INTRODUCTION
Roughly two years ago, a series of investigative articles (authored by William Glaberson) appeared in the New York Times. These articles examined the functioning of upstate New York's town and village judicial system. In a word, woeful is an apt characterization of this system.
But Glaberson's exposé perhaps was only news in the sense that it dealt with an issue that had not been accorded wide publicity. As the following excerpt ("How a Reviled Court System Has Outlasted Many Critics") makes clear, the status of the upstate town and village judicial system was hardly a closely-held secret: "'A farce in these days,' Gov. Alfred E. Smith pronounced New York State's town and village courts in 1926. 'An outworn system,' said his successor, Franklin D. Roosevelt, not long after a state commission called it 'a feeble office respected by no one.' A few years after that, another commission said the local court system had 'lost all contact with reality.'"
In the intervening years, not much has changed to contradict Smith's and Roosevelt's pronouncements.
Glaberson's articles struck a chord for me on several counts. It just so happens that, based on official misconduct, the town justice of Cuyler, NY was shortly to be removed from office by the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct ("State Ousts a Town Justice and Criticizes the System"). I am a 20-year resident of Cuyler, NY.
Never expecting to receive a reply, I emailed Glaberson and congratulated him on his work. Much to my surprise, I received a follow-up response thanking me for my correspondence. Emboldened, I sent Glaberson another email. In it, I assured him that he had only scratched the surface in the area of dysfunctional government in upstate New York. If he wanted ample fodder for another series of investigative reports, he might want to look into the area of how residential property assessments are determined and administered. Unfortunately, Mr. Glaberson informed me that his work would be taking him into other areas unrelated to investigative reporting.
That's a shame. I have no doubt that if Mr. Glaberson devoted his talents to a formal investigation of upstate New York residential property assessments, the result would be no less illuminating than was the case for his prior work. Why do I feel this way? Suffice it to say, my wife Judy and I have a story to tell! With mixed success, we have grieved our residential property assessment on a number of occasions (before our local Board of Assessment Review). We also have appealed the BAR's (Board of Assessment Review) final assessment determinations in Small Claims Assessment Review (SCAR) hearings. On related issues, we have had the occasion to meet with the Chairman of the Cortland County Legislature, the Director of the Cortland County Office of Real Property Services, as well as three different local assessors. We anticipate that, following the Town of Cuyler's revaluation to be performed in 2009, we will be filing tax proceedings in the Cortland County Supreme Court. As a consequence of these experiences, we have learned a great deal about the shortcomings inherent in the system by which residential property assessments are determined. The focus of this website will be on sharing our past experiences and experiences to come in this area.
I would certainly have preferred for Mr. Glaberson to have told this story (under the official auspices of the New York Times); nevertheless, in the months to come, we will endeavor to present a story that very much needs to be told. It is our hope that our efforts ultimately will contribute to a movement in the direction of much-needed reforms.
We know that our experiences are far from unique, and we will be looking forward to expanding our knowledge base as we hear from you.
January 2009