Bedford Moves Closer to Joining Property Revaluation

Bedford took a step closer to doing a town-wide property revaluation when it joined eight other municipalities in signing off on a request for proposals to find a single vendor for the work.

The RFP, which was sent out on July 1, also includes Mount Kisco, New Castle, North Salem, Pleasantville, Greenburgh, Yonkers, the Town of Ossining and Peekskill, according to Greenburgh Assessor Edye McCarthy.

The group of communities that signed off on the RFP is slightly smaller than one that expressed initial interest in the regional effort. North Castle, Mount Vernon and Briarcliff Manor did not join, according to McCarthy. In the case of Briarcliff Manor is not an independent assessing unit, she explained.

Included in the group are municipalities who have not done reassessments in decades. The last time that Bedford did a town-wide change was in 1974.

In expressing its desire to join the RFP, Bedford's town board took a vote at its June 18 meeting, which passed 3-2 and came after discussion, according to video of the meeting.

At the meeting, Assessor Harold Girdlestone noted that the town has unique characteristics, such as its open land and high-end estates. Work that would be done during a revaluation, he stated, can include interior inspections, collecting sales data and verification of inventory. The idea of doing revaluation as a group of communities would be to get a lower price per parcel, Girdlestone said at the meeting.

Supervisor Lee Roberts argues that a revaluation is a matter of fairness, although she acknowledged that political implications and cost could be impediments.

“I think the community needs to learn much more about this, what it would entail, what it would mean to our residents and I think we have to dispel many of the myths that seem to surround a reval and the fear that you're going to get a huge spike in your taxes. To my mind it is the fair way to go.”

A revaluation is not the same thing as a tax increase, it was explained at the meeting, but rather it is a redistribution of the burden. Girdlestone, at the meeting, noted a rule of thumb in which about one third can see their burden go up, while another third would see theirs drop, and another whose levels would stay at similar amounts.

Roberts, speaking at the meeting, felt that some newer properties are unfairly assessed, while open space and older properties without renovations are under assessed. She was joined by Deputy Supervisor Peter Chryssos and Councilman David Gabrielson in supporting the measure, while Councilmen Chris Burdick and Francis Corcoran voted against it.

Burdick and Corcoran, in remarks at the meeting, gave different positions for voting nay.

Burdick, who said that he agreed with Roberts on the merits of a revaluation, felt that public education needs to be done first. Responding, Roberts noted that people will not come to a discussion about a revaluation that is not being done. At the meeting, Gabrielson said that the town could still go ahead with the RFP - the deal is non-binding, it was noted - and still do public outreach as part of a dual track.

Corcoran felt that the town should not participate in an RFP without deciding whether or not to go ahead with a revaluation.

Despite the debate, having votes from the governing boards to sign up for the RFP was not required, McCarthy told Patch. Next door, New Castle and Mount Kisco did not schedule votes for their boards.

The project was initiated by Greenburgh and Yonkers, who are seeking to update their property assessment rolls as a way to stem the tide of costly challenges to the current numbers.

Bedford has experienced challenges, Girdlestone told Patch, although they have dropped from about 400 last year to just roughly 230 this year. Girdlestone attributed the decline to a higher equalization rate, a formula that a municipality gets when you divide its total assessed value of all local properties by their total market value. The equation is used, according to a primer from the state, because properties do not have a fixed percentage of assessment, and to account for differences between municipalities in how they assess as percentages of market value.

With a higher equalization rate, Girdlestone said, the result is a lower market value in relation to a property's assessed value, an outcome that favors the town when it comes to challengers.

The equalization is also used for school and county budgets to reconcile differences in assessment levels between their overlapping municipalities. This can sometimes lead to large gaps in tax rates, which represent money that people owe per $1,000 of assessed value, in school and county budgets. In the case of Bedford, Girdlestone explained at the meeting, the gap would not be resolved unless other municipalities in the town's school districts were to join. However, a revaluation can still correct internal inequities, he added.

Proposals are expected to be returned by early September, McCarthy said, with a vendor selection by Nov. 12. Municipalities could then enter into individual negotiations with the company, she explained. Also, communities that did not join the RFP can still decide to join the consortium for reassessment, McCarthy noted.

Asked about revaluation as a political issue, McCarthy is not worried about the ramifications. Five Westchester County communities have already proceeded she said - they are Bronxville, the Town of Rye, Pelham, Scarsdale and the Town of Mamaroneck - and argued that it has not hurt elected officials.