Assessments and land use restrictions don’t mix

By DAVID HULSE

ELDRED, NY — “Why do we have to be strangled because some guy who works on Wall Street wants to pay $800,000 or $900,000 for a house? There’s got to be a better way,” resident Eric Jasper told the Highland Town Board last week.

Having recently been notified by the town that their property value assessments have been increased an average of 30 percent, Jasper and several other Highland property owners on May 10 voiced concerns that the assessments would mean higher taxes.

Highland Assessor Lori King earlier this month explained that Highland and neighboring Lumberland are obligated to update assessments annually to maintain a “certified” taxing district to provide equity in school tax billing between the two towns. Rising real estate purchase prices and the increasing value of waterfront property were reasons for the increased assessments. King did not appear at the May 10 meeting.

“The taxes are outrageous…. The yuppies will drive us all out,” said property owner Rose Hammel.

Property owner Bernard Kozykowski said the state’s definition of waterfront property refers to large water bodies which impart commercial or recreational value, not small brooks like the one bordering his property. “Brooks are liabilities, not assets. Ask FEMA,” he said in reference to repeated small stream flooding in recent months.

Kozykowski said assessment increases of waterfront properties on small streams were “ludicrous, gross incompetence, misfeasance. Anyone doing this should be removed from office. Maybe it’s time for another tea party,” he said.

Town Supervisor Allan Schadt explained that budget spending and tax rates, not the assessments themselves, dictate the amount of taxes paid. Schadt pointed to the town’s recent record of stabilized tax rates.

But Schadt also said that California’s Proposition 13, which freezes assessed values at the purchase price of the property, provides an alternative to the existing assessment policy, which is based on recent sales of comparable properties.

Councilman Bob Burrow said he would like to see Highland support efforts for Proposition 13-like property tax reform, which Lumberland Supervisor John LiGreci and state Senator John Bonacic are seeking.

Local law for construction setbacks adjoining hunting club property

Mixed with discontent about assessments was a reaction to a proposed town law that would create a 500-foot new construction setback on lots adjoining hunting club lands. State law prohibits hunter’s discharge of firearms within 500 feet of any occupied building or across any roadway.

The town planning board has recommended against adoption of the law, but Schadt said the board will set a public hearing date at their June 14 meeting.

“I’m a hunter, but I’ll be damned if a hunting club is going to dictate what I do with my property. Five hundred feet is ridiculous,” said Jasper.

The board received correspondence suggesting that Schadt and Councilman Andrew Valenti, who are hunting club members, should abstain from any voting on the measure.

Resident Richard Neuburger called the proposal ill advised and that it was a taking of value from one property to give to another. “You’re opening yourself to a lawsuit … a quagmire that I don’t want to pay for 10 years down the road,” he said.

Don Rupp said property is bought and sold and anyone can buy. “If the club wants it, let them buy it.”

Don Horton supported the measure, saying it would inhibit large developers from coming in and buying land and building houses.

Bill Hofaker, who brought the idea to the board based on a Town of Deerpark local law, admitted that he had no idea that the proposal would bring so much controversy. “This is not a land grab. We just want to use the land we have,” he said.

The Town of Tusten Planning Board turned down a similar local law because it thought it would be unfair to adjacent property owners. The town board let this opinion stand and recommended that hunting clubs pursue any property setbacks through agreements with adjacent property owners, not through local laws.