“Sure wish I could use this formula on my checkbook”
Opinion by Dennis Shutt, Wellsville NY
The area we live in has started the reval on many of our towns property. Some taxpayers have shared with me the issues regarding their properties description.
They are just not right.
Some maps show garages that haven’t been there in years. Porches and lots? Also not correct.
Some of the things that are there now were not showing up then. See, we do need a reval.
My belief is that the reval is being done now because the real estate market is at a peak. That would lead a mathematician to a higher number. It’s all in the formula. Higher assessed value, times a tax rate, will give you the number you are seeking to reach.
Let’s just call the budget, the number we need to reach: If the assessment numbers rise, which in many cases they will, the government can LOWER the tax rate and enable them to reach the amount needed for the budget. Is that not wonderful?
I asked if the reval was done two years ago, would the percentages have risen as much? And of course the answer was no.
Real estate was not at it’s hot point yet. I asked if they could use the old median method for a starting point? And again, I was told there is a formula.
So I looked on the internet seconds ago and 15 homes in Allegany County were sold last month, two above asking price, three at asking price and 10 below asking price. Before anyone gets worked up, I said asking price, not assessed price.
Possibly the housing market is already beginning to decline. It is in other parts of our country.
We all are aware the figures do not lie, but figurers have manipulated numbers for centuries.
Go to any grocery store and check out prices. Packaging sizes first went down, to hold the price. Now the price has increased and the packaging is even smaller. All the while, our government, is telling us the inflation is going down.
I’m sure our local governments will bang the drum as they will lower the tax rate and still reach their budget demands, without having to cut anything.
Sure wish I could use this formula on my checkbook.
This is how it all works. I understand it. I do not agree with it. I’m just getting a little fed up with the thought, that the people we vote into office, think we are all so uneducated, that we cannot do math.
Note: Maybe they are correct. A student was talking about dividing fractions and I told her that it was not difficult and would help her. My wife reminded me, that they do common core and have to show their work. I was an A student in math but I still have not mastered common core.
See there it is again, the formula!
