DISTINGUISHING FEATURES OF THE CLASS:  This is responsible professional level work involving valuation of each parcel of real property in a municipality for tax purposes and preparation of annual assessment rolls.  Responsibilities also include performing professional valuation for assessment of real property in a city or town. Work is performed under general direction of the Town Supervisor and/or Town Board, and is subject to advisory input of the County Director of Real Property Tax Services and the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services. Supervision is exercised over the work of appraisal and clerical staff. Performs related work as required.

TYPICAL WORK ACTIVITIES: (Illustrative only)

• Annually values and revalues each parcel of real property;
• Utilizes and maintains current tax maps and appraisal cards;
• May seek county advisory services in determining values of certain parcels;
• Attends all hearings of the Board of Assessment Review;
• Makes changes in assessments in accordance with Law as directed by the Board of Assessment Review;
• Attends the public examination of the tentative assessment roll at times prescribed by Law;
• Receives complaints filed and transmits them to the Board of Assessment Review;
• Prepares reports of assessment activities as required by the appointing authority or the State Board of Equalization and Assessment;
• Provides school districts within the assessing unit a copy of the current pertinent portion of the assessment roll;
• Supervises and trains appraisal staff members in the techniques of appraisal and assessment;
• Reviews and makes determinations with respect to applications for tax exemptions;
• Performs a variety of related activities as required.

Typical Work Activities are intended only as illustrations of possible types of work that might be appropriately assigned to an incumbent of this title. Work activities that do not appear above are not excluded as appropriate work assignments, as long as they can be reasonably understood to be within the logical limits of the job.

FULL PERFORMANCE KNOWLEDGES, SKILLS, ABILITIES AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS:   Thorough knowledge of making an appraisal of all types of real property including industrial, commercial and other complex properties; thorough knowledge of the theory, principles and practices of real property valuation and assessment; thorough knowledge of residential and commercial building construction methods, materials and their costs; thorough knowledge of laws governing the valuation and assessment of real property; thorough knowledge of deeds and related property records; ability to make and review arithmetic computations with speed and accuracy; ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with the public, municipal officials and the Assessment Review Board; ability to plan and supervise the work of others; integrity; tact; courtesy; good judgment.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:  Either

1. Bachelors degree and six (6) months full‑time paid experience in occupation involving the valuation of real property, such as assessor, appraiser, real estate broker, valuation data manager, real property appraisal aide or related field; or
2. Associates degree and one (1) year of full‑time paid experience in occupation involving the valuation of real property, such as assessor, appraiser, real estate broker, valuation data manager, real property appraisal aide or related field; or
3. Graduation from high school or possession of an accredited high school equivalency diploma, and two (2) years of full‑time paid experience in occupation involving the valuation of real property, such as assessor, appraiser, real estate broker, valuation data manager, real property appraisal aide or related field; or
4. Certification by the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services as a candidate for assessor; or
5. An equivalent combination of the education and experience as described above.

NOTE: Your degree must have been awarded by a college or university accredited by a regional, national, or specialized agency recognized as an accrediting agency by the U.S. Department of Education/U.S. Secretary of Education.

QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE NOTE: Per CRR-NY 20 Section 8188-2.2, required experience as described above “shall be deemed satisfactory if it is demonstrated that the experience primarily was gained in the performance of one or more of the following tasks: collection and recording of property inventory data, preparation of comparable sales analysis reports, preparations of signed valuation or appraisal estimates or reports using cost, income or market data approaches to value. Mere listing of real property estimates or reports or other published asking prices is not qualifying experience.”

SPECIAL NOTES/SUBSTITUTIONS:

1. Previous certification by the NYS Office of Real Property Tax Services as a State certified assessor can be substituted for one (1) year of the experience as described above.
2. Three (3) years of part‑time paid experience as sole Assessor or as chairman of the Board of Assessors can be substituted for one (1) year of the experience as described above.
3. Five years of part‑time paid experience as a member of a Board of Assessors can be substituted for one (1) year of the experience as described above.
4. Paid part‑time experience in excess of the above amounts may be credited according to the above criteria.
5. Volunteer experience in an assessor's office may be credited as paid experience if it includes tasks such as data collection; calculation of value estimates; preparation of preliminary reports; providing routine information to a computer center; public relations; and review of the value estimates, computer output and exemption applications.
6. In no case shall less than six (6) months of the experience described above be acceptable with the exception of county training.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENT: Completion of basic course(s) of training prescribed by the State Board of Equalization and Assessment within six (6) months of appointment.

Minimum qualifications are established by State Board of Real Property Tax Services (formerly State Board of Equalization and Assessment), in accordance with 20 CRR-NY 8188-2.2.

9/97; 6/06; 2/09; 10/18; 8/21

Non-Competitive Class - Towns