BUFFALO, N.Y. — This week thousands of tax assessment notices are being mailed out to property owners across the City of Buffalo.
You may have gotten yours already. If not, the city says it's on its way.
And as a reminder, these notices are just estimates of what you could pay in taxes next year, not what you'll actually pay.
"For the comparison of today and what they're paying today's dollars if those were implemented today what they're paying in the disclosure notices would be the direct impact," said Jason Shell, the commissioner of assessment and taxation for the City of Buffalo.
Still, there's been strong reaction from people who think they'll be paying more.
The City of Buffalo's Assessment Office sent out tax disclosure notices to every property owner in the city this week.
More than 93,000 notices were mailed out.
The disclosure notices, which need to be sent according to state law, break down what property owners already are paying in taxes and what they could pay next year, not what they will pay.
Still, we're hearing from many of you who believe your taxes are going up, while others have gotten notices that saying their taxes are going down.
But what you're looking at are estimates of what you could pay in taxes if the current tax levy remained the same.
According to Buffalo's 2019-2020 adopted budget, the homestead tax rate is $18.47 per $1,000 valuation; non-homestead is $29.49 per $1,000 valuation.
Your property tax bill can't be calculated until the city sets its tax rate for next year and we'll learn what that is from the city budget, which Mayor Byron Brown usually proposes in May.
Still, all the talk about the city's reassessment project continues to have a big impact on Buffalo's housing market -- especially for home buyers, home sellers and renters.
The city reassessed properties across Buffalo over the past couple of years. There are a lot of factors that go into what the assessed value of homes are such as the year it was built, the area that it's located, and the style of the home. Those disclosure notices were mailed out on Tuesday, so property owners if you haven't gotten yours already, you likely get it tomorrow.
October 15 will be the last day to contest your property assessment.