The city of Oswego is preparing to do a full-scale revaluation and appraisal of its properties for the first time in over two decades.
Tuesday, the Common Council’s Administrative Services Committee voted to allow Oswego Mayor Billy Barlow to enter into a two-year agreement with GAR Associates LLC, a real estate appraiser in Williamsville, for a reassessment project.
The proposal will go before the full Common Council on June 27.
Torrese said the much overdue project will take two years, or three budget years, to complete.
“It’s a full inventory and data collection on all real property in the city, along with valuation and modeling, to get us to an equitable assessment role,” Torrese said. “This would end at year 27 since we’ve had a city-wide revaluation.”
Torrese said most municipalities aim to have these revaluations done within a 10-year time frame.
Once the assessment is complete in 2024, it will come before council who will then vote on whether to accept the revaluation results.
Council President Robert Corradino asked Torrese for clarification that the cost of the services rendered would be $75,000. He also asked what the revaluation entailed.
“If we sign the contract and move forward in 2022, they (GAR) will start with the data collection,” Torrese said. “They will begin measuring every parcel in the city, confirming square footage.”
GAR will also collect data on inventory, which Torrese described as porches, pools, tool sheds, fences, machine sheds, and more. Then, GAR will sketch the parcels, as well as obtain photographs, which is required by law. All of this will be done first, Torrese told the Common Council.
“They’ll just be verifying everything and updating information that they find inaccuracies or any discrepancies with,” Torrese said.
The last full evaluation was done in 1995 and was completed in 1997, according to Torrese, putting the city at about 25 years overdue.
