Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

The previous post about grieving taxes got me thinking how I have NEVER grieved my taxes and it seems like that is quite uncommon. I am in the Town of Brookhaven. Where do I even begin? Do most of you do it on your own or does some company do it for you? I honestly don't even know where to start.

Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

This link may help: https://www.brookhavenny.gov/1074/Grievance-Day

And this one: https://www.tax.ny.gov/pdf/publications/orpts/grievancebooklet.pdf

Many just hire someone (ask for recommendations in your town) but you can do it yourself. I believe generally your first year of savings is the fee that a professional will charge.

Re: Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

My neighbor works for a company. I will have to check the name. WE grieved and won. Got $1000 off, and only had to pay a small percentage, because my husband is a realtor (and gets a discount).
My mortgage actually went down $25 a month

Re: Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

Here's a real simple crash course:

1. find your tax bill and check your total assessed value. You can also get this information on the Town's website

2. Take that total assessed value and divide it by the RAR (Residential Assessment Ratio) for the current year. In Brookhaven it is currently .74%. This will give you the value the Town is placing on the home. For example, if your total assessment is $3,500, the Town is claiming your house is worth $472,973.

3. If that number is LESS than what you believe the home is worth and you can find comps to back it up, you file a grievance.

4. The value the town is placing on the home is as of March 1, 2021. So when searching for comparable sales - use the period March 1, 2020 - March 1, 2021. When looking at recent sales of homes, they should be the same style (ranch, colonial, etc.) and roughly the same square footage and lot size.

5. The application form can be found right on the Town's website. The deadline to file is the 3rd Tuesday of May.

Brookhaven actually has a great website and is very user friendly for doing it yourself.

You can also use a law firm. I persoanally would never use a grievance company. These are court proceedings and even though it is allowed in small claims court, there may be actual legal issues that arise that a grievance company cannot handle. And the fee is the same - the usual and standard fee is 50% of the savings/refund received.

Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

i thought you couldn't grieve in suffolk?

Re: Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

Re: Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

Re: Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

Wow! Thank you! This was so, so helpful.

Re: Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven

I try almost every year. The first year in the house (15+ yrs ago), we got a big reduction using Mark Lewis or whatever their name is. I think the fee was 1/2 of the reduction. Every year since then, they tell us we aren't eligible and that our assessment is correct.

Re: Grieving Taxes- Town of Brookhaven