Market value; Assessments based on what property would fetch when up for sale.(Real Estate)

Byline: DEBORAH MOORE, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES UNION

New Yorkers are increasingly vexed about their growing property tax bills. That may be because the tax is not based on income or ability to pay, but rather on what our newest neighbors paid for their houses.

The higher a property's assessed value, the higher its tax burden. Assessed value is based on just one thing: market value. That is, what a property would fetch if it were put up for sale.

Assessors determine the current market value of a property by looking at what similar properties in the same community have sold for over the past 18 months. They consider "valid" sales only, eliminating sales between family members and sales involving foreclosure, death or divorce. Those values might be too low.

Assessors also exclude sales that are too high. Keith McDonald, …