Town of Hopewell
Contact: Kelly L. Ducar (ASSESSOR)
Address:
2716 County Road #47
Canandaigua, NY 14424
Phone: (585) 394-0036, ext. 5
Fax: (585) 394-8714
Email: assessor@townofhopewell.org
Hours of Operation: Mon. & Tues. 9:30-3:30
Please call for an appointment prior to visiting office @ 585-394-0036 ext. 5 or
E-mail: assessor@townofhopewell.org If you have questions or concerns.
Hopewell - 2024 Final Assessment Roll
Grievance Day Information and Instructions
Grievance Day Information and Instructions
Important Dates to keep in mind:
- Exemptions: Filed by March 1st
- Taxable Status: March 1st
- Tentative Roll: May 1st
- Grievance Day: 4th Tues. May
- Final Roll: July 1st
- Deadline for filing Small Claims: 30 days after Final Roll
- Last Revaluation: 2024
- Numbers of Parcels in Municipality: 1637
Educational U tube Videos (Links)
LINKS:
The following video helps explain your property taxes and the role of the Assessor's Office in determining your property value. Borrowed from the Sarpy County Assessors Office.
About Property Taxes and Assessments (NYS Tax)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72QuLo5Q9MY
Is Your Assessment Fair?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sq_pGaoRKXY
Will my Taxes go up after a reassessment?
Assessments vs. Taxes - What's the difference?
https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/orpts/asmt-vs-taxes.pdf
Grievance Day Application Form RP-524 available in Office or below under:
Forms available through NYS
(FAQ'S) FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS THROUGH REVALUATION:
WHAT IS A REVALUATION?
A Revaluation is the process of verifying property data and reviewing Market Analysis information necessary to equalize the values of all properties within a municipality for the purpose of a fair distribution of the tax burden.
WHAT HAPPENS DURING A REVALUATION?
The Assessor's office studies the sales and determines where the actual increases and decreases in value are occurring. This study of recent property sales allows comparisons to be made by the staff to establish parameters for generating the preliminary assessed value of property that has not been sold.
HOW WILL THE HOMEOWNER BE NOTIFIED OF THE NEW ASSESSMENT?
If there are changes in the Assessment, each property owner, at the completion of the value review portion of this project, will receive an individual notice of the new assessment. In the notice will be instructions as to how to contact the Assessors office. Either by phone or by email. Hopewell is a small part time town and the “staff” is limited to one.
HOW WILL I KNOW IF MY ASSESSMENT IS EQUITABLE?
The goal of the Revaluation is to re-establish Full Market Value Assessments. For residential properties, in particular, the value should be in line with sales, within the prior four years. The sales properties should be of a similar size, style, age and location. Your value should be in line with these sale prices.
Remember, very few properties are exactly alike. Your value should be comparable, but it seldom will be exactly the same as what seems to be a similar property.
WILL MY LAND VALUE CHANGE DIFFERENTLY THAN MY BUILDING VALUE?
The valuation review does include all property types, land values may change. The market may treat different property classes differently. All property owners will receive notices of any changes in their property's assessed values.
WHAT IS AN INFORMAL HEARING?
The values detailed in the notices are not final; they are preliminary. The hearing process is your opportunity to share information you believe is relevant to the valuation of your property. This may be accomplished by phone or email as time is limited in a small part time office such as Hopewell.
An informal hearing is not a forum to discuss taxes, it is strictly meant to answer questions on the property valuations. Any changes to value that may occur will be reflected in the change notice that is sent after informal reviews are complete.
IF I DISAGREE WITH MY ASSESSMENT AFTER A HEARING, WHAT ARE MY OPTIONS?
After the informal hearing process has been completed, the preliminary values become tentative values—the tentative assessments are the values placed on the Tentative Assessment Roll filed each May 1. The filing of that Tentative Assessment Roll opens the annual formal assessment challenge process. That is the next, and last, opportunity to ask for a change in the new Full Market Value Assessment for the current Final Assessment Roll which will be filed on July 1, of the current year. The formal assessment challenge process is also referred to as the Grievance Process.
The Grievance Process does require the filing of form RP524 along with your market value support information. The formal Grievance Process can take two forms—in the first few weeks in May, depending on time and availability, the assessor can only make stipulated changes to assessments. Those wishing to make an effort to stipulate to a reduction, must have their RP524 form completed and their value supported. If an agreement is not reached, the second form of the Grievance Process is available—a hearing with the Board of Assessment Review. The Board of Assessment Review will examine the case and make a determination as to the disposition of the appeal.
