Irondequoit pauses reassessment after numbers come back really high

IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. (WHEC) — The anxiety over inflation is so high, the Town of Irondequoit has decided to postpone its reassessment.

The decision to wait was made Friday when the town started getting some of the new assessments numbers back and the town assessor confessed to News10NBC that they were big.

Ninety percent of properties in Irondequoit are homes.

The town didn’t think homeowners would accept the numbers without being really angry. So they decided to wait.

This is an example of what we’re seeing across the county. Even if towns reassessed recently, the exploding home prices are throwing the numbers out of whack.

When the new assessments started to come in, the Irondequoit assessor thought she needs some time to take a longer look.

"Also inflationary pressures that have been happening with people we really felt like we needed additional time to make sure we were properly informing the residents of the new assessment information," Assessor Amy Jorstad said.

Brean: "So you wanted to give your homeowners a little breathing space from this inflation we’re going through."

Jorstad: "We did."

And they hope next year feels different.

"I feel there is heightened anxiety with residents in general right now because everything is becoming more expensive," Jorstad said.

Irondequoit reassessed in 2018.

Most towns in Monroe County have reassessed in the last three or four years but look at the impact of the house selling boom in that short period of time.

Click here to see the last assessment of your town (scroll down to your county).

In Brighton, the market value of homes is 11% higher than the assessed value. It’s 13% in East Rochester, 18% in Ogden and 22% in Mendon.

In Irondequoit, it’s 12%. The difference is called the equalization rate.

Click here to see your town’s equalization rate.

Brean: "What’s the impact on homeowners when your equalization rate is at 88%? Somebody ends up paying more, don’t they?"

Jorstad: "No, the 88% is a reflection of the difference between assessed values and market values."

The state says there is no penalty if a town postpones an assessment but the state doesn’t like it when those equalization rates drop below 95%.

Irondequoit says the reassessment resumes next year.