Politics & Government

Rye Brook Village Board Unanimously Adopts Budget

All said 'aye' to the 2011-2012 annual budget for Rye Brook. Assessor Mitchell Markowitz was peppered with questions about the recent property tax re-evaluations by the Village Board and the Blind Brook School Board.

With a single accord, the Rye Brook Village Board unanimously agreed to adopt the 2011-12 annual budget first proposed by Village Administrator Christopher Bradbury in early March.

Though she lamented the small public attendance at the 2 budget workshops held to closely discuss line items of the proposed plan, Mayor Joan Feinstein praised Bradbury and municipal department heads for their hard work.

"We’ve worked very hard to keep that tax levy constant,” said Feinstein. "I think we’ve done a yeoman's job”

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The tax rate for homes is 4.59 percent and for non-residential properties is 7.05 percent of every $1000 of assessed value.

Assessor in the House

Find out what's happening in Ryewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Assessment values kept Assessor Mitchell Markowitz on his toes, answering questions at both the Village Board meeting and the Blind Brook school district on the same night.

Accompanied by Dave Arnold, vice-president of Vision Appraisal, Assessor Markowitz explained that his office is currently holding informal meetings with taxpayers who may have questions about their newly re-calculated property values. The outside firm was contracted to assist with the property surveys– conducting exterior checks of all residential properties and interior reviews of commerical properties as well as taking aerial and street-level photogrpahs.

Mayor Feinstein pressed Arnold and Assessor Markowitz to explain why some residents were still getting wildly variant tax bills than their neighbors.

Markowitz said, when judging their latest assessment bill, "Residents should ask is it fair, not whether it went or down." Assessed values are now at 100 percent of market value and were calculated without consideration of previous assessments, according to Markowitz. 

If residents are concerned about their assessments, Markowitz said now was the time to act before the process would into the formal grievance phase.

Residents may view the collected data on the assessor's database and check for comparable house values to measure against their own obligation. They may then set appointments with either the assessor or the consulting firm Vision Appraisal through May 20.  

Data on the refigured property values is available online.

During the informal hearing, Markowitz said residents could bring objective evidence if they felt their property had been unfairly evaluated. Asked by Mayor Feinstein, he also said his office was checking into reports that district R-25, which includes the Hillandale neighborhood, was inaccurately assessed.

Firefighter Agreement Passes

The firefighters' unions agreed to negotiate with Rye Brook. Future new hires will have to pay a higher portion of their health insurance premiums, from the current 10 percent to 12 percent. In return, the Village Board agreed to fund 2.25 percent annual salay increases for the next 3 years for the 8 firefighters.

Vision Appraisal:  www.visionappraisal.com 888-444-8300
Town of Rye: www.townofryeny.com 939-3936


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