Bill Balyszak

In 2004, all properties in the Town of Owasco were supposedly reassessed at 100 percent of market value by the town's sole-appointed assessor. And everything from then on went downhill.

Why? Well to start with, this assessor valued “all lakefront property at $1,500 a linear foot, regardless of type of shoreline.” Mind you now, this is a state-certified assessor. I know that the state didn't teach her that lakeside beach or lakeside cliff should be valued the same but she did it anyway. And what did the state or town do about it? Not a thing. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is truly a troubling situation. Of the 2,200 property owners, 750 met with the assessor to voice their concerns. What, me worry, mused the assessor?

So 284 of the 750 infuriated people went before the Board of Assessment Review and a few got some relief. The chairwomen of the board stated “Unfortunately we can't do anything about the land value - we can't touch it.” (Not true.) And, “It wouldn't have been fair to everyone else to change the ones that came in to complain. So we left that alone and, hopefully, that can be corrected another year.” Translated: I haven't a clue what to do, so I'm passing the buck to the next chair. Others chose the next route - Small Claims Assessment Review court. Cost was $30 and not much satisfaction there either. Another 53 took a more costly route and filed an Article 78, which reviews the administrative action of a government body. But to do this they had to hire a lawyer and go to court. Trust me, it cost them more than $30. Ouch again.

These 53 people had the right idea but somewhere along the way - and they were in the home stretch too - they lost their drive, ran out of money or who knows what - because they dropped their legal action and opted for a citizen's advisory committee instead.

This “advisory committee is to work with the assessor, the BAR and citizens who have questions or concerns about their assessments.” This is a noble objective and may make some of these people feel good, but it sure won't change the inequities that are there now or in the future.

What we need is for this group and all taxpayers to be extremely vocal about eliminating all real property taxes. I believe a combination statewide personal and corporate income tax and sales tax would be more equitable. This giant leap will require years of work but if we start now - who knows?

Right now we have some promising initiatives in the state Assembly. Namely bill A9458, which aims to put a percentage cap on property tax increases.

This bill and similar bills are what this new advisory committee and others should be zeroing in on and not their assessor or the BAR chair. Maybe Owasco Supervisor Merrill Badman will turn out to be a “good man” and get rid of these two? All together now: “To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe, this is my quest.”

Balyszak's column appears Mondays in The Citizen and he can be reached at bfsfinancial@adelphia.net