Yates working to complete town-wide reassessment of 1,800 properties

YATES – Town Assessor Patricia Laszewski is pushing to complete the first town-wide reassessment in Yates in five years.

There are 1,800 properties in Yates, and Laszewski will be assigning market values to all of them. The values will likely be up for most of the properties. Laszewski said the real estate market has stayed hot, although there are fewer properties for sale right now.

Laszewski led Ridgeway and Shelby through town-wide reassessments in 2023. She has retired from the two towns and remains with Yates in a part-time role.

Ridgeway and Shelby have appointed Julie Cecchini to be their new assessor. She was the assessor clerk in those towns.

Laszewski said Yates property owners will have the opportunity to challenge their assessments through a grievance process in the spring.

Town Supervisor Jim Simon said the reassessment schedule and grievance procedure will be highlighted in an upcoming town newsletter.

The towns in Orleans County used to be on the three-year cycle for doing the town-wide reassessments. Some towns held off in 2022 and 2023, thinking a hot real estate market would slow down. Some towns also have had changes in their assessor and have put of a full town-wide reassessment.

In 2023, Carlton, Kendall, Ridgeway and Shelby all completed full reassessments, at least four years since the last one.