On August 14, 2008, a meeting was conducted at the Town of Cuyler's Highway Garage. The Cuyler Town Board convened the meeting for the purpose of having Cortland County and New York State representatives of the Office of Real Property Tax Services (ORPTS) explain to the citizens of Cuyler why a town-wide re-valuation was in their interests. The Town of Cuyler Assessor also was present at this meeting.
At the onset of the meeting, New York State representative Kate Kearney of the ORPTS was interrupted repeatedly during her presentation by a skeptical and somewhat hostile audience. At that point, William Cinquanti (Director, Cortland County ORPTS) took over. Cinquanti attempted to make the case that, consistent with New York State's lowering of the Town of Cuyler's equalization (EQ) rate, property values were rising in Cuyler. [A lowered EQ rate raises the value of a property assessment. Town EQ rates are determined by the Albany Office of the New York State ORPTS.] Members of the audience derided Cinquanti’s representation. They pointed out national trends in the housing market as well as implications associated with the general economic downturn. Undeterred, Cinquanti passed around a copy of a full-page article (analyzing Syracuse, New York home prices) that, in his view, unambiguously proved his point. [Syracuse is situated roughly 40 miles from Cuyler.] Of course, no-one in the audience had the time to examine the contents of the article carefully, and Cinquanti neglected to point out that sections of the article itself pointed out methodological flaws in the work conducted. The following excerpt from the article (Syracuse Post-Standard, July 13, 2008) is of interest:
"The study authors used 2006 Census data to compare the cost of homeownership to the cost of renting in each of the 100 markets... Take those numbers with a grain of salt. For one thing, they are based on census surveys rather than actual sales prices. For another, the study authors did not adjust them for local differences. Property taxes were assumed to average 1 percent of value rather than the 3-plus percent many of us pay around here."
I underscored these and other inherent contradictions in an e-mail I sent to Nedra Griswald [Exhibit 28 Page 1, Page 2] (Town of Cuyler Assessor) several days after the meeting was held. I never received a response.
Interestingly, one of the highlights of my e-mail involved an identification of a residential property listed by Cinquanti's real estate company in the Town of Cuyler. This property is listed on the 2008 Cuyler assessment rolls at a value of $60,100. The accompanying EQ rate for 2008 is 76%. Accordingly, the property tax is based on a valuation of $60,100/.76 = $79,079. As of August 2008, Cinquanti's real estate company listed this property at an asking price of $54,900. As of December 2008, the asking price of this property (as listed by Cinquanti's real estate company) had been reduced to $49,900.
It just so happens that I was aware of this property listing (by Cinquanti's real estate company); and, at the August 14, 2008 meeting, I asked Cinquanti directly how he could take the position that property values in the Town of Cuyler were rising while, at the same time, his real estate company was listing a property situated in the middle of the town at a price below its assessed price (and far below its state-determined market value based on assessment price divided by EQ rate). It is worth noting that the characteristics of this particular property (age, condition, square footage, etc.) are representative of a great many homes in the Town of Cuyler. Cinquanti had a three-word response to my challenge: "These things happen."
I also asked Cinquanti how he could justify the ORPTS' use of "stale" data to perform a town-wide re-valuation under the current economic circumstances. It is standard procedure for the town Assessor (who is employed by the Cortland County ORPTS) to use one-year-old data when performing a town-wide revaluation. So, by way of example, the planned Town of Cuyler revaluation, which will become effective as of May 2009, will be based on data that has a July 2008 cut-off point. Under ordinary circumstances, this might be considered an acceptable treatment; but, in light of what currently is happening to the economy in general and to real-estate markets in particular, I questioned the methodological soundness of this approach. Cinquanti assured me that the approach was valid and that nobody could predict whether housing prices would be falling in the future. I challenged this assurance by stating the obvious: At the federal and state levels, economic projections are used in the budgeting process. To ignore pronounced downward economic trends was to be oblivious to reality. The Governor of the State of New York (Governor Paterson) himself had recently appeared on television warning New Yorkers of the dire consequences associated with the current economic downturn. With these developments in mind, I wanted to know why the ORPTS was adhering to a methodology (at least implicitly) deemed inappropriate at all times at the federal and state levels (and particularly at the current time). Cinquanti's response: "Economic projections are used in the budgeting process at the county level, too!" What can one say to such a master of obfuscation, except: Thanks, Bill!
During my interchanges with Cinquanti, the attitude of the Cuyler Town Board members is instructive. It is, after all, the Cuyler Town Board which has the authority to schedule a town-wide revaluation (or not). The ORPTS presentation made to Cuyler residents was being conducted at the invitation of the Cuyler Town Board. Throughout the entire meeting, with one exception, the Town Board members sat mute. At one point in the meeting (in the middle of one of my responses to Cinquanti), however, I was asked by one of the Town Board members what I would recommend in lieu of a town-wide revaluation. I stated that the solution to addressing the ills inherent in a broken system was not perpetuation of the existing system. Rather, town-wide revaluations should be boycotted. Town boards should join with county legislators throughout the upstate to petition Albany for immediate relief from the assessment increases resulting from lowered EQ rates. Responding to my suggestion, Nancy Corbin, another Cuyler Town Board member, replied: "I don’t have time to go up to Albany. Some of us have to work."
One of the rationales provided for the presence of the myriad of small local government entities existing in upstate New York is that these bodies promote the ability to exert local control. The sad fact is that the power of local autonomy around these parts is a myth. As underscored by the events I am recounting, Town Board members neither have the expertise nor orientation to challenge the status quo. If the Director of the County ORPTS recommends a town-wide revaluation, the town is likely to follow his recommendation. Although the town board ultimately is the body responsible for instituting the revaluation, the board is more than happy to deflect criticism by using the County ORPTS as a foil for resident discontent. And the County ORPTS is more than happy to play its part in the charade.
Coincident with Cinquanti's August 14, 2008 representations about rising home values in the Town of Cuyler, a formal analysis of Syracuse home prices during third-quarter 2008 stands in direct contradiction. Zillow Real Estate Market Reports for third-quarter 2008 (July - September 2008) exhibits a decline of 3.6%. Unsurprisingly (except to Bill Cinquanti and the ORPTS), as of Wednesday 28, January 2009:
"In Syracuse home prices remain comparatively reasonable, falling a bit after the boom. However, increasing job layoffs are triggering more foreclosures in the region, which will cause more price declines. The average home in Syracuse is forecast to deflate 10.7% in 2009."
[Source: Housing Predictor Independent Real Estate Market Forecasts; http://www.housingpredictor.com/newyork.html - link no longer available]
So, as suggested by the "Past as Prologue" portion of this website, the status quo remains firmly in place. When it comes to the system by which property assessments are determined and administered in New York State, we have yet to encounter a representative of the ORPTS, at any level, who does not continue to defend the indefensible.