Fourth Department — Tax Assessment: Sangertown Square v. Assessor of Town of New Hartford, et al.

Appellate Division, Fourth Department

Tax Assessment

Appraisal Methods

Sangertown Square v. Assessor of Town of New Hartford, et al.
CA 13-01786
Appealed from Supreme Court, Oneida County

Background: The petitioner, the owner of a mall in New Hartford, commenced a proceeding to challenge the real estate tax assessments on its property. A referee issued a report reducing the tax assessments for all three of the challenged years. The report was confirmed and the respondent appealed.

Ruling: The Appellate Division held that the petitioner met its burden that the property was overvalued, thus rebutting the presumption of the assessor’s validity. The court noted that although the appraisers for both parties utilized the income capitalization approach to value the income-producing property, the appraisers differed in their method of calculating market rent. The petitioner estimated total market rental income by multiplying projected sales by the occupancy cost ratio. This is a recognized appraisal method.

Brian M. Quinn of Tabner, Ryan and Keniry for the respondents-appellants-respondents; Kevin G. Roe of Gilberti Stinziano Heintz & Smith for the petitioner-respondent-appellant