I would like to respond to Fleming Town Supervisor Gary Searing's Jan. 15 letter with some facts.

I stated at the town meeting on Jan. 14, that it was my opinion that our property is unfairly assessed in the Town of Fleming. I stated facts about our equalization rate that Mr. Lowe from the New York State Real Property Office in Syracuse, plus gave examples of some properties that I had already looked into the assessment of. Mr. Searing's response to me in writing was “you should tone down your rhetoric and stick to the facts.” I did stick to the facts.

Another fact is New York State Real Property Services has lowered the town's equalization rate from 70 percent to 47 percent the last several years due to the inequity in all the assessments.

The town's equalization rate is going to decrease again which will cause our full assessment to increase and then cause our property taxes to increase yet again.

The Town of Fleming has one of the largest tax rates per thousand dollars for county and school taxes. In the last five years my overall property taxes have increased approximately 25 percent, yet they are still not fully assessed.

I have looked at a lot of Fleming assessments and determined that approximately 80 percent of Fleming town residents are being overtaxed because 20 percent are grossly underassessed.

Gloria Lewis, who was a town assessor, built a brand-new 1,610-square-foot house with 61 feet of lakefront and her full assessment is a little over $110,000. This appears like she set herself up pretty good while she was an assessor, because a new home on the lake would sell for at least $300,000.

Sandy Mettler, who is a town assessor, has 2,146 square feet and is assessed around $138,000. Mr. Searing, our town supervisor, has 205 feet of lake frontage with a 1,437 square foot house, and is assessed around $157,000.

If the town board would allow Maxwell appraisers to finish their job to assess values of all properties in the Town of Fleming, the residents who have properties that are not under-assessed would stop being penalized for the residents who do have properties that are underassessed. This would create a fair tax system for all property owners.

If the assessors and the current town board do not allow Mr. Maxwell to finish what he started, the town board wasted Fleming taxpayers' money by getting him involved in the first place.

Every town resident should consider grieving their assessment until we all receive fair assessments. I would be willing to talk with anyone who wishes to file a grievance and fight their assessment. If everyone stands up to these unfair practices and assessments, we can make change possible. Furthermore, a fair and equitable assessment will cause fair county and school taxes for all.

My grandmother, who was a Fleming resident, always said, “Honesty is the best policy.”

Dennis Walawender

Fleming