ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW

Administrative review of an assessment is a necessary prerequisite to judicial review. It is made by filing a grievance complaint with the assessing jurisdiction (i.e., in most cases a city, town, village, or a county). The grievance complaint is then examined by a Review Board. If the Board does not reduce the assessment to the satisfaction of the taxpayer, then the taxpayer may resort to judicial review.

A. Grounds for challenging an assessment:
In nearly all States the most common grounds in which property owners challenge an assessment are:
Excessive assessment - the property’s assessment exceeds its full market value or is excessive because of the denial of all or a portion of a partial exemption;
Unequal assessment - the property is assessed at a higher percentage of its full market value than all other properties (or properties of the same class) on the assessment roll;
The amount of taxes being paid by a property owner is not a ground for complaint. The total tax burden depends on budget requirements over which the assessor has no control.
There is a presumption under the law that the assessment made by the assessor(s) is correct. As will be discussed more fully below, the burden of proof to overcome this presumption is on the property owner.

B. Persons who are entitled to challenge an assessment:
In most States, in order to challenge an assessment, one must be an “aggrieved” party. An aggrieved party is one who has a financial or other specified interest in a property. A grievance complaint may be filed by all owners (whether a person or corporation), most tenants who are required to pay the property taxes pursuant to a written agreement or lease, certain mortgagees, contract vendees (who can show an injury which is direct), a board of managers acting as an agent of one or more unit owners of a condominium.

C. Filing deadline:
The tax grievance complaint and any supporting papers must be mailed or delivered to the municipality so that the Board of Review receives them on or before Grievance Day. These dates vary by State and by Municipality. You should call the assessor in your area for exact dates. All parties must be aware of the appropriate dates applying to an individual municipality. A grievance complaint not received on or before Grievance Day is deemed to be late. Failure to file a grievance complaint by the deadline is a fatal defect prevents further review of the assessment for that tax year.

D. Filing papers:
The grievance complaint and any supporting papers must be mailed or delivered to the department of assessment, or assessor’s office of the municipality. Necessity of having an appraisal: The only time an appraisal is not required in tax assessment review proceedings is when the matter has been settled. The importance of the appraisal cannot be overemphasized.

L. Burden of proof:
Bear in mind that there is a presumption under the law that the assessment made by the assessor(s) is correct or valid. The burden of proof to overcome this presumption is on the petitioner and petitioner’s expert witnesses. Recent cases decided by the New York State Court of Appeals provide good insight as to the burden of proof in tax assessment cases. In general, the Court has held that a petitioner need only present “substantial evidence” to rebut the presumption of the validity of the assessments by establishing the existence of a valid and credible dispute regarding valuation. This is a minimal burden and is usually satisfied by a competent appraisal based on “sound theory and objective data.”