A Fun Time Was Had By All

Monroe assessor, KJ condo owners discuss valuations
By Chris Mckenna

KIRYAS JOEL — Property owners whose tax assessments may soon go up streamed into the offices of the Kiryas Joel Community Council on Monday to learn about a change in condominium values that has had broad impact in Kiryas Joel.

For more than two hours, Monroe Assessor Steve Ruelke and his assistant sat with laptops at a kitchen table and chatted one-on-one with each visitor, scrolling through maps and property data as they compared information.

The bottom line, amid all the detailed discussions about condo sizes, rental prices and storage space, was reassuring.

"Our primary purpose here is to gather information," Ruelke clarified at one point. "And we'll make a correction."

The council had requested the informal meeting — the first of two scheduled in Kiryas Joel on Monday — because Ruelke recently altered how condominium values throughout the Town of Monroe are calculated. Instead of basing assessments on the cost of building the units, he's looking at the rental income condo owners earn.

That caused a blizzard of adjustments in Kiryas Joel, where most people live in condos. The owners of more than 1,000 units lucked out with lower values, but nearly 1,800 others wound up with higher assessments. The net result — excluding 110 new units that had no values in 2010 — was an 11 percent increase in condo assessments in the village, according to a spreadsheet Ruelke provided.

Solomon Leimzider was shocked to learn that the values of two rental units he owns had each increased by about 50 percent. He was one of the first owners to sit down with Ruelke on Monday, explaining afterward, "I wanted to understand the basis of his re-evaluation."

But he got even more: He corrected information about the size of his condos and expected lower assessments as a result.

"It looks like he's ready to look into it," he said.

Others faced only modest increases, but came anyway to plead their case and submit a grievance form — the usual method for contesting property-tax values. The Monroe assessment board will review grievances next week.

"It's worth 10, 15 minutes to come down and talk," said one man who gave only his first name, Joel.

Ruelke acknowledges having limited information about Kiryas Joel rents — properties there aren't marketed through the Multiple Listing Service — and promises to lower assessments across the board if shown that typical prices are lower than he assumed.

He said the purpose would be to benefit all condo owners, not just those who file grievances.

"I want there to be equity," Ruelke said. "If we don't do this fairly and equitably, then we have wasted our time."