To the Editor:

I attended the Sept. 19 meeting of the Guilderland Town Board, at which a hundred people who live in the portion of Guilderland that is in the Voorheesville School District showed up to voice their concern and anger over their recent school tax bills, which showed double-digit increases in taxes. My own interest is that my wife and I are soon to purchase a townhouse in that neighborhood.

The room was full of righteous indignation that evening, and I think it was appropriate for the town board to provide residents with an opportunity to express their views freely. Yet even as I listened to everything my soon-to-be neighbors had to say, my practical side turned to the question that seems of the utmost importance: “What do we do next”?

This ugly situation grew out of a periodic review of property values in by the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services, part of the State Department of Taxation and Finance. ORPTS periodically reviews property valuations, and, if it deems it necessary, revises a municipality’s equalization rate.

That equalization rate, in turn, is used to establish so-called “true value” data on property values that determine the percentage of a school or municipal tax levy each owner is liable for. Please be aware that this is a condensed explanation of an incredibly complex process. The noteworthy thing is that this process is owned in full by New York State.

The 2017 review of property values in Guilderland, which has hundreds of commercial properties and over 12,000 properties overall, focused on the values of five (five!) commercial properties. The properties selected (theoretically at random) for review included a highly successful shopping plaza, a successful motel, and three successful apartment complexes.

On the basis of this miniscule sample, which does not reflect the varied success levels of commercial properties across the town, and despite the fact that no issues were noted with the town’s residential valuations, ORPTS determined that commercial properties in Guilderland had risen in value by 35 percent over two years, and so reduced the town’s equalization rate significantly.

This process, which the town only became aware of in late July, has had a major impact on the school tax bills many residents received in September. The impact has been limited for residents of the Guilderland School District, but folks who live in the town of Guilderland and in the Voorheesville, Mohonasen, and Schalmont school districts have seen staggering increases in their tax bills.

The ORPTS process, based on a statistically insignificant sample, also lacks a meaningful appeals process. The town followed existing procedures, and was granted a hearing on Aug. 23, at which members of ORPTS staff indicated that a larger sample size was not obtained because of understaffing, and members of the appeals panel conceded that the entire process was flawed.

Nevertheless, the town’s appeal was denied. So much for due process!

I understand that many folks affected by this bureaucratic buffoonery are hoping to get a rebate of the excess taxes they are being forced to pay in the current school-tax cycle. I’m not optimistic about this because it would create a logistical nightmare to even try to do this.

What I am focused on, and what I hope other residents and all of their elected representatives will focus on, is protecting taxpayers against the perpetuation of this injustice, and in reforming the process to protect taxpayers across New York against being similarly victimized.

At the Sept. 19 town board meeting, Supervisor Peter Barber indicated that the town would petition the ORPTS for the “Establishment of a Special Equalization Rate for Segmented Areas,” a process which would require deeper analysis of Guilderland property values, and which would (hopefully) result in a re-set of Guilderland’s equalization rate to a more realistic level.

It appeared clear that the entire town board supported this action. I believe that all residents of the affected Guilderland neighborhoods should ask Supervisor Barber to add them to that petition. There is strength in numbers.

While the establishment of a ”special equalization rate” may provide short-term relief, the underlying issue is that the ORPTS is operating under a flawed process, and that a big part of the flaw is the lack of a true appeals process.

This agency should never be allowed to adjust local equalization rate based on a miniscule sample of properties; understaffing is no excuse.

Further, a real appeals process, one in which a truly independent appeals panel can offer relief when warranted, must be created. And, most importantly, no tax bills should be allowed to be sent to owners until the appeals process has been completed.

Changes to the ORPTS process such as this can be brought about in one of several ways. They may be initiated within the agency. ORPTS, as a division within the Office of Taxation and Finance, is a New York State executive branch agency, so they can be initiated by direction of the governor’s office. They can also be directed by statute, initiated by the legislature.

Folks seeking real change in order to protect themselves against a repeat of this horrible situation need to write (not call) all of the following: Executive Deputy Director Nonie Manion of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance; Governor Andrew Cuomo; Senator George Amedore; and Assemblymember Patricia Fahy.

They need to tell these officials that a flawed process without a meaningful appeals mechanism has cost them significant dollars, and that they, as taxpaying citizens, demand immediate and meaningful corrective action. It doesn’t matter who provides that relief, so long as it’s provided.

All this writing is hard work, but creating a paper trail for the record is important. Folks deserve to know who stood up and did something to support them, and who just talked. Do it in groups over coffee or wine if it makes it easier, but do it.

There is strength in numbers. Write a letter; you’ll feel better.

Donald J. Csaposs

Guilderland

Editor’s note: See page-one stories from Sept. 21, “Guilderland tax revolt,” and Sept. 7, “Reval on the horizon? Guilderland unsuccessful in appealing new state-set equalization rate,” and accompanying editorial, “Property revaluation: 1,000 standards + no standard at all.”

Donald Csaposs works as a grant writer for the town of Guilderland.