The village of Kings Point will be begin paying out a tax certiorari settlement on certain residential properties as determined by the Village Assessor Eric Davidson, the board of trustees announced at the June 21 meeting.
A tax certiorari occurs when a homeowner believes he or she is paying too much money on property taxes in relation to the value of their house. A claim can be filed with the town and the village Assessor, who is a certified appraiser, makes a ruling.
“The village has been inundated with tax certiorari claims,” said Village of Kings Pont Mayor Michael Kalnick. “It has increased our budget requirements and therefore increased our taxes.”
Last year, Kalnick said, the village had paid out over $430,000 in tax certiorari claims.
A case that has been lying in the background for some time involves a property on Dock Lane, which has been assessed at $62,463, which will be paid out over a two-year period. This was done so the village would not exceed the state-mandated 2 percent tax cap. “It will be paid two-thirds this year and one-third in the next fiscal year to give the village a break,” said village Attorney Stephen Limmer.
“Based upon the recommendations of [Davidson],” Limmer said. “The village should accept this settlement.”
Limmer warned against going into litigation on these matters because of the high-risk, low reward nature of property assessment challenges. Litigation would be extremely costly to the village as trials could last a few weeks, which racks up attorneys fees, he said.
Limmer told the board that if the settlement agreement were unfair both he and Davidson would report that back to the board.
“With that direction the appraiser thinks this is something we should settle,” Limmer said.
Limmer explained to the board the process in which most villages go through in assessing property.
“Most villages wait until the county settles and then the village settles so there’s a bench mark,” Limmer said. “Traditionally we have settles at higher market assessments based on higher market values than the county.”
“I wont tell you what [Davidson] said our bottom line was. But he feels this settlement is appropriate under the circumstances,” Limmer said.
The mayor offered his opinion on the settlement agreement.
“This particular case, as Mr. Limmer has expressed, the village was able to negotiate a reasonable settlement. It’s another cost that us as residents will have to bear,” Kalnick said.
In other news, the village approved the contract with Alert Fire for $1,220,659. There were no public comments made on this matter.
