Grand Island residents riled over reassessment

By Karen Carr Keefe

Senior Contributing Writer

More than a dozen residents pleaded with the Town Board on Monday to suspend a reassessment project they called unfair.

Speaker after speaker said they believe the current project is riddled with inequities and errors – and they want it stopped. They talked about assessments that increased by alarming percentages over those set in 2024, as well as vastly different assessments for properties that were comparable to each other.

Their comments were the first order of business in the meeting.

Then, 45 minutes into the agenda, it was Councilman Dan Kilmer’s turn to introduce his motion to suspend the reassessment process. He cited anomalies he and others had found that shifted $700,000 of the town tax burden from commercial to residential taxpayers.

The reassessment project would bring the town to 100% valuation from the current 73%.

After discussion, the board voted, instead, to table the issue on an amended motion by Councilman Jose Garcia. Supervisor Peter Marston urged the board to first seek answers by meeting as soon as possible with the assessment firm the town has contracted with. Kilmer said that meeting is expected to take place early next week with the assessors, Emminger, Newton, Pigeon & Magyar Inc.

The vote to table was unanimous, with Kilmer agreeing with other Town Board members that more answers from the assessors would bring a more educated decision.

In introducing the original motion, Kilmer said the rule of thumb in reassessments is that a third of residents will be happy, a third will be upset, and a third will be the same.

“We’re at over 700 complaints this reassessment so far, and there’s already a $17 million adjustment correction,” he said. That compares with 400 complaints and $6 million in adjustments during the last reassessment in 2021. “There’s got to be something wrong that, in the first, initial call of complaints that we’re already adjusting this reassessment at $17 million.

“One of the reasons we did this reassessment, way back when, is it was a thought that commercial property was being under-assessed because we found a few anomalies in this town, one of them being a piece of property that was assessed at $400,000 that sold for $1.2 million.”

He said the town found you couldn’t just reassess commercial properties – the project would have to include residential, as well.

Before his motion was amended, Kilmer expressed that time was closing in on the assessment process, and he wanted to get answers for the discrepancies before the reassessment got certified, at which point no changes could be made.

Kilmer later explained to NFP that the reassessment anomalies hit home for him.

“It first started out when I opened my own envelope up and my house went up 80%. … So I talked to my neighbors and theirs didn’t go up 80%. I was, like, ‘I’m like a single entity here,’ ” he said.

Kilmer said he bought his house at fair market value four and a half years ago.

Once he knew his assessment went way up, Kilmer said he started asking constituents about their experiences. He talked at length to one woman in Tops whose assessment went up, but her taxes went down.

Kilmer explained that reassessment doesn’t make more money for the town; it actually meets the tax levy – the figure that has to be raised in taxes once all other revenue is applied toward the budget.

“The pain gets redistributed among different people,” he said.

Former council member Mike Madigan addressed the Town Board in the public comment section of the meeting that preceded the vote.

“I urge you to suspend the 2025 property reassessment,” he said.

Madigan noted the Town Board of Brighton – population 36,000, near Rochester – just suspended its reassessment due to “hundreds” of complaints and critical variances being found.

“We (Grand Island) have 22,000 (population), and over 700 complaints so far, and $17 million in (assessment) reductions, and we are still at the beginning of the challenge process,” Madigan said. “We have seen threefold more errors and reductions compared to 2021 already, at the beginning of the process, and the formal grievances have yet to be filed.

“This is our third reassessment in 10 years, so only minor adjustments should occur, Yet, there are many hundreds of tax swings of 15% to 80% in many cases – far too many to be ignored, since they are mostly unexplained and should not be happening.

“Here’s a doozy: Nonresident commercial properties, 205 out of 250 – 80% saw tax decreases, shifting $700,000 onto residents.”

“Residential properties were really hit hard islandwide,” Madigan said. “On Whitehaven Road, for example, 21 of 50 homes had tax increases of over 15%, and nine saw large decreases, with no clear logic; similar homes next-door to each other had strong swings in opposite directions.”

Madigan explained on Tuesday, “I have been helping folks researching and writing up challenges to help them – several have serious life challenges that make it unlikely they will submit a challenge to their assessment. I saw they had unexplained spikes.”

He said to the Town Board, the current reassessment project “needs to be halted and not relaunched until after they fix the reassessment’s algorithm or whatever is causing hundreds of errors. The Town Board should suspend the program to ensure fair taxation.”

The goal of the assessment equity project is to establish uniform, fair and equitable assessments on all real property types, according to a PowerPoint presentation by Emminger and associates. It can be viewed on the town’s official website,
https://www.grandislandny.us.

In her comment, resident Paula Sciuk said she supported Madigan’s statement to suspend the reassessment.

“Four years ago, my house was assessed at full market value at $150,000. The newest estimate is $312,000 – over 100% difference – and there’s been no improvements on my property,” she said. “I’m on wetlands. They flood, which is still not even indicated on my property value. So, there is a big problem here and it does need to be looked at, and I fully support to suspend the reassessment.”

Island property owner Mary Passerelli said of the assessment firm’s work, “They’re not really looking at individual properties. It’s a ‘guess-timate,’ is what they’re choosing. They said they took pictures, but then they announced that, no, they didn’t take pictures. It turns out it’s all AI-generated.

“It is absurd that our property assessments, in some cases, are doubled – or more – in one year. They assess our homes too high and have us prove – we’re the ones who have to prove what our real assessment should be.”

Paul Koppmann, who also opposed the reassessment project, had a different take on the process, based on national economic factors.

“If anyone’s looked at their 401K or their savings account lately, we know what’s happening. The housing market is going to fall. Your house today is not worth what it was two, three months ago. So, your reassessment is based on home sales of prior years,” Koppmann said.

“This should be postponed, halted until we at least find out. Two months from now, your home could be worth a lot less than it is today. A week from now, it could be worth a lot less,” he said. “We should stop; we should pause until we figure out what’s going on.”

“The data that the town has is based on prior sales that today are absolutely meaningless,” Koppmann said.

The Grand Island Town Board on Monday proclaimed the month of April as “Bikers Against Child Abuse” Month and honored the local branch of the bikers organization for its work throughout the year. Bikers Against Child Abuse was formed 27 years ago with a purpose to empower abused children and provide support as escorts through all phases of the criminal justice system.

The Town of Grand Island awarded a certificate of appreciation to Grand Island High School student Kaitlyn Wadman at its meeting Monday in appreciation of her completion of the town’s internship program. From left: Council member Tom Digati, Senior Billing Clerk Elaine O’Neill, Wadman, Supervisor Peter Marston and council members Jose Garcia and Dan Kilmer. (Photos by Karen Carr Keefe)

In other Town Board news:

•Marston said Aldi supermarket is still working diligently to close on the property near the traffic circle at the foot of the South Bridges and bring its brand to Grand Island.

“They asked us if we would be interested in renewing their site plan, which would expire May 6, just to show their level of commitment,” Marston said. “They’re not walking away.”

•The board gave its approval to the “Hometown Heroes” banner program, brought to fruition by Gary Roesch of Grand Island’s Charles N. DeGlopper Memorial VFW Post 9249, and Mark Manthier of the Grand Island American Legion Post 1346. Banners will be displayed in and around the Town Commons in honor of Grand Island residents who have served and been honorably discharged from the U.S. armed services. The goal is to have the banners completed and installed by Memorial Day, with removal around Veterans Day.