Assessor

Please visit the Assessments and Grievances section for all questions pertaining to this year's assessments and the grievance process.

The Assessment Department is responsible for data collection and appraisal of commercial, industrial agricultural, residential and vacant properties within the Town of Clay. We also administer all exemptions, review and analyze sales data, manage the equalization rate, defend the Town in assessment related court cases, and disseminate large volumes of assessment and tax related data to the general public. The Assessor is available by appointment throughout the year to discuss assessment related topics. We recognize that the issue of property taxes and its congruence with assessments is a complicated and emotional issue. The Assessors’ office would like property owners to be aware that WE DO NOT set budgets or levy taxes. The tax rates seen on your tax bills are the result of the expenditures and levy requests of the taxing jurisdictions in which you reside.

The Assessor will accept informal requests to your assessment at any time during the year upon the filing of an “Assessment Review Consent Form” available at our offices. These forms are usually reviewed as the last part of the process in the finishing the tentative assessment roll, which is filed on May 1 of every year. The forms must be submitted by April 1st to provide time for review. Any request for an Assessment Review must include supporting data with each form. From this point on, the Assessor will only consider an assessment reduction upon full interior and exterior inspection of your property. Keep in mind that for assessment purposes (mass appraisal purposes) all buildings are measured from the OUTSIDE, where a fee appraiser will generally measure the inside. The reason is simple. Quite frankly, no one wants the Assessor in their house, while a fee appraiser is doing his job at your request for some type of possible financial gain (refinance, for example). Since all data collected has to adhere to the same process and principles, Assessors measure the outside for all properties. Keep in mind that if your building is assessed for less than you paid for it, you may need a very convincing argument to prove it is now worth less than you paid for it, especially in this climate of appreciation that borders on .5% to 1% a month. The taxes being high is not a compelling argument.

The Town of Clay appraises property at a partial value. This is a Town Board decision. The equalization rate (Level of Assessment-LOA) for 2025 is 2.40%. This reflects an increase (8.7%) in overall market value for 2025. This is my 21st year her as the Assessor, and in that time home prices have doubled, with the majority of that value increase in the last 5 years.

Often people ask me about the purported "Micron" bump in sales prices. Simply stated, there currently IS NOT a Micron bump in Clay home sales prices. In 2024, 6 towns had a higher rate of appreciation and 6 had an equal level of appreciation in Onondaga County. In 2023, 9 towns had a higher rate of appreciation and 4 towns had equal appreciation. In 2022, 2 towns had a higher rate of appreciation and 4 towns had an equal level of appreciation. Bottom line: NO MICRON INFLUENCE in sales prices. Prices have escalated countrywide and statewide for a plethora of reasons since the pandemic. It is no longer a "fluke" in the market. After 5 years, this is the market.

It should be noted that only 17% of Town's in New York State are at full market value, meaning 83% are not, and only 3 Towns out of 19 in Onondaga County are at 100% of full market value. Property values have increased dramatically in the past 5 taxable years across Clay, Onondaga County and the nation. One town in Onondaga County saw a year to year increase of 16%.

To arrive at full market value for your property, divide your assessed value by .024. A property assessed at $5,000, divided by .024 will yield a market value of $208,333. The Equalization rate may change every year based on yearly differences in sales versus the assessments on all properties. The actual rate is set by the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services.

The Town of Clay Assessors office currently processes 16,066 property tax exemptions on the Town's approximately 21,600 parcels of property. ALL EXEMPTIONS ARE DUE BY MARCH 1ST OF EVERY YEAR. Full and partial property tax exemptions on schools, churches, non-profits, government buildings, industrial development properties (OCIDA) and individual residences currently reduce the Town of Clay taxable value on the assessment roll by 16.58%, with that amount increasing yearly. The process creates inequities in tax bills amongst similar properties and necessitates all taxpayers paying higher tax rates to account for that loss of revenue due to the tax exemption process. Property tax exemption laws are primarily determined by New York State elected officials. Schools, counties, towns, and villages are mandated to comply in the vast majority of scenarios, though individual limits in income totals for exemptions requiring income submission are allowed to be determined by individual taxing jurisdictions. All renewal applications are mailed in late October every year for return by March 1st. Due to the large volume of exemption forms mailed to property owners that require return, review and in many cases necessitate follow-up phone calls, we firmly adhere to the State legislated March 1st exemption deadline for all exemption applications. As a public service we attempt to call and remind as many people as we can that the exemptions are due, but staffing constraints limit our opportunities to follow up more than once. A exemption is an opportunity, not an entitlement, and the taxpayer ultimately is responsible for renewing exemptions on time.

TOWN POPULATION RESIDENTIAL PROPERTIES TOTAL PROPERTIES ASSESSORS OFFICE STAFF

Clay 60,527 19,305 21,550 4

Manlius 31,387 11,970 14,793 5

Cicero 31,435 11,382 13,856 3

Salina 33,290 11,482 13,521 3

DeWitt 26,074 8,060 11,454 4

Camillus 25,346 9,171 10,605 3

*The International Association of Assessing Officers (IAAO), an organization with membership in 22 countries around the world, recommends aprox. 2,500 parcels per employee. Is your town properly staffed?*