Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - As part of his State of the County address on Wednesday, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz announced a proposed countywide assessment division.
One person who works with town and village assessors say that's a double-edged sword.
"I understand his rationale for wanting to be more efficient, and a countywide assessment process would have some efficiencies. Tthere wouldn't be the duplication of efforts from town-to-town. I think that's a positive," says Don Griebner of Real Property Services.
He says there are some smaller towns that don't have the resources to keep up with the assessment process, with some having a part-time assessor.
However, Griebner says there's a potentially big loss.
"I think you lose the personal contact with the Assessor's Office. I think you lose the personal knowledge that these local assessors and assessment offices bring to the communities that they serve," Griebner said.
He says board of assessment reviews in each town are made up of local real estate experts who live in the area and know the area well.
"I think it provides a very valuable service to the town residents and business property owners," Griebner noted.
Griebner cites that personal touch in recent interactions.
"I've had discussions with two different town assessors personally, and they each said they would get involved in a case that I brought to them and gave them some information about the properties that they weren't aware of. They're going to inspect the properties, they're going to review what I submit to them, all of this before grievance day, which comes up at the end of May," Griebner said.
He adds they're doing this outside of the formal process, because they know every property is unique. They're willing to listen to each case individually. That is something he fears will be lost in a countywide system.
A countywide system would eliminate 30 town and village assessor's offices if approved.
