From the Desk of Mayor Joan Walsh:

December 1, 2011

Reflections on the Past
Thoughts for the Future

YOUR REAL ESTATE TAXES, compared to your neighbor’s.
Did you happen to read the front page article in this past Sunday’s (11/27/11) Journal News? If not, it is well worth your time to go to LoHud.com and read the full five pages devoted to the subject of -- what your neighbors, in Harrison and elsewhere, are doing to get their taxes reduced, and its effect on your real estate taxes.

As the article points out, every time a homeowner or commercial property owner gets a reduction in the assessed valuation of their property and thus a reduction in the taxes they pay, that means that other property owners have to make up the difference as the town needs the same amount of money in taxes to provide the town services we have come to expect.. And it is not only the increase in taxes that those who don’t file pay in future years, but also the amount that everyone must pay back to those property owners on taxes they had already paid. From 2000 to this November, Harrison paid back $6,456,301.99. In the last several years, over 3000 property owners, of 7000 properties in Harrison, have filed for reductions, and repayments. Given the current housing market, about half have gotten some reduction. Where is it going to end? As money has become tighter, the number of people seeking relief has grown. At one time, 50-60 people filed per year. In 2010, it was 909. Where is it going to end? Are we going to have the town re-assessed piecemeal?

Our taxes are based on the Assessment Roll, the assessed valuation of all 6976 properties within the town. In 2006, that value was $150.6 million. By 2011, is had been reduced to $137 million, a loss of $13.6 million, a difference of $27 per thousand of assessed valuation. Look at your most recent tax bill, multiply your assessed valuation by $27 per thousand, and see how much extra you are paying per year because of this loss of $13.6 million. And each time someone else gets a reduction in their assessed valuation, our own taxes go up. Every time our total valuation goes down, taxes go up even if spending does not increase. Where is it going to end? How can we make this tax burden more equitable?

There is a solution, and it is called “re-assessment, or “re-val.” It involves hiring a firm to take a close look at every property in town, and comparing it to every other property, and then putting a “full value” or a “market value” on that property. When was that last done in Harrison? In 1937. 74 years ago. There was an attempt to do it in the early 1980’s but the result was so skewed that the then Town Board rejected the result. The town of Mamaroneck is doing it now. The towns of Rye and Pelham did it a few years ago. An increasing number of other communities throughout Westchester and New York State have done or are doing it.

Why not just do it? Well, cost is one reason. It will cost more than $1 million. However, balance that against the $6.56 million that we have already repaid to property owners. A second reason is that many people will not be happy with the result. The rule of thumb is that 1/3 of the properties will have an increase in assessment, 1/3 will stay the same, and 1/3 will go down. Who will go up? People who have not done anything to their house or land in many years or who have done so without building permits. The house might be old, but the land has great value. Who will stay the same? People who have updated their homes legally with building permits and thus been re-assessed over the years. Who will go down? People whose homes were purchased at the height of the real estate boom, and are now worth less than was paid for them. A third reason is that there is a real chance that some older homeowners who have been in their homes for many years and not done any improvements may not be able to pay the taxes on their increased assessment. Harrison is a community of families, many of whom have been here for generations. We don’t want to force them out. There was a bill in Albany to allow these older folks to phase in any tax increase, but I don’t know what happened to it. The last reason, as mentioned in the article, is that the Board members who implement a re-assessment, a “re-val,” may well be voted out of office at the next election. That has happened in some communities.

Why not ask residents their opinion? Shall the town continue to be re-assessed property by property, or as a whole? Which is more fair to our taxpayers?
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PARIS, FRANCE
As some people know, my daughter whisked me off to Paris last week for our first vacation together in years. We had a wonderful time, with lots of laughter. One of the things that she poked fun at me about was how I looked at the city. Yes the museums, and the restaurants and the buildings, but I also checked out the state of the sidewalks (ok, not great) parking (not enough) and the sanitation trucks (we were in a mixed residential and restaurant district, and trucks made noisy collections around 7 PM, and again at about 2 AM and then again at 6AM. – with three men to a truck.)
Residual effects of being Mayor!
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