To the Editor:

This letter is in response to Mr. Grimm’s statement that “the supervisor controls assessments and Mr. Runion’s inflated assessments are affecting all of our taxes.” The comment is totally incorrect, and shows — once again — that he never bothered to talk to the town assessor when he and Warren Redlich were town board members.

Mr. Grimm, you are a candidate who is either ignorant when it comes to assessment practices, both in the town and New York State, or else you are knowingly misrepresenting the facts.  I’m not sure you have ever heard of the New York State Real Property Tax Law or the New York State Rules and Regulations.  Assessors, county directors, and municipal attorneys are all well informed on these laws and rules.  It might be time for you to actually look into the laws before you start spreading rumors and incorrect and unsupported allegations.

I have heard your stories and listened to you and your former town board partner, Mr. Redlich, point fingers and cry wrongdoings when it came to the assessment practices in the town of Guilderland.  But neither of you ever bothered to look into the definition of assessment practices as set by the state of New York.

You seem to think that a town can make up its own rules and practices. That is not true.

You were named as the town board liaison to the assessor’s office when you were a member of the town board.  Despite this assignment, you never bothered to come into the office and ask questions regarding assessment practices or how assessments worked, so I understand why you are still making inaccurate and misleading statements regarding assessment practices in Guilderland.  You never ever did your homework.

I literally stood right next to you two weeks ago in the Rotterdam Wal-Mart, and you didn’t even know me.  Why not? Because you never bothered to, that’s why.  It’s pretty sad when a former town board member, one assigned as the liaison to the assessor’s office, doesn’t even know his former assessor.

For the record, here is a quick assessment lesson.  Assessments are reflected by current market value.  All towns have to work with a valuation date of July 1 of the previous year.  If sale prices show an increase, then ultimately assessments will also, when a town does a revaluation.  If sale prices decrease, again, so would assessments. 

You live in a fairy-tale world if you think that a town supervisor has control of inflating assessments.  The only involvement the town board and supervisor have with the assessment practice is to approve a community-wide revaluation for all the properties in the town.  If an assessor does not have the town board’s approval, New York State will not assist the assessor in a revaluation, nor will it provide any reimbursements to help with the cost.

I believe, before you make any further inaccurate and misleading statements, you should take the time to read the New York State Real Property Law and look over its Rules and Regulations.  I think then you would not have anything nasty to say about Guilderland’s assessments and practices anymore, at least not if you were speaking truthfully.

Also, for the record, I did not retire because of you and Warren Redlich being elected to the town board.  I informed the supervisor of my retirement plans in February 2007, long before you arrived on the scene.

Carol A. Wysomski
Retired Guilderland Assessor