Town Board - Special Meeting

TOWN OF CLARKSTOWN TOWN BOARD SPECIAL MEETING Town Hall Room 301 July 31, 2025 at 10:00 AM MINUTES

PRESENT: Supervisor George Hoehmann Councilman Mark Licker Councilman Michael Graziano Councilman Donald Franchino Town Clerk Lauren Wohl

ABSENT: Councilman Robert Axelrod The Supervisor George Hoehmann declared the Town Board meeting opened. Assemblage saluted the flag. The Town Clerk read the roll call.

PUBLIC COMMENTS REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS AND GENERAL

PUBLIC COMMENTS The Supervisor stated that Co. Axelrod is excused from this Town Board Meeting due to being out of town. The Supervisor thanked everyone for their flexibility in having this Special Town Board Meeting. At the last Town Board Meeting a couple of items had to be pulled. These were related to the 1% shift legislation. This dates back to 2016 or 2017.

Because of the way the Homestead-Nonhomestead works, you can have dramatic shifts between the classes. A lot of this is out of our control. The Supervisor asked the Town Assessor, John Noto to speak regarding how they calculate in this area. Every year, the legislation is introduced and passed. Assemblyman Carroll and Senator Weber were able to have the legislation this cycle.

The Governor only signed this into law this past Tuesday which did not line up with our Town Board schedule. This effects the School District Taxes. We need to pass a resolution at least 30 day prior to issuing the School Tax Bills and the Warrant. This will be applicable to the School Tax Bills that will be issued on September 1st. We could not wait until the Town Board Meeting in the middle of August.

In addition, we have an emergency repair. There was a motor vehicle accident that took out a traffic light on Little Tor Road. We are still working with the insurance company, but we do need to replace this ASAP. This has also been added to the agenda along with the cost to do this. We also have two Tax Certiorari that make sense to put on the agenda. We are an article 19 Homestead town.

We have two classes of property. One, Two and Three family properties is considered a Homestead. Everything else is considered Non Homestead. There are 17 Towns in NYS that have this. Since 2017, we have been asking for the 1% shift limitation so we do not get swings in our Tax Rates. This limits the shift in the commercial rates as well. The Supervisor asked: Why the dramatic shifts?

How do they calculate at the State level? Mr. Noto, Town Assessor explained that there are several factors. Equalization Rate - Within the equalization rate, there are class rates. The value of our residential ratio may be 21%. On Commercial type properties are 6%. With all the factors combined, 70% of our Tax Roll is in the Homestead and 30% of our Tax Roll is in the Non Homestead.

Everything that went on between 1989 and 2024 (last year) - gets calculated as to what transpired last year. This includes Tax Certiorari's, gain in value, new construction,, quality changes, all get factored in so we get a base proportion for last year. That is where the shift comes in.

That shift - between the prior year, the base year, and the adjusted base proportion - the final segment of that calculation - its a complex spreadsheet to break down. However, that shift, right now for the Town will be 7%. We are limited by statute to 5%. This legislation will cause, without any increase to the budget, a double digit tax increase of one class or the other. In this case, it would be residential.

This 1% shift limits it, so there is no heavy impact from one class to the other. The Supervisor asked how many data points do they have to come up with the equalization rate? Mr. Noto answered. Every five years the state does a revaluation of our base. The last time they did this - we get all of the properties that they value....they were looking at our Mall as five parcels. It is 42 parcels.

They had the value wrong. The appraisal on this property is very complicated. We had that data, because be had our values. When Mr. Noto brought that to their attention??...they do not like to change anything. We would file a suit if they are going to skew our rates so much. Our liaison at the State made that change and made the equalization rate more accurate. So that is a full market value that NYS performs.

The other component is that all the sales that took place within the Town throughout the year, is a form entitled a 5217. This basically lays out the transactions. It all goes up to the equalization rate in NYS. They calculated the sales to the assessment to come up with a ratio. They do this for residential purposes. We then have a residential assessment ratio.

This specifies one, two, and three family sales and everything else. That rate comes down. You get all this data in four major types of parcels. We put a lot of time and resources into studying where the rates should be. Usually we do line up very close. The equalization rate impacts state aid and county tax.

This is one of the critical things we do in our office - we make sure the state - when they calculate it - we review it to make sure it is accurate. If not, we used to file rate complaints every year. Now they give us tolerance of up to 5% of where the state is. We are usually within that ratio. We are also skewed regionally. They lump us in with Orange County. We are fighting with them on that.

We feel that we should have been lined with Westchester County. Rockland stands on its own economically. We are not Orange County or Westchester. Clarkstown differs in that 64% of the Commercial Base is here. It has a different dynamic than Ramapo and Stony Point. We work with the State. It is a work in progress. Our trend is not Orange or Ramapo. Our office space is pretty stable. Their's is increasing.

The Supervisor stated that this is the state that negatively impacts the Town based on our equalization rate. Comparing Ramapo to Orange County is fine, but you cannot compare Clarkstown to them. Since the last census, Ramapo has increased in population by 20%. They are looking at another 20% increase before the next census. That is massive growth. Being compared to Orange County is skewing the equalization rate.

We really should be compared with Westchester. We are more in sink with demographics and value wise. The only way we could break free of this, is if we shift to the other property class that the others are in. This would require a two and 1/2 million dollar reevaluation. The property revaluation should be done at some point. The last time this was done was 1985. It will reestablish a value.

It would take a lengthy return on investment. Rockland has 62-64% of the commercial rateables, yet we are being compared to Orange County. There are huge swings that are often not accurate. Mr. Noto spoke regarding the two Tax Certiorari's including the Spring Valley Market Place. They received a 24% reduction in assessment going forward. Co.

Graziano asked if it would be beneficial to consolidate some of the parcels at the Mall? Mr. Noto stated it would be complicated due to a Lease Issues. There was an Executive Session meeting to discuss possible litigation concerns and Personnel matters.

RESOLUTIONS

AGENDA ITEM #1: RESOLUTION No (371-2025) - Limiting the Shift Between Classes of Taxable Property in the Town of Clarkstown, County of Rockland — Adopted

AGENDA ITEM #2: RESOLUTION No (372-2025) - Resolution of the Town Board of the Town of Clarkstown Establishing the Base Percentages, Current Percentages and Current Base Proportions for Certification to New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services — Adopted

AGENDA ITEM #3: RESOLUTION No (373-2025) - Resolution of the Town Board of the Town of Clarkstown Establishing the Adjusted Base Proportions for Certification to the State Board of Real Property Tax Services — Adopted

AGENDA ITEM #4: RESOLUTION No (374-2025) - Authorizing the Purchase and Installation of Traffic Signal Upgrades (Amount Shall Not Exceed: $195,000/Serial Bonds)

AGENDA ITEM #5: RESOLUTION No (375-2025) - Authorizing the Financing of the Costs of Traffic Signal Upgrades ($195,000 Serial Bonds)

AGENDA ITEM #6: RESOLUTION No (376-2025) - Authorizing Settlement of Tax Certiorari Regarding SVMP DE LLC LLC Tax Map No. 57.66-1-2.1 — Adopted

AGENDA ITEM #7: RESOLUTION No (377-2025) - Authorizing Settlement of Tax Certiorari Regarding OSJ of Nanuet NY, LLC Tax Map No. 64.5-2-9 (Total refund: $71,220)

ADJOURNMENT At 10:27 AM, Supervisor Hoehmann made a motion to adjourn this Town Board Meeting. This was offered by Co. Licker, seconded by Co. Graziano. All were in favor. Respectfully Submitted, Lauren Marie Wohl, Town Clerk