Tax assessment meetings begin in Buffalo

Buffalo homeowners and other property owners, brace yourselves and take notes.

City officials held the first of a series of meetings Monday night, scheduled in all districts this summer, to discuss property assessments and possible fee changes.

In May, during his State of the City address, Mayor Byron Brown said the city was “strong,” but added that property taxes could need to be increased by as much as 9 percent in the coming year. Buffalo properties have not had their tax assessments updated in five years.

In his speech, the mayor said the additional fees would be needed to fund increased services. As part of the proposed budget, the mayor requested a 9% increase in addition to a $30 increase in user fees for homeowners and a $40 increase in user fees for businesses. That translates to an additional $78 for a homeowner with a home valued at $100,000 within city limits.

In budget discussions that followed the proposal’s release in May, the mayor and city council approved a budget that included a lower property tax increase of 4.19 per cent, or an increase of $72 per year, or $6.03 per month, for what was described as an average city home valued at $160,700. For commercial properties, the tax levy is 7.5 per cent.

In total, the mayor’s originally proposed budget of $618 million has been reduced by more than $2.3 million, to $615,616,500.

At the Fillmore District’s 2025 reassessment project meeting Monday night, officials tried to portray the increases as a result of living in a booming city after years — even decades — of economic hardship and part of the cost of living in a vibrant place.

“It means things are going well in the city,” said Jason Shell, the city’s assessment and taxation commissioner. “From our perspective, the assessment is about making sure that property taxes are distributed equally and fairly.”

Robert Koszarek, reassessment coordinator, added that current property assessments represent 61.5 per cent of the total market value of these properties. “Thanks to market appreciation, the equalization rate has decreased as property values ​​have increased,” a factor that needs to be adjusted.

In total, some 94,000 properties will be reassessed from next year, and updated tax bills will follow.

Residents in the Fillmore district, which is kicking off the summer-long series of projects, are angry about the proposals. One said it’s not fair to homeowners to raise taxes when so many are losing their homes because they can’t pay their bills.

The remaining district meetings are as follows: