work will soon begin on a full revaluation of properties in the City of Corning for the first time since 2014..
City Manager Mark Ryckman said the city recently hired GAR Associates for $150,000 to complete the citywide reassessment.
What happens in a citywide revaluation?
The first step in the process is to send a letter and property inventory to each owner in the city. People should expect to receive them sometime soon after Aug. 9.
“We ask that owners review their property inventory to ensure the data we have on file is up to date,” Ryckman said.
Throughout the project, property owners may see the Assessor’s Office or GAR Associates taking pictures in front of their homes to update the city’s records, Ryckman said.
GAR Associates will look at many issues during the revaluation process including the year the property was built, improvements made, square footage, style and location.
GAR Associates will assign values to more than 4,000 properties from October through mid-January, Ryckman said. A preliminary assessment will be issued in February 2023.
The official date to file grievances (complaints about the new assessments) will be May 2, 2023, and the final rolls will be filed June 1, 2023.
Will your tax bill go up after the revaluation?
Ryckman said the city’s equalization rate for 2022 is expected to be about 86 percent. In other words, the current values assigned to properties are estimated to be only 86 percent of their actual market value.
That means the new assessments are likely to go up significantly, in line with a boom in the real estate market over the last couple of years.
But that doesn’t mean tax bills will necessarily rise.
Corning Assessor Barbara L. Roberts stressed that a citywide reassessment does not generate additional tax revenue for city government.
“Basically, the reassessment is to establish uniform fair and equitable assessments on all property,” Ryckman added. “So, people are paying their fair share in taxes, which are levied by the City Council, the Corning-Painted Post School Board and the Steuben County Legislature.”
Published by Star Gazette
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