Should the property owner still feel the assessment is incorrect, they may appeal to the Supreme Court in the 7th judicial district in which the town is located or take their appeal to Small Claims Court—the avenue available to the property owner depends of the class of the property. All appeals to the Board of Assessment Review must be made by the 4th Tuesday in May of any given year.
WILL A REVALUATION INCREASE TAXES?
A Revaluation may result in an increase or decrease of individual assessments; it does not mean that all property taxes will increase. You may be saying, "SURE!" But remember assessments are only the base that is used to distribute the Tax Burden. The Tax Burden is the amount that the Town must raise to operate our local government and support services, such as road maintenance, etc. If the same amount of money is to be raised after the Revaluation as the previous year and each assessment doubles, the tax rate would merely be cut in half.
WHAT IS MARKET VALUE AND WHO DETERMINES MY PROPERTY VALUE?
Market Value is determined by people, by the activity in the Real Estate Market and the general economy. The value of your property is based on an analysis of the entire market for the full four calendar years before the completion of the revaluation Project. The market can generally be defined as, you, the person who sold the property to you, and the person willing to buy it from you. It is the revaluation staffer's job to research and analyze the values in any particular area or neighborhood.
In effect, they do what you would do to determine the selling price when putting your property up for sale. Only the staff has specific guidelines to follow. General factors that are examined for each property are: location, size, quality of construction, age of improvements, topography, utilities, zoning restrictions, if any, etc.
I HAVE DONE NOTHING TO MY PROPERTY, SO HOW CAN THE VALUE CHANGE?
You don’t have to improve your property for it to sell for more or less depending on the market. The price buyers are willing to pay determines what the market value is. A good example would be: a home built in the 1970’s with 1970’s furnishings that has not been updated, will sell for much more today than it would in 1970. The market value has gone up from the 1970’s even though the home may still have carpeting, wallpaper and appliances from 50 years ago.
You may email the Assessor’s Office at assessor@townofhopewell.org if you have any other questions or comments. Please be prepared to provide interior photos of your property as we do not have access to the interior and photos are always helpful. If you don’t have access to email, please call the office (585) 394-0036 ext. 5 and leave a message and I will get back to you at my earliest convenience. Please understand that this is a part time office and I do not have other staff to assist me. Thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.
LEVEL OF ASSESSMENT
Equalization Rate: 100%
Residential Ratio: 100%
Uniform Level of Assessment: 100%
Taxable Status Date: March 1st
Tentative Roll: May 1st
Valuation Date: July 1st
Grievance Day: Fourth Tuesday of May **
****** Applications for appointments with the Board of Assessment Review for Formal Grievances will be accepted only between May 1st to 4 days prior to Grievance Day. Grievance Day is the fourth Tuesday in May, as per NYS Real Property Tax Law. A completed Grievance Application MUST be presented in order to schedule an appointment.
We will not accept Form RP-524 electronically , by fax or email for Grievance Day. Original hard copies of all RP-524 grievance forms (except for any supporting documentation) must be submitted in person by delivery service or by mail.
Appointments will only be scheduled after all applications & supporting documents are supplied at least 4 days in advance. There is paperwork that is needed that takes time to prepare PRIOR TO Grievance day. You have the right to apply on Grievance day. However, the assessor may then request that your hearing be adjourned so to give adequate time for review. This is why we STRONGLY REQUEST that all applications & support of your estimate of value, be supplied at least 4 days prior. THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION.
It is always recommended that you seek an informal review of your assessment prior to May 1st as the Assessor is unable to make a change beyond the tentative roll date (5/1) without stipulation.
Grievance Day Information and Instructions
Grievance Day Information and Instructions
How to File for a Review of Your Assessment:
RP-524 (Grievance Application) is below for completion
https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/property/contest/contestasmt.htm
Links to General Information:
https://www.tax.ny.gov/pit/property/exemption/index.htm
FORMS AVAILABLE THROUGH NYS: Exemptions & RP 524 (Grievance Day App)
Agricultural Assessment Application
Agricultural Assessment Renewal Certification
AG Lease Form - Word Document
Application - Alternatives Veterans Exemptions
Disability and Limited Incomes
Disability and Limited Income RENEWAL
Grievance - What to Do If you Disagree With Your Assessment
********NEW STAR INFO:
Star Credit Check Program for New Homeowners New STAR handout
Why switch to the STAR credit from the STAR exemption: Click here for explanation. Star switch
FAQs:
Uniform Percentage of Value:
The percentage of market value (full value) used by an assessing unit to establish uniform assessments. This value must appear on the tentative roll. Real Property Tax Law Section 305 specifies, "all real property in each assessing unit shall be assessed at a uniform percentage of value..."
