City of Jamestown property tax payers will see county taxes increase this year.
County Executive PJ Wendel said the $0.89 tax reduction passed in the county’s 2024 budget only applies to municipalities that are at 100% evaluation, “Is that my fault? No, because those assessments are done by towns, villages, and cities. In the case of the City of Jamestown, a couple years back they were very close, near 100%, but unfortunately because they have not had revals and reassessments that equalization rate has dropped.”
The City of Jamestown’s evaluation rate is 73%.
Mayor Kim Ecklund said in December that numbers received from the County indicated a $0.34 increase in the county tax rate for the city of Jamestown.
The city has not done a reassessment in 17 years. City Assessor Lisa Volpe informed Jamestown City Council in October 2021 that New York State wants municipalities to do one every four years.
City Council voted down a resolution in March 2022 to spend $285,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to hire GAR Associates to do the revaluation that year. Former Mayor Eddie Sundquist said then that the cost to do the revaluation in 2023 would rise to$685,000.
Wendel said up until recently, local assessments haven’t reflected the market value of a home, “So, you could have a house assessed at $100,000 but you can’t put it on the market for $100,000. That’s not what the market is saying right now. But, unfortunately, in the last year or two we’ve seen a tremendous increase in the market to the tune of a 16% increase. Which, in industry trends, 3 to 4% is high. We saw a 16% increase in the sale of homes which means they’re selling for more than assessed value which hasn’t happened in many, many years.”
Wendel attributes the higher sale prices to people wanting to relocate or buy second homes in Chautauqua County.
That’s just great! Still highest tax rate in the country. The population in Jamestown is not increasing. Cool Major.
So republicans constantly cry about taxes but cause them to increase, nice. I can’t wait for the new administration to accomplish nothing. Weird republicans will spend all their time obsessing over which private parts little kids have but won’t do a thing to actually govern.