Shelter Island property owners may have been overtaxed: State official explains process

Since Shelter Island hasn’t done a house-by-house property assessment in the past couple of years, it’s possible some people may have paid more in taxes than they should have, while others may have paid less than they should have.

That’s the word from John Wolham from the Office of Real Property Tax, a division of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance.

Until a house-by-house assessment is done, tax bills have had to be based on an aggregate number, rather than the value of each individual property. It could be as late as December 2025 before comparisons can be made to reveal who may have been over-taxed and who may have been under-taxed.

The Island has a long history of annual property assessments, but changes from elected assessors to professional assessors left the local office under staffed, Assessor Judith Lechmanski said. Unable to take on all the work involved in the house-by-house assessments, the town had to use the aggregate numbers to process bills.

Property reassessments are often received by taxpayers as an indication that their bills will be increased. But that’s not necessarily the case, Mr. Wolham told the Town Board at its March 5 work session.

He called annual property assessments the “gold standard.”

Assessments for 2026 taxes should be in line with actual property vales, he said.

Taxpayers will continue to have opportunities to discuss their anticipated tax bills with the staff, and if they remain dissatisfied, to “grieve” their taxes in May of each year before a separate Board where they can present their arguments for lowering their taxes.

In the interim, Ms. Lechmanski and Assessor Patricia Castoldi will work on reviewing property inventories, Mr. Wolham said. He will be working on determining average assessments that will give Island taxpayers an indication of how close their individual property values are from the average.

If they’re close, it’s entirely possible they won’t see any or very small increases in their tax bills. But for those whose property values are considerably higher than the average, they can expect to see higher tax bills to fund spending in 2026, he said. The information will provide an early indication of how they can be aware of how the reassessment process will affect their costs.

Mr. Wolham noted property values have generally increased since the annual local reassessments were done.