Taxable Status Date - March 1st:
The Assessor is required by New York State law to value property as it is on this date. A partially completed building will receive a partial assessment based on its estimated percentage of completion as of March 1st. If you suffer a loss to your property (ex: fire, demolition) after this date you will see no reduction for that loss on forthcoming roll. Exemption forms must be filed by this date also.
Residential Assessment Ratio (RAR):
A percentage established by the State Board of Real Property Services according to law, using the ratio of assessed value to the sales price for each usable residential sale in a recent one-year period. Ratios are then listed from highest to lowest; the midpoint (median) ratio is selected as the RAR. The RAR can be used to prove that a residential property is assessed at a higher level than other homes on the assessment roll. Your locality's RAR indicates at what percent of full value residential properties are assessed. For example, a RAR of 20 indicates that residential properties are assessed at approximately 20 percent of their full value.
Equalization Rate:
"State equalization rate" means the percentage of full value at which taxable real property in a county, city, town or village is assessed as determined by the state board." (RPTL Section 102) The rate is a ratio of the sum of the locally determined assessed values for all taxable parcels for a given assessment roll divided by ORPS's estimate of total full value for that same roll.
ASSESSOR RESPONSIBILITIES:
The sole assessor is a New York State Certified Town official who obtains certification by attending approved training classes and successfully completing the testing at the end of each session. They must also attend yearly training of at least 26 hrs. for continuing education credits. The foremost job of the assessor is valuing the real property within the Town. The inventory of the real property in town is kept on real property cards with pictures of the sites. This information is also entered on the personal computer and maintained in a software program licensed by the State Office of Real Property Services (ORPS). Each year a new assessment roll is prepared and is used by the various taxing jurisdictions to levy real property taxes.
The assessor also has the duties of administering real property exemptions. Each year renewals for Senior Exemption. RP467, Enhanced Star, Ag. Land and Disability Exemptions are mailed out to be returned to the assessor’s office on or before March 1st with the required data needed for filing. Also each year any new exemptions are collected, due on or before March 1st. Each of these exemptions must be reviewed, approved and entered on the computer for the assessment roll being prepared for that year. Once the new Tentative Assessment Roll is prepared, Notice of Change must be mailed to any taxpayer whose assessment has been changed that year. Hours are posted when the assessor will be available to discuss these changes with anyone who wishes to do so. Grievance Day is the 4th Tues. of May each year, where a taxpayer can come in to grieve his new assessment to the Board of Assessment Review. The assessor attends these sessions and provides any information needed (property record cards with inventory, pictures, building permits, calculations of improvements, sales comparisons, etc,) to help the Board understand the reason for change. The burden of proof that the assessment is incorrect is on the taxpayer. Any changes made by the BAR are processed and entered on the computer in preparation of the Final Assessment Roll July 1st each year. The assessor represents the Town at Small Claim Hearings to provide documentation to support the assessed value to the Hearing Officer. The assessor also works with the Town Attorney to prepare for and represent the Town in any Certiorari Cases that arise from the assessment roll.
Other duties of the assessor are to keep a watchful eye on the equalization rate, the residential assessment ratio, and the co-efficient of dispersion. Along with maintaining an equitable assessment roll these things are accomplished by watching and reporting on the sales information that comes into the office each month in the form of RP5217 which are filed with each and every deed at the Ontario County Clerk’s. The information on these forms must be reviewed, corrected if needed, and entered on the RPS System. These forms give the names of the new owners and the price paid for the property plus any conditions of the sale. They are sometimes the records of splits of property from larger parcels. Quarterly reports must be sent to the Sales Review Division at the ORPS in Albany to compile a list of usable sales to calculate the Equalization rate, RAR, and COD. Based on these numbers the State determines if the town is eligible for Maintenance Aid. The assessor enters any water districts changes that appear on the assessment roll chargeable to the parcels.