Real estate taxes are calculated by multiplying the assessment by the tax rate.  For example, if you have an assessment of $10,000 and a tax rate of $200 per thousand, your taxes will equal $2,000.

In the New York area, assessments usually stay unchanged for many years. However, the tax rates increase every year.  I would estimate that tax rates are increasing at a rate of 2 – 3% per year. Over the years homeowners discover that their taxes are increasing even though their assessments are not changing.

The only way to stem the increase in your taxes is to attack the assessment.  As in our example, if you have an assessment of $10,000 with a tax rate of $200 per thousand, and you manage to lower the assessment by $2,000, it would save you $400 a year. And that’s a savings that won’t disappear when taxes are raised. Again. And again.

The only other way to lower your taxes is to fire the people on the Town Board, admittedly a difficult task for a homeowner.