Scarsdale 10583

If you find a strange man or woman at your door in the next six months, don’t assume he or she is a solicitor or a scammer. Beginning in June, tax assessors will be combing the village and knocking on doors to ask permission from homeowners to enter their homes for an assessment.

The first step in the village-wide revaluation is a physical inspection of all properties, and the process will extend from June 2012 to December 2012. Assessors will stop by your house twice to see if they can find someone at home. Once inside, they will measure the interior and evaluate the quality and condition of the home. According to John J. Valente of Tyler Techonologies, the company that has been retained by the village to do the work, assessors are not concerned about your dog, whether or not the house is clean or beds are made. The visit should take 15-20 minutes. If the assessor cannot get in after two attempts, they will send you a letter to schedule an appointment.

After the physical data collection, Tyler Technologies will use additional data to assess the value of your home. They will look at digital images taken from the street, consider recent comparable sales, make an assessment of the neighborhood and develop a valuation model using mathematical techniques.

And what if you decide not to let the assessor in? Will that help or hurt your assessment? According to Valente, if the assessor is not given access, the company will evaluate the house based on the exterior appearance. If the home appears to be in good condition, they will assume it has a full finished basement and give it an “A” rating. So it probably would behoove you to let the company do their work. Assessors will be carrying identification, so if you are skeptical, ask to see their paperwork before letting them in.

In order to inform everyone about the revaluation process, the company will be meeting with village organizations, issuing press releases and posting information online. From similar work in other towns, Tyler expects to gain entry to 75% of homes, though in Bronxville, 93% of homes were inspected.

Since the village sets the total tax levy, the reassessment will not change how much is collected in total. Rather, the reassessment will change the apportionment of the collection. Current thinking is that following the reassessment one third of homeowners will see their taxes go up, one third will have a decrease and one third will remain the same.

And, if a homeowner is unhappy with their reassessment, what is the process? There will be informal hearings and a grievance day where homeowners can come to Village Hall and state their case. Tyler also estimates that following the process, 10% of Scarsdale taxpayers will file formal tax grievances.

If all goes as planned, the new tax rates will go into effect for the 2014-15 tax roll.

For more information, visit http://www.reassessment.scarsdale.com or email Project Director John J. Valente at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Comments (5)

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written by James G., July 02, 2012

What nobody has brought out yet is Scarsdale's reassessment will most likely result in expediting more tear downs of beautiful existing smaller homes in Scarsdale with a more than willing Architectural Review Board looking to put in monster size houses on small lots where they barely fit, catering to outside real estate contractors looking to make a financial profit in our town. The board seems to be only concerned with making more tax money per square footage with no regard on how this affects the living environment and scenery for Scarsdale residents. This practice in Scarsdale results in making Scarsdale residential homes look crowded, inconvenience residents with construction noise, construction materials not being adequately varied and making residents feel squeezed in.

The reassessment will likely result in increased tax for older existing homes and lowering the tax for new houses thus making it more desirable for people to want future new houses at the expense of more tear downs of existing homes in Scarsdale. The end result will give the Architectural Review Board an even bigger green light to increase tear towns of homes in Scarsdale.

If the public would like to see a couple of examples of the Architectural Review Board's policy to keep this tear down / replace with over-sized houses in affect, they can view two houses on White Plains Post Road (Route 22) between Edgewood Road and Grand Blvd (you can practically pass a cup of sugar to the neighbor on the upper floors of both houses). Or see the monster sized house replacing a recent tear down that sits right next to its neighbor on Wynmor Road across from the park. This size house does not even blend in with any of the other houses in the immediate blocks. Property space in the Scarsdale neighborhoods are so diminishing that the scenery is looking more like developments and condominiums due to the close proximity of these over-sized new houses.

If you think the tearing down of homes and reassessment is not practical for Scarsdale, I urge you to write the Scarsdale Village Hall Board of Trustees, Acrhitectural Review Board and the Scarsdale Mayor and Manager and express your feelings.

James G.

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written by Robert Berg, May 25, 2012

Finally, the first townwide property tax revaluation in 43 years in Scarsdale is beginning. This process is vital towards assuring that property owners are treated fairly in apportioning the enormous property tax burden in Scarsdale in proportion to each property's fair market value. Essential to this process is each property owner's cooperation in granting access to the appraisers to conduct an accurate property inventory. The process requires only 15 to 20 minutes, and the appraisers simply will conduct a walk-through of your house, take some measurements, inventory the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, etc., and note the quality of the construction and whether or not the rooms have been renovated. This will not be an inspection to identify illegal construction and no photos will be taken so privacy concerns should be minimized. While it is true that a property owner is not required to grant access to the appraiser under the law, it is foolish to deny access. First, the appraisers will have access to aerial/satellite views of the property as well as street side views and the appraisers can accurately determine the square footage of the house without ever stepping foot on the property. Secondly, if denied access, the appraisers will assume the quality of the interior to be high and commensurate with the quality of surrounding properties to which the appraiser will have access. This is a very reasonable assumption for the appraisers to make and the fair market value will be based on this assumption. Third, Nanette Albanese, our town assessor, has been in many, many houses in Scarsdale over the past decade and has a very good handle on the valuation of most properties. IF YOU THINK YOU CAN GET A LOWER VALUATION BY DENYING ACCESS, THINK AGAIN. Your valuation most likely will be the same or higher than if you provide access. And, if you deny access and then challenge your valuation following the reassessment,the legal presumption is that the assessor's valuation is accurate. You have the burden of rebutting that presumption. What are you going to say to the judge when she asks why you didn't let the appraiser in to inspect? How are you going to justify your lower valuation? Trust me, I've been there, done that. In the 10 years that I have lived in Scarsdale, I have grieved our property taxes 5 times, lowering them I believe 4 times and going to trial with Nanette once (and losing that trial -- I still can't believe that one). One time I denied Nanette access and the judge reamed me out and basically said I would lose unless I provided access. And the judge is right. So please cooperate in the revaluation process. It is an important and necessary process which will result in everyone paying their fair share in property taxes.

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written by Skeptical, May 25, 2012

It seems unreasonable, and probably baseless in the law, for the assessor to "assume" a home in "good condition" has a finished basement. I would love to see a home get reassessed with a finished basement that doesn't even have one. How about looking at the building dept records to see if permits have been issued for such work, and "assume" most residents follow the law? What a novel approach.

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written by skeptical: here are few highlights., May 24, 2012

I'm not a person of many words, but I can not believe reading this article; here are few highlights:

"... tax assessors will be combing the village..."
"...knocking on doors..."
"... physical inspection..."
"... assessors are not concerned about your dog."
"...the house is clean..." "...beds are made..."
"... they will measure the interior and evaluate the quality of the home..."
"... they consider ... assessment ... using mathematical techniques..."

and last:

"Assessors will be carrying identification, so if you are skeptical, ask to see their paperwork before letting them in."

Just simply unbelievable!!!

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written by US, May 24, 2012

Amendment IV

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

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