By Karen Tavernese

Cicero Town Assessor

It has been brought to my attention that some residents have raised questions about reassessment in various areas with in the town of Cicero. As the assessor for the town, it is one of my responsibilities to adjust property values when they are either too high, too low or are not uniform to create equity and fairness for the property owners. This is the process that is followed and will be followed on an annual basis to maintain 100 percent assessment. My office is responsible for reviewing and valuing all new building permits annually both residential and commercial throughout the town.

As part of my prescribed plan, which was submitted to the town board in May of 2016, 1,126 parcels located in rural neighborhoods were reassessed. At the same time, my office updated the assessment rolls with both photos and inventory for all revalued parcels to keep the records current.

After the tentative roll was filed, letters were mailed directly to all property owners who had changes made to their homes that affected their assessed value. If the property owner disagrees with the assessor’s findings they are instructed via the letter on how to contest the findings.

My office works very hard to keep all property owners in the town at a uniform percentage of the current fair market values. This ensures equity and fairness to all who own property in the town. My door is always open to discuss with any property owner any concerns they may have with either the process or their individual property value.

Thank you.