The Ancram Assessor’s Office mailed change-of-assessment notices to property owners on Tuesday, April 28, after a townwide property reassessment showed an 18.9% increase in the value of homes.
This doesn’t mean property taxes will rise by that amount for everyone. “For some folks, it will be negligible, for some it will be more,” Town Assessor Rene DeLeeuw said. “Higher value homes are probably going to trend a little higher than the average home or single-family residence that’s just an acre or two.”
Reassessment is meant to level the playing field so that property owners pay their fair share of taxes, according to the New York Department of Taxation and Finance. Without periodic reassessments, some would end up paying more taxes than they should, while others wouldn’t pay enough.
DeLeeuw worked with the Department of Taxation and Finance to conduct a reassessment trending, a process that allows the assessor to match the assessed values of the properties in town to their market values. Assessed value is the dollar amount that the county and town use to calculate property taxes, while market value is the amount a property would sell for in an open market.
The state recommends that towns update assessments every few years. Ancram’s last update was in 2023, when data collectors from a tax service agency visited each property in Ancram to note the number of rooms, photograph lots, and update measurements.
Following the update, state officials recommend that the town complete an assessment trending by 2026, reflecting the change in home sale prices since then.
“People come in and buy properties that are assessed at $300,000 and they pay $1.5 million,” said DeLeeuw at a Town Board meeting on March 19, after which the reassessment was approved. “I cannot raise that value to $1.5 million even though that’s the market price, without going through this process of looking at all the properties. That’s basically what trending is.”
As market values in town rise, assessed values can fall behind without periodic updates. In 2025, assessed values in Ancram stood at 90% of market value. DeLeeuw estimates this percentage, known as equalization rate, will fall to 80% in 2026.
When a town goes a long period without reassessments, the jump in values as well as taxes can be a lot higher, according to DeLeeuw. The reassessment trending was a more incremental readjustment. The assessed values of residential properties in Ancram increased by an average 18.9%, he said.
For property owners who qualify for tax exemptions — such as senior citizens, veterans, and people with disabilities — a reassessment would ensure that exemptions are applied at their full worth.
The state recalculates the equalization rate annually, whether a town goes through reassessment or not, based on what the market values are in the region. The trending process, however, allows the town assessor to take additional factors into account, such as condition, construction quality, and size of the residence.
“The assessor is going to use this trending methodology in order to make a better overall reassessment, so that the values in the town are more accurate than what might be done with just a simple formula,” said Matthew Bernstein, the town’s Board of Assessment Review chairperson.
DeLeeuw told the board he would be happy to address concerns of property owners, who can schedule an appointment by using the contact information included in the letter or by going to the town website.
The Board of Assessment Review is to hold a Grievance Day from 4 to 8 p.m. on May 27 at Town Hall, where property owners can appeal their reassessed values.