Not only a nausea-inducing turbulent stock market, stomach-churning plunges in our asset wealth and 401k's, and the incoming migraine of inflation's rocketing grocery prices, but what do we get for a daily dose of information from our venerated local news-outlet, The "Batavian" today?
The smiling, "I've got a surprise for you, I'm not sure you're gonna like it,” short-of-a-grin, face of Batavia's city assessor! (I pray it's a "stock" photo, and not snapped concurrently with the "Batavian" article as a sly editorial on the increases in assessments many of us city property-owners will suffer [mine ballooned 8%], and the consequent potential rising skyward of property-taxes themselves.)
And what did we do to get this additional dollop of angst doled out on, of all days, income-tax day, April 15? A double-serving (double-whammy?) at that, for us unfortunately residing in N.Y., now I'm losing close to 1/3 of my income to state and federal income taxes, and I'm feeling sorry for ever asking for a double-scoop on my ice cream cone in the past!
I have two questions:
- My first is for Batavia City Manager Tabelski. It's great that assessments come up with a "sale price to assessment ratio.” (I understand what a "ratio" is, I wonder how many property-owners do?) Nevertheless, what happens when you need to live in your house, you're not interested in "sales prices"? Right, I thought so, you're "left holding the bag,” so to say, you're left holding the property tax and paying it, you can't sell the tax, which invariably goes up year by year.
- My second question is for Batavia city assessor Saulsbury. You take all these hard facts of a house's story, jumble them up in a computer, and voilà, an assessed value comes out. Where does the condition of the various interior rooms of the house come in? Or for that matter, the cost of renovation, kitchen, family room, bathroom, base-ment, etc., to bring the interior of the house, all of it, come in, get factored in, to make the house "modern"? To what is expelled by the computer, to form the assessed value? (And that cost of renovation could very easily equal or exceed the assessed value! See my quandary?) I thought so, good questions?
Anyway, the "Batavian's" timing and topic for today's story is making me think that the publication is sounding and thinking more and more like me!
Donald Weyer
Batavia NY
