THE RECORDER
Amsterdam, NY
March 9, 2005

Lakefront land values are soaring
Broadalbin reval shows property is a hot ticket

By CRAIG CLARK, Recorder News Staff

BROADALBIN - New assessments determined during the town's recent property revaluation are in the mail and property owners should be receiving them soon, the town's independent appraiser told Broadalbin councilmen Tuesday.

Appraisers say the revaluation has gone as expected, with most of the assessed values of commercial properties having gone down and most of the assessed values of Great Sacandaga Lake properties having greatly increased.

The revaluation has even unearthed the town of Broadalbin's first $1 million home on the lake.

According to Dan Maxwell of Maxwell Appraisal Service, most of the residential property in Broadalbin is nearly doubling in assessed value.

"Lake frontage is going up considerably more," he said, estimating that most lakefront land is tripling or quadrupling in assessed value.

On the other hand, most of the commercial property value has gone down.

The prices that lakefront properties have been fetching on the Great Sacandaga Lake have ballooned in the past few years, and the revaluation reflects that.

"It's no surprise you see the sales," Maxwell said.

"Broadalbin has been on a bull market here for a few years," assessor Leamon Steele said at Tuesday's town council meeting.

In addition to seeing their own new assessments in the mail, residents will also be able to see everyone else's new assessment on the Internet. By next week the numbers will be posted on Maxwell's website, www.maxwellvaluation.com.

As they peruse the new assessments web surfers will be able to see the town's first $1 million home. Broadalbin assessors say they're unaware of any other homes on the lake, in any Fulton County town, being assessed at $1 million or more. But just because they're not assessed high doesn't mean that many wouldn't sell for that price, assessors say.

Broadalbin's first $1 million home is a new home. The owner bought the parcel of land for around $450,000 and then tore down the house that was there to make room for the new home, town officials say.

Maxwell said while at this point only one home in the town is valued at $1 million, several lake properties come close in the $750,000 range.

While the lakefront market is exploding other residential properties are also selling for more than they use to.

Steele credited the Broadalbin-Perth school system as one reason why the Broadalbin residential market is hot.

"They like our school system. They like the ruralness, being out of the city, and also your location to go to Albany or wherever you want ... for jobs. That's why the houses are in demand here in Broadalbin," Steele said.

The new values of the land in Broadalbin are far different from what they were in the past.

"Less than 20 years ago the first property in this county sold for more than $100,000," Broadalbin Assessor Bill Coloney said.

As most of the assessed values are going up in town, many people will see their taxes remain the same.

Assuming the town tax levy remains flat, with most values going up then the town tax rate should come down.

In the impact notices in the mail now people will be able to see their old assessment and this year's taxes and the new assessment and what their taxes would have looked like using this year's budgets allowing for an apples to apples comparison.

Residents should receive the first of the impact statements this week. Maxwell encourages any dissatisfied property owners to call the number on the mailing and schedule an informal meeting to discuss the assessment.

THE RECORDER
Amsterdam, NY
March 15, 2005

Broadalbin home assessed at over $1M
Homeowner plans to contest revaluation

By CRAIG CLARK, Recorder News Staff

TOWN OF BROADALBIN - Broadalbin property assessments devised during the town's revaluation are now arriving in homeowner's mailboxes with many having already arrived. The assessments are also posted on the internet at www.maxwellvaluation.com.

Independent appraisers with Maxwell Appraisal Service and town assessors say in general the values of lakefront properties in the town doubled, tripled or quadrupled in value. Most of the other residential values doubled and commercial property in the town decreased, the appraiser service said.

Broadalbin's revaluation has valued one lakefront home on the Great Sacandaga Lake at $1.1 million making it, assessors say, the first home in the town to be assessed at $1 million or above.

Fulton County Director of Real Property Tax Services Frank Parker Tuesday stopped short of saying the Broadalbin home was the first $1 million home in the entire county but he did say $1 million sales have not frequently occurred in the county's past.

"But the way the lakefront property is selling I would not be surprised if that turned out to be the case," he said.

H. Bruce Bolton, the sole assessor in the town of Northampton, said no parcels in Northampton are currently assessed at $1 million or above but some are close.

