Members of the North Norwich Town Board meets to discuss how a reassessment of land and properties in North Norwich would effect the equalization rates and effectively the residential tax rates. (Photo by Catherine Sasso)

NORTH NORWICH – At last night's North Norwich town board meeting, Chenango County Real Property Tax Director Steve Harris discussed how a reassessment of land and properties in North Norwich would effect the value and tax rates.

North Norwich Supervisor Tim Brown invited Harris to give a presentation at the meeting as the board considers implementing a town-wide reassessment of all properties.

Harris said the town had not undergone a major reassessment since 2002, when the state ended a special program to calculate the rates.

Harris stated that prior to 2002, there was a special rate which allowed the taxable value of a home to be divided by the equalization rate which would lower the taxable value of the town for budget distribution. Unfortunately the state no longer allows special rates and that tax rates would likely need to increase.

Since North Norwich has not had a reassessment for a period of time and there is no longer a special rate, a reassessment could cause a significant increase in tax rates for a number of properties.