Tompkins County assessment staff recommends pausing 2025 reassessment after AEM shows 95% ratio

Jay Franklin of the Tompkins County Department of Assessment told the Government Operations Committee on March 6 that the county’s 2025 annual equity maintenance (AEM) review shows an assessment-to-sale ratio near 95%, a figure the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services considers acceptable for statistical confidence.

Franklin said, “we were close to 95%,” and added, “our 95% can still be considered 100% when you're looking at, the various statistical, confidence levels.” Based on that result, he said the department recommends pausing a market-based, countywide reassessment for 2025 and instead focusing on targeted updates and data work.

The nut of the recommendation is that the department ran its analyses and found no systemic drift large enough to require an across-the-board change in assessed values. Franklin told the committee this would free staff time to complete nonvaluation work, train new appraisers and complete a planned software conversion to Tyler Technologies’ assessment system.

Committee members responded favorably to the recommendation. Legislators noted that small percentage changes — for example, a 3–5% uplift — would be within normal appraisal variances and therefore would not justify a full reassessment exercise this year.

Franklin described several projects the office will complete during the pause: confirming agricultural-exemption eligibility for parcels (out of roughly 1,400 ag parcels the office sent about 39 letters asking for updated documentation), standardizing how commercial properties and large apartments are classified in the county database, and cleaning up parcel splits, consolidations and demolition records. He said the department recorded about 1,789 assessment changes this cycle — mostly parcel-level edits and nonmarket adjustments.

He also outlined the schedule that residents should expect: the department will mail assessment-change notices on Friday, March 14; hold informal review meetings from March 24 through April 4; and file the tentative roll on May 1.

Franklin said the office will begin the conversion to Tyler in October 2025, with an intensive implementation period. He estimated a full conversion around July 2027 and noted the department expects to need about two years after that to prepare for a subsequent countywide revaluation cycle if the county chooses to return to regular revaluations.

He raised a separate technical issue affecting the valuation of large renewable-energy installations: a recent Schoharie County court decision struck down the State’s solar/wind valuation model for nameplate capacity of 1 megawatt or greater. Franklin said the state calculator had produced values that did not account for federal tax credits, accelerated depreciation, or renewable energy credits in some cases; the county therefore will reexamine its roughly 35–40 utility-scale solar installations to reflect the court’s guidance.

Committee members asked questions about market drivers and conversion risk. Franklin cautioned that converting to Tyler will be intensive and will require upfront data work to avoid downstream problems. He said the decision to pause was driven by the numbers and by an opportunity to invest staff time in data standardization and training.

Ending: The committee did not vote on a formal change to the county’s reassessment policy at the March 6 meeting; the presentation functions as the department’s recommendation and calendar for 2025 operations. Residents seeking detail on property notices, informal-review appointments and the tentative roll publication were directed to the assessment office’s forthcoming mailings and online materials.