The highest assessment in Northampton, he said, is in the high $900,000 range. That house is located on the Great Sacandaga Lake in Fishhouse.

Mayfield sole assessor Katherine Hillock said Mayfield's highest assessed home is in the $700,000 range. It too is on the Great Sacandaga.

The owner of the Broadalbin home, Joseph Herba, when contacted for comment at his Johnstown car dealership said he intends to contest the assessment on his 2.5 acre parcel which is listed as having 593 feet of lake frontage. Herba built the home about a year and a half ago. After he bought the property, which alone has a listed value of $614,500, Herba tore down an existing building to make way for his new house.

Herba, together with any other dissatisfied property owners, over the coming months will have opportunities to dispute their assessments. This month Maxwell is holding informal meetings with any dissatisfied property owners who call to make an appointment. By early May property owners will receive a ruling based on that meeting and if property owners still aren't satisfied they can attend grievance day on the fourth Tuesday in May.

According to Assessor Leamon Steele informal meetings with Maxwell have already begun. Maxwell was at the town offices Tuesday between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. meeting with property owners.

Assessors say property owners shouldn't just look at their assessed values. In the impact notices that people are receiving some people are seeing that even though their assessments increased their town and county taxes decreased. The impact on school taxes depends on what exemptions, such as the STAR program, that the property owner has. Depending on exemptions even if a property owner sees a decrease in town and city taxes an increase in school taxes might be seen.


LEADER-HERALD
Gloversville, NY
March 26, 2005

Canfield requests officials' impact statements

By JUSTIN MASON, The Leader-Herald

BROADALBIN - An outspoken Councilwoman filed a request under the Freedom of Information Law Wednesday in an attempt to study if town officials were improperly assessed.

In a request that was hand delivered to Dan Maxwell of Maxwell's Appraisal Service, Councilwoman Joy Canfield said she asked for the individual impact statements from all of the town's elected and appointed officials. She said the request comes in light of several rumors that some of the assessments may have been unfair or biased.

"There's been a lot of allegations and speculation as to the validity to some of the assessments of elected officials," she said. "I feel it's my obligation as a town official to investigate and report my findings."

Maxwell was unavailable on Friday afternoon to confirm that he had received the request.

Earlier this month Maxwell's company sent out more than 3,000 impact statements to Broadalbin residents, the majority of which saw marked increases in property value. The assessment was the town's first in nearly two decades.

In total, Canfield asked for more than 30 impact statements. Following the request, she said Maxwell indicated that he will attempt to produce the records, but would need some time to retrieve them from the office in Warrensburg, where they are being kept.

According to the law, Maxwell will have 10 days from the request to provide the documents Canfield requested or a reason why he cannot provide them.

When contacted about Canfield's move, Town Supervisor Lee Hollenbeck said he'd willingly hand over his impact statement, indicating that he planned to make it public at the next town meeting in April.

"If you want to know why we need an assessment, just look at the (previous) assessments of your elected officials," he said

Hollenbeck said a copy of his impact statement distributed to the board during its last meeting contained flaws and didn't show the proper assessment that he recently received in the mail.

Hollenbeck said he's been unjustly accused of influencing his assessment and having it lowered, when in actuality, it increased substantially. He said those documents circulating that state otherwise are an attempt at "dirty politics" on the behalf of Canfield and William Coloney Jr., chairman of the assessor's board.

"They did this deliberately to cause trouble," he said. "In my opinion, you can't get any lower than that."

Hollenbeck speculated Canfield's request might have been motivated by her own assessment doubling and fears that the assessors may have printed faulty information to stir rumors abut his own assessment.

But Coloney said Hollenbeck is mistaken about what he saw and is falsely accusing him of manipulating his assessment. He said Hollenbeck's impact statement should be the same as it is on the role.

"What Lee saw and refuses to comprehend was a printout of the computer screen," Coloney said. "It was not an impact statement."

In fact, Coloney said the only individual who has access to manipulate the statements is Maxwell himself, who has them all loaded on his laptop computer. He said Maxwell will periodically update the computer at the assessor's office, but that sometimes these figures differ.

"The only live and active file (of the assessment) is on Dan Maxwell's laptop," he said. "Everything that's been done at this point has been done by the council's contractor, not the assessors."