Webster begins townwide property revaluation: what the mailer in your box means

If a letter from the Town of Webster Assessment Office landed in your mailbox over the past two weeks, it is not junk mail, and it is worth a few minutes of your attention. The town has begun its first townwide property revaluation since 2004, and the data-verification mailers now reaching all 17,003 properties are your best chance to correct the record before new market values are set for the 2027 assessment roll.

Here is what is happening, what it means for your tax bill, and what you can do right now.

What a revaluation is

A revaluation is a fresh look at the assessed value of every property in town. Webster last did a full townwide revaluation in 2004. After more than two decades, some properties have drifted to over-assessed and others to under-assessed relative to what they would actually sell for today. The 2027 project is meant to reset every parcel to current market value so the assessment roll is uniform again.

The town has retained KLW Municipal Inc. to carry out the work. The first phase, now underway, is data verification: making sure the town's records of what is actually on each parcel are correct before any new value is calculated.

Why this matters for your tax bill

This is the part worth understanding clearly. A revaluation does not, by itself, raise the total amount of property tax the town, county, or school district collects. That total, the tax levy, is set separately through each budget.

What a revaluation does is redistribute the existing tax burden. When your assessed value rises relative to your neighbors, your share of the bill goes up. When your assessed value falls relative to your neighbors, your share goes down. Some owners will pay more, some will pay less, and the shift happens parcel by parcel based on how each property's new value compares to the rest of the town. That is why the accuracy of the underlying data matters to every owner, not just to people who think their assessment is too high.

Why the mailer is your moment

The data-verification phase is the one point in the process where you can fix errors before they get baked into a value. The mailer lists the town's record of your property: details like square footage, number of bedrooms, and other features. If something is wrong, this is the time to flag it: a finished basement counted that was never finished, a bedroom that does not exist, square footage that is off.

Every parcel will also receive an exterior inspection, including new photos taken from the public right-of-way. No one needs to enter your home for this phase.

To verify or correct your data, you can:

• Respond to the mailer directly using the instructions printed on it.
• Email KLW Municipal at webster@klwgroup.com.
• Use the drop box at the Assessment Office in Webster Town Hall, or mail corrections to the Webster Assessment Office, 1000 Ridge Road, Webster, NY 14580.

General questions about the project can also go to the Town Assessment Office at 585-412-2320.

After values are set

Once new values are assigned, owners who disagree will still have the formal route of grieving their assessment through the town's grievance process. But that case is far easier to make when the data underneath the value is already correct. Fixing an error now is simpler than disputing a value later.

Where to learn more

The town's Assessment Office, with KLW's Robert Koszarek, has held a series of community sessions explaining the data mailers. The final two are set for Tuesday, June 23, at 1002 Ridge Road in Webster: one from 1 to 3 p.m. and one from 6 to 8 p.m.

Webster also administers several property tax exemptions that can lower an individual bill, including exemptions for limited-income seniors, veterans, volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers, and people with disabilities and limited income. Eligibility rules and income limits apply, and most applications are due by March 1. Details are on the town's exemptions page at websterny.gov/79/Exemptions. The STAR and Enhanced STAR school-tax relief programs are administered separately by New York State.

Full project details are posted on the town's revaluation page at websterny.gov/874/2027-Townwide-Revaluation-Project.

AI tools were used in drafting and research.