09/09/2024 Assessment Community Weekly

Start planning now for the next reappointment cycle

October 1, 2025, is just over a year away, but it will come quickly. If you know of anyone who may be seeking appointment as an assessor, encourage them to begin working on their qualifications. As a reminder, the qualifications for appointed assessors are the following:

• A high school or equivalency diploma and two years of full-time paid experience in an occupation involving the valuation of real property
• Graduation from a two-year college and one year of the experience above
• Graduation from a four-year college and six months of the experience above

For details, including qualifying experience, county director qualifications, and appraiser qualifications, see Qualifications and certification.

Note: Experience as a realtor is not considered qualifying experience.

Homeowner receiving inappropriate STAR exemption benefit?

After school tax bills have been issued, we occasionally hear of property owners receiving a STAR exemption benefit they’re not entitled to or who should have received the Enhanced exemption but received Basic (or vice versa). Here are some examples:

• Changes from the Final Roll Corrections Report were not applied, and now some homeowners are receiving the Enhanced STAR exemption rather than Basic (or vice versa) on their school tax bills.
• The Enhanced STAR exemption wasn’t granted because it seemed that the property owners didn’t meet the residency, age, or ownership requirements. Now the assessor has information to confirm they are eligible for Enhanced.
• The Basic STAR exemption was removed in error.

If you have a similar case, first consider whether it can be addressed locally via a corrected school tax bill or correction of errors.

If it cannot be fixed locally, email the details to assessor.hotline@tax.ny.gov.

We have the authority to issue bills for inappropriately granted STAR benefits and to issue a check for an exemption benefit that should have been received.