There has been controversy and debate for years in the Town of Cicero over reassessment of property and tax implications.
Now that the reassessment of almost 14,000 properties is about to be released one town councilor says the project was improperly handled by the current supervisor.
Cicero Town Councilor Jim Corl Jr. openly accused Supervisor Judy Boyke of derailing the assessment project at a press conference this morning - while Boyke watched from a few feet away.
Corl says Boyke went against the initial plan and fired Cicero's town assessor and cost the town over $80,000 dollars in grants and state aid even though the assessor was quickly re-hired by the town board. Corl also says the assessors' office is understaffed to handle the questions taxpayers will have when the new assessments come out next week.
"If we weren't going to follow through with the plan itself, the long term plan, why did we spend $400,000 and at the last minute in the budget cycle cut additional staffing that was necessary in that office?" said Corl.
Boyke says nothing has altered the assessment plan and that the town has not lost any state money that it was currently eligible for. Boyke says Corl's complaints are politically motivated and that town will be able to handle taxpayer questions on the new assessments some of which may go up significantly.
"It's going to be probably sticker shock for everyone but I really want them to understand the assessed value of the property does not reflect what your taxes are going to be," said Boyke.
Some frustrated taxpayers said the real problem was way the town had used surplus funds and left property tax assessments in place for years.
"But spent the same amount of money every year and now it's gone. And now it's gone and we're in a crunch," said Ray Schader.
The new assessments for Cicero homeowners should be mailed out on February 4th. Both Corl and Boyke expect a lot of questions from taxpayers about what the new numbers will mean for their tax bills.
