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04-14-09
Lost Your Local Tax Assessment Grievance? You Can Appeal
through the County Clerk’s Office
These
are bad economic times. Tax bills are rising while real
estate values have dipped. Homeowners looking for relief
may try to reduce their property tax assessment through the
grievance process. Since it could be a record year for
property tax grievances filed with a local Board of
Assessment Review, it could also be a record year for
rejections by boards. Rejection by your local Board is not
the end of the road. If you live in a home you own, you can
appeal that decision through the Small Claims Assessment
Review (SCAR) process.
“With the age of our
assessment rolls and property values dropping, many property
owners will be reviewing their assessment status and should
understand their right to a fair assessment,” stated County
Clerk Timothy C. Idoni. Idoni went on to advise residential
property owners to know their options and not to be
intimidated by the legal process to have an appeal heard.
These are the steps in the process:
1. Check with your local tax
assessor to learn the date by which your original tax
grievance must be filed at the local level. Then file the
grievance and attend your hearing.
2. If your request is denied
or you receive a lower reduction that you are not satisfied
with, you can file a Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR)
petition in the Office of the Westchester County Clerk.
Your SCAR petition must be filed within 30 days of the
filing of the final assessment rol1 in your community. Each
community may have a different date, so be sure to confirm
the date in your municipality. Late filing will result in
your petition for appeal being dismissed.
3. Review the
step-by-step instructions and then complete a SCAR Index
Application and Petition, all of which can be found at
www.westchesterclerk.com by
choosing Legal Division and then SCAR Petitions from the
drop down menu. You can also pick up these papers in the
Office of the County Clerk
4. If you are filing a SCAR
petition by mail, be sure to include a self-addressed
stamped envelope and note that cash and credit cards
payments will not be accepted by mail. Petitions should be
sent to the Office of the Westchester County Clerk, 110 Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Legal Division, White
Plains, NY 10601.
5. Within ten days after
filing your SCAR petition with the Clerk, you must mail a
copy of your completed and signed petition to the clerk of
the School District where the property is located, the
Westchester County Commissioner of Finance, and the Assessor
or the Board of Assessment in the municipality in which the
property is located.
The Office of the Westchester County Clerk is located at 110
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in White Plains and is open
between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:45 p.m., Monday through
Friday, excluding legal holidays. For questions about the
SCAR process, call (914)995-3070 or visit
www.westchesterclerk.com.
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