What is the mission of this office?
The mission of the Wheatland Assessor’s Office is to value all real property within the Town in a fair and equitable manner for taxation purposes. This process adheres to the New York State Real Property Tax Assesment Cycle. The Town Assessor prepares the Assessment Roll that lists information for every property in the Town. When the Assessment Roll is finalized each year it becomes the base upon which annual real property tax levies are derived. An accurate Assessment Roll is vital to the delivery of public services and maintaining the fiscal strength of local Town government. The Assessor’s Office interacts with the public in numerous ways, including disseminating information about properties in Wheatland to the public and assisting property owners with assessment questions. The Assessor’s Office also supports the Assessment Review Board at grievance hearings.
What services are provided?
Services provided by the Assessor’s Office include the following:
- Answering questions regarding a variety of property tax exemptions.
- Answering questions about a resident’s current property.
- Helping prospective home buyers with assessment questions.
- Providing NYS Assessment exemption forms and helping to fill them out. These forms are also available online at the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.
See Assessor’s Office FAQs for answers to common inquiries. Contact the Assessor’s Office for all other questions.
Town of Wheatland Assessment Roll
The Town of Wheatland publishes tentative and final assessment rolls annually. You can check your property’s assessment, market value and related information, as well as review the assessments of other properties in the community. The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance encourages you to check your assessment annually. Learn how to read and understand an assessment roll. Click on the link below to view the currently published Town of Wheatland Assessment Roll.
The Assessment Roll is provided in a Portable Document Format (PDF) file format. Adobe Reader® by Adobe Systems Inc. is required to view PDF files. The latest version of Adobe Reader is available for download free of charge from Adobe’s Web site.
New York State Real Property Tax Assessment
By law, the Town of Wheatland follows the New York State Assessment Calendar as indicated below.
- Valuation Date: July 1 (of the preceding year). Real property price level for the assessment cycle is frozen as of this date.
- Taxable Status Date: March 1. Assessments are based on the physical characteristics of the property as of this date every year. All Exemptions must be filed on or before March 1.
- Final Roll Date: July 1 (of the current year)
- Informal Reviews: July 1–March 1 Property owners may request an informal review of their assessment. To do so, they contact the Assessor’s Office to schedule an interior and exterior inspection of your property. The purpose of the inspection is to insure that all information the Town has is correct, and to give the property owner an opportunity to discuss their assessment and supply the Town with any information that they have concerning your assessment. If the property owner has had a recent appraisal of their property, a copy would be helpful. Any change in assessment will be sent between May 1 and May 15.
- Formal Assessment Review: Fourth Tuesday in May. A property owner may request a formal review once they have received notification from their informal review. Please note, the fourth Tuesday in May is the last day to have an assessment reviewed for the current year.
Formal Assessment Reviews
If you own property in New York State, you are eligible for formal review of your assessment. There are two levels of formal review:
Administrative Review
Commonly referred to as the “grievance” process is conducted at the Town level. Any person who owns property in the Town can file a grievance. Only the assessment on the current tentative assessment roll can be grieved, meaning you can’t grieve assessments from prior years. There is no cost to grieve an assessment and it does not require you to hire a lawyer. New York State recommends that you do your homework before pursuing a form review of your assessment, including developing an estimate for the market value of your property.
Complete and file all Grievance Forms at the Town Clerk’s Office. The Town’s Assessment Review Board is responsible for hearing assessment grievances. You have the right to attend the hearing of the Assessment Review Board and to present statements and/or documentation in support of your grievance. You may appear personally, with or without your attorney or other representative. The Town Assessor is required by New York State regulation to attend all formal hearings of the Assessment Review Board and has the right to be heard on any property assessment complaint. The Town Assessor does not participate in determination of the grievance. The Assessment Review board deliberates and makes a determination regarding all grievances. You will receive a notice of the Assessment Review Board’s determination. You may seek a judicial review of your assessment if you are dissatisfied with the Board’s determination. The Town of Wheatland Assessment Review Board meets every year on the 4th Tuesday of May between the hours of4PM to 8PM.
Judicial Review
In order to pursue judicial review you must first go through administrative review. There are two judicial review options: a Small Claims Assessment Review (a low-cost option available to most homeowners) or Tax certiorari proceedings in State Supreme Court (to pursue this option, you should contact an attorney).
Property Tax Exemption Information
The Town of Wheatland Assessor’s Office administers partial tax exemptions, allowed under the NYS Real Property Tax Law, for those who meet certain eligibility requirements. Some of the most common residential tax exemptions include:
- Senior Citizens with Limited Income
- Disability with Limited Income
- Veterans
Please note that It is imperative that you contact the Town of Wheatland Assessor’s Office to make sure you can meet all State requirements in order to qualify for any exemption. We will be glad to assist you at any time with your questions. Applications are available in the Wheatland Assessor’s Office (Wheatland Municipal Building, 22 Main Street in Scottsville), or online through the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services. The filing deadline for any exemption is March 1 of each year. Please contact the Town of Wheatland Assessor’s Office with any questions.
New York State STAR Exemption
The New York State School Tax Relief Program (more commonly known as the STAR Program) is a school tax rebate program offered in New York State aimed at reducing school district property taxes on the primary residences of New York residents.
What’s new
There have been some changes in how certain homeowners will apply for STAR, and in how they receive their STAR benefit. The STAR Program continues to provide much-needed property tax relief to New York State’s homeowners.
New applicants who qualify for Basic or Enhanced STAR
-
You will register with New York State instead of applying with your assessor.
-
You will receive a STAR credit in the form of a check, rather than receiving a property tax exemption (if you qualify for STAR). The dollar value of the credit will be the same as the property tax exemption.
New applicants who qualify for Enhanced STAR (or who will qualify in the future)
You do not need to register separately to receive the Enhanced benefit if you’ve already registered to receive the Basic benefit. When you register for the STAR credit, the Tax Department will automatically review your application to determine whether you are eligible for the Basic or Enhanced STAR benefit